Max, ayp. Mepicine. An Introduction to Medical Knowledge-—By Dz. E. Sigerist, Professor at the. Uni sity of Lei ch an Introd Hon by Dr. William Welch, Professor of the History—of! Medicine, John Hopkins sity. Allen & Unwin, London, 12/6
A book containing so much that valuable and interesting as the one under study is difficult to do justice to in the time at the reviewer's disposal, It is (as the author states) primarily intended to stir the interest of those'of the medicine their sphere. Whatever ts primary intention it should Sot fail Yo Interest all those con ceted with the study of medicine Whilst nothing exactly on the same plan has. come under notice before!
can the method which decidedly interest. One Sustained "attention is re a little difficult by the la and so it must be tele; cannot be regarded as a _sinee most persons will remember some favourite book' which can only be read at intervals, Dut which they always desire to have at hand, A notable feature! in the author's style is the spirit Mhere the narrative requires. the ames of medical pioneers illustrative of any theme, the obviously have been selected ith great care, and without rewrd_to national senti This, may appear tobe tut unfortunately it cannot be said all scientific works.
The book treats of medicine and studies disease from historical, sociological and philosophic aspect. Mo attempt in a review to" do more indicate its scope isnot ible but one may briefly select} certain salient. points. with man fromthe standpoint The introductory portion deals
the anatomist and—physiologist. The various historic stages in the understanding of the function of man's body, showing where philoso-fist each in their own he bounds of scientific knowledge, a1 jeseribed. Human interest of this cannot fail to add considerably to the keenness with which the medical student—subsequently, approaches his anatomical studies, which to the average person are the commencement extremely dry and dull.
The chapters on disease which follow are on the same model and the historical developments of the! various concepts of diseases which have prevailed in different eras, first part. Thereafter whole is discussed in fashion, the final jstical information, drawing attention to the ishing and certainly little known fact that the birth-rate figures in. the United States are faulty or have Deen so until recently.
In natural sequence the book pro-goods from disease toa study thi in the difficult task of maintaining a fair balance between the bactorfologist, pathologist and others devoted! to the more theoretical side, and the clinical observer. facts of heredity (as far as' they fare known at the present dgy) are extremely concisely and clearly set on The chapter on treatment again displays the scientific detach of the author and is enlivened by the quotation, of description by cone of its earlier critics of quinine ay "an impertinent innovation." This description which so. aptly summonses. the difficulty confronting, new discoveries is a new one, at least to the reviewer.
From freitment the author turns to the study of hygiene and _prophylaxis, The stagnating effects of the dark ages which followed the fall of Rome, though affecting all progress are most clearly brought out in this chapter. 'The hygienic! laws of the Jews followed by the: Greeks and Romans lapsed into' Gisuse for centuries.
the field of hygiene had by cliff cult processes to reach the. same "al which had centuries before attained by their Jewish and Greek prototypes.
The vaccination laws and their important. and far reaching results yeeeive due attention, The record of the Franco-Prussian war in regard to smallpox, is of such Value that" one takes leave. to quote it—
"An experiment on a lar scale elusive of the ces vaccination was the Franco-War of 1810-1871, The army "unvaccinated lost 23,400 men' from smallpox while the German army lost a total of 207 men"
These laws as the author points out mark the first attempt to inter-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.