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A text-book of bacteriology
1915.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
will be required, and greater supervision will be exercised in the future, and attention is ~gain drawn to the extreme importance of co-ordinating the arrangements for providing meals with the work of the School Medical Service. A special section deals with the problems of adolescence and the linking up of school work with that of State Insurance and the National Services. As Sir George N e w m a n points out, some gaps remain to be filled up before we ca.n expect to get consistent results and permanent improvement in the physical life of the people. Such provision as exists has come into being almost haphazard and not as parts of a connected and coherent whole. Yet until there is a conlplete and comprehensive care throughout of the youth of the country we are not building wisely or well. On the details we may all disagree to the principle almost all will echo amen. A TExT-BooK O F BACTERIOLOGY. By Professor E. O. Jordan. 4th Edition, 1914. 8re. ppl 6~7, iilustrated, cloth r3/- net. W . B . Saunders Co; T h e growth of bacteriology is so rapid and is spread over so large a field that the writer of a text-book upon this subject has a difficult task if he seeks to cover all the domain and yet produce a book of moderate proportions. In this task the author has been eminently successful, and although the first edition was published in 19o8 this, the fourth, only contains an additional 9 ° pages, while a great deal of fresh matter has been added, including several new chapters. Professor Jordan in his preface modestly calls it a general introduction to the subject with some regard for perspective, and with emphasis on general rather than on specia] questions. It is much more than an introduction, as many subjects are treated in considerable detail, but the most salient character of the book is undoubtedly its breadth of tlealment rather than its depth and its careful and judicious selection of material. It is not a laboratory text-book, and laboratory details occupy far less space than in most general bacteriology books of its size. In this respect it is inferic~.t0 several of the English text'-books, and for practical work would have to be supplemented by a laboratory manual if the services of a trained labotatory-teacheff are~not a-callable, As an illustration of its inadequacy in this direction m a y be mentioned the treatment of the acid fast bacilli, oth~r'than the tubercle and leprosy bacilli. Although nearly two pages are devoted, and their importance and significance is clearly set out, no detailed description is given of their cultura~ characters or the laboratory methods to be used for their identification. Compared with other text-books on its subject the book is evidently written less from the standpoint of the pathologist, who regards bacteriology
169
as a sub-division and subordinate part of his subject, and more from that of the bacteriologist pure and simple, especially one who is conversant with its close relationship to the science of public heal~h. This point of view, combined with its clearness of statement and breadth of treatment, makes it an admirable volume for the medical officer of health and medical man who wishes to obtain a broad, accurate and up-to-date knowledge of bacteriology, and for this purpose it may be very strongly recommended. In arrangement the usual lines are more or less followed. The earlier chapters deal with laboratory methods, methods of development and growth, effects of physical and chemical agents upon bacteria, and the classification of bacteria. The chapter on immunity is very readable but short, and is only an introduction to this vitally important but complex subject. The main portion of the book is occupied by chapters dealing with the different pathogenic bacteria, while separate chapters deal with yeasts, moulds and pathogenic protozoa. The wide scope of the b o o k is shown by the separate chapters upon bacteria in the arts and industries, bacteria and the nitrogen cycles, the filterable viruses, the bacterial diseases of plants, and (in an appendix) infectious diseases of unknown c a u s a t i o n . These chapters are of great interest, and furnish an up=to-date summary of" matters which are not readily accessible, being largely buried in the form of the original papers in the journals and reviews. T h e bacteriology of milk and milk products, and of air, soil and water are considered in two chapters, and in greater detail than in most general text-books on bacteriology. While the general a c c o u n t gives much information, the laboratory descriptions for the examination of these substances are quite inadequate for practical worldng purposes. T h e text supplies an immense amount of information from all sources, American work, as may be expected, being very extensively made use of. Of outsid~ influences, that of GeI'many is rather" more in evidence than that of England. In One or two directions English work has hardly geen:givell the credit/and prominence it deserves. T w o e x a m p l e s m a y b e mentioned. The work of the English Royal Commission on Tuberculosis is, it is true, referred to, but only extremely briefly, and the valuable additions which have resulted to our knowlddge are insufficiently recognized. T h e protective inoculation method against typhoid fever is discussed, but no mention is made of the work of Sir Almroth W r i g h t or Sir William Leishman. As far as we have been able to test it we have found it accurate, except that in the chapter on /
170
PU)gLIC H E A L T H .
the Bacillus Enteritidis group the method of classification given is not generally accepted, and indeed is certainly incorrect. In England most bacteriologists recognize three groups, represented by )9. e1#eritidis, )9.2bar.~tybhosus 27, and )9. sui~estifer, while in Germany the commonly accepted view is one of two groups, the last two being considered identical. Professor Jordan groups the first two as identical, leaving )9. suipestifer as the second group, including in it the 13. aertr$,chii and other food poisoning strains. In the chapter on diphtheria the author follows the generally accepted view that bacillus of Hofmann and other pseudo-diphtheria bacilli are distinct from the true diphtheria bacillus. He draws attention to the value in public health administration of bacterial swabs frona the throat, but omits to mention the equal importance of swabs from the nose. These are, however, but minor points, and do not seriously detract from the value of this important work. That a fourth edition has been required is a well-deserved tribute to its merits.
HUMAN DERELICTS. Edited by T. N. Kelynack, M.B. pp. 341 . P r i c e - - - - . London. Charles H. Kelly, 26, Paternoster Row, E.C., i9i 4. Although from the standpoint of the medical . reader this is a semi-popular work, it is one of special interest and value to the medical officer of health as containing a summary of the conclusions of many experts upon the lines on which prevention and remedy must proceed in order to reduce this wreckage upon the ocean of life. " H u m a n Derelicts" aims at being a scientific and serviceable contribution to social pathology, preventive medicine, and constructive philanthropy. It consists of a collection of communications by medical experts, and deals with those classes of defectives, delinquents, and dependents to which belong the largest number of such derelicts. The aim of the work is to provide social workers with a concise and reliable presentation in non-technical language of such essential facts, guiding principles, and effective practices as are likely to be of assistance in the study and solution of those social problems which are directly related to the chief sections of morbid mankind. In order to make the work as helpful as possible to serious students and practical servants of the people, references have been appended to each chapter. An excellently written foreword is contributed by Sir Thomas Clouston, in which he states that it would he an under-estimate to say that there are a million derelicts of various kinds in Great Britain, even if one does not touch the borderland - - t h a t twilight~where brain light and darkness, social fitness and unfitness, merge into each other.
APRIL,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH. FOUNDED 1856. RECONSTRUCTED 1888. INCORPORATED 1892. AN
Ordinary Meeting of the Society was held at the Offices of the Society, No. 1, Upper Montague Street, Russell Square, London, W.C., on Friday, March i2th, 1915, at 5 p.m. Present: Dr. Herbert Jones, President (in the chair), and Drs. W. G. Willoughby, W. A. Berry, Charles Porter, T. Orr, B. (2. Stevens, George H. Dupont, C. Rolleston, W. Benton, H. A. Hall, H. \ ¥ . Harding, J. T. C. Nash, F. C. Linton, James J. Paterson, S. C. Lawrence, C. Sanders, W. A. Bond, Joseph Cates. R. Veitch Clark, T. W. N. Barlow, T. Shadick Higgins, R. Haldane Cook (Associate), and William Thomson, Esq. (Associate). Minutes.--The minutes of the previous ordinary meeting, held on FIiday, February i2th, 1915 (vide PUBLIC HEALTH, March, 1915, page I5O), were taken as read, were approved and duly signed by the Chairman. Corres~ondence.--DR. T. W. NAYLOR BARLOW (hon. secretary) said he had received from Dr. T. Ridley Bailey a letter regretting inability to attend the meeting.
7"he Late Edward Cox Seaton, M.D., F.ILC.P., F . I . C . - - T h e PRESIDENT said that before they began~ their ordinary proceedings he wished, on behalf of the Society, to make some reference to the loss which they and the whole of the Public Health Service had sustained since their last meeting in the death of one of their oldest H o n o r a r y Fellows, Dr. E d w a r d Cox Seaton. Dr. Seaton belonged to an older school than some of those present. To the younger members of the Society he was not so well known, and it might indeed not be known to all how very loyal and strong a supporter of the Society Dr. Seaton had been. He was the first President of the Home Counties Branch, and afterwards President of the Society itself. W h e n Dr. Seaton left the Presidential Chair she continued to maintain an active interest in the Society, H e w a s ' a very regular attendant at their ordinary mee.tings up to within recent years, and his wise counsel was helpful on many occasions. H e (the President) formally moved from the chair that the Hon. Secretary be asked to write a;letter of condolence to Mrs. Seaton, expressing the sympathy of the Society with her in her bereavement, and referring to the g r e a t loss the Fellows had sustained by his death. DR. CHARLES SANDERS (hon. t r e a s u r e r ) s a i d that, as one of the oldest members of the Home Counties Branch, he wished to associate himself with the vote so ably moved by the President.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
will be required, and greater supervision will be exercised in the future, and attention is ~gain drawn to the extreme importance of co-ordinating the arrangements for providing meals with the work of the School Medical Service. A special section deals with the problems of adolescence and the linking up of school work with that of State Insurance and the National Services. As Sir George N e w m a n points out, some gaps remain to be filled up before we ca.n expect to get consistent results and permanent improvement in the physical life of the people. Such provision as exists has come into being almost haphazard and not as parts of a connected and coherent whole. Yet until there is a conlplete and comprehensive care throughout of the youth of the country we are not building wisely or well. On the details we may all disagree to the principle almost all will echo amen. A TExT-BooK O F BACTERIOLOGY. By Professor E. O. Jordan. 4th Edition, 1914. 8re. ppl 6~7, iilustrated, cloth r3/- net. W . B . Saunders Co; T h e growth of bacteriology is so rapid and is spread over so large a field that the writer of a text-book upon this subject has a difficult task if he seeks to cover all the domain and yet produce a book of moderate proportions. In this task the author has been eminently successful, and although the first edition was published in 19o8 this, the fourth, only contains an additional 9 ° pages, while a great deal of fresh matter has been added, including several new chapters. Professor Jordan in his preface modestly calls it a general introduction to the subject with some regard for perspective, and with emphasis on general rather than on specia] questions. It is much more than an introduction, as many subjects are treated in considerable detail, but the most salient character of the book is undoubtedly its breadth of tlealment rather than its depth and its careful and judicious selection of material. It is not a laboratory text-book, and laboratory details occupy far less space than in most general bacteriology books of its size. In this respect it is inferic~.t0 several of the English text'-books, and for practical work would have to be supplemented by a laboratory manual if the services of a trained labotatory-teacheff are~not a-callable, As an illustration of its inadequacy in this direction m a y be mentioned the treatment of the acid fast bacilli, oth~r'than the tubercle and leprosy bacilli. Although nearly two pages are devoted, and their importance and significance is clearly set out, no detailed description is given of their cultura~ characters or the laboratory methods to be used for their identification. Compared with other text-books on its subject the book is evidently written less from the standpoint of the pathologist, who regards bacteriology
169
as a sub-division and subordinate part of his subject, and more from that of the bacteriologist pure and simple, especially one who is conversant with its close relationship to the science of public heal~h. This point of view, combined with its clearness of statement and breadth of treatment, makes it an admirable volume for the medical officer of health and medical man who wishes to obtain a broad, accurate and up-to-date knowledge of bacteriology, and for this purpose it may be very strongly recommended. In arrangement the usual lines are more or less followed. The earlier chapters deal with laboratory methods, methods of development and growth, effects of physical and chemical agents upon bacteria, and the classification of bacteria. The chapter on immunity is very readable but short, and is only an introduction to this vitally important but complex subject. The main portion of the book is occupied by chapters dealing with the different pathogenic bacteria, while separate chapters deal with yeasts, moulds and pathogenic protozoa. The wide scope of the b o o k is shown by the separate chapters upon bacteria in the arts and industries, bacteria and the nitrogen cycles, the filterable viruses, the bacterial diseases of plants, and (in an appendix) infectious diseases of unknown c a u s a t i o n . These chapters are of great interest, and furnish an up=to-date summary of" matters which are not readily accessible, being largely buried in the form of the original papers in the journals and reviews. T h e bacteriology of milk and milk products, and of air, soil and water are considered in two chapters, and in greater detail than in most general text-books on bacteriology. While the general a c c o u n t gives much information, the laboratory descriptions for the examination of these substances are quite inadequate for practical worldng purposes. T h e text supplies an immense amount of information from all sources, American work, as may be expected, being very extensively made use of. Of outsid~ influences, that of GeI'many is rather" more in evidence than that of England. In One or two directions English work has hardly geen:givell the credit/and prominence it deserves. T w o e x a m p l e s m a y b e mentioned. The work of the English Royal Commission on Tuberculosis is, it is true, referred to, but only extremely briefly, and the valuable additions which have resulted to our knowlddge are insufficiently recognized. T h e protective inoculation method against typhoid fever is discussed, but no mention is made of the work of Sir Almroth W r i g h t or Sir William Leishman. As far as we have been able to test it we have found it accurate, except that in the chapter on /
170
PU)gLIC H E A L T H .
the Bacillus Enteritidis group the method of classification given is not generally accepted, and indeed is certainly incorrect. In England most bacteriologists recognize three groups, represented by )9. e1#eritidis, )9.2bar.~tybhosus 27, and )9. sui~estifer, while in Germany the commonly accepted view is one of two groups, the last two being considered identical. Professor Jordan groups the first two as identical, leaving )9. suipestifer as the second group, including in it the 13. aertr$,chii and other food poisoning strains. In the chapter on diphtheria the author follows the generally accepted view that bacillus of Hofmann and other pseudo-diphtheria bacilli are distinct from the true diphtheria bacillus. He draws attention to the value in public health administration of bacterial swabs frona the throat, but omits to mention the equal importance of swabs from the nose. These are, however, but minor points, and do not seriously detract from the value of this important work. That a fourth edition has been required is a well-deserved tribute to its merits.
HUMAN DERELICTS. Edited by T. N. Kelynack, M.B. pp. 341 . P r i c e - - - - . London. Charles H. Kelly, 26, Paternoster Row, E.C., i9i 4. Although from the standpoint of the medical . reader this is a semi-popular work, it is one of special interest and value to the medical officer of health as containing a summary of the conclusions of many experts upon the lines on which prevention and remedy must proceed in order to reduce this wreckage upon the ocean of life. " H u m a n Derelicts" aims at being a scientific and serviceable contribution to social pathology, preventive medicine, and constructive philanthropy. It consists of a collection of communications by medical experts, and deals with those classes of defectives, delinquents, and dependents to which belong the largest number of such derelicts. The aim of the work is to provide social workers with a concise and reliable presentation in non-technical language of such essential facts, guiding principles, and effective practices as are likely to be of assistance in the study and solution of those social problems which are directly related to the chief sections of morbid mankind. In order to make the work as helpful as possible to serious students and practical servants of the people, references have been appended to each chapter. An excellently written foreword is contributed by Sir Thomas Clouston, in which he states that it would he an under-estimate to say that there are a million derelicts of various kinds in Great Britain, even if one does not touch the borderland - - t h a t twilight~where brain light and darkness, social fitness and unfitness, merge into each other.
APRIL,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH. FOUNDED 1856. RECONSTRUCTED 1888. INCORPORATED 1892. AN
Ordinary Meeting of the Society was held at the Offices of the Society, No. 1, Upper Montague Street, Russell Square, London, W.C., on Friday, March i2th, 1915, at 5 p.m. Present: Dr. Herbert Jones, President (in the chair), and Drs. W. G. Willoughby, W. A. Berry, Charles Porter, T. Orr, B. (2. Stevens, George H. Dupont, C. Rolleston, W. Benton, H. A. Hall, H. \ ¥ . Harding, J. T. C. Nash, F. C. Linton, James J. Paterson, S. C. Lawrence, C. Sanders, W. A. Bond, Joseph Cates. R. Veitch Clark, T. W. N. Barlow, T. Shadick Higgins, R. Haldane Cook (Associate), and William Thomson, Esq. (Associate). Minutes.--The minutes of the previous ordinary meeting, held on FIiday, February i2th, 1915 (vide PUBLIC HEALTH, March, 1915, page I5O), were taken as read, were approved and duly signed by the Chairman. Corres~ondence.--DR. T. W. NAYLOR BARLOW (hon. secretary) said he had received from Dr. T. Ridley Bailey a letter regretting inability to attend the meeting.
7"he Late Edward Cox Seaton, M.D., F.ILC.P., F . I . C . - - T h e PRESIDENT said that before they began~ their ordinary proceedings he wished, on behalf of the Society, to make some reference to the loss which they and the whole of the Public Health Service had sustained since their last meeting in the death of one of their oldest H o n o r a r y Fellows, Dr. E d w a r d Cox Seaton. Dr. Seaton belonged to an older school than some of those present. To the younger members of the Society he was not so well known, and it might indeed not be known to all how very loyal and strong a supporter of the Society Dr. Seaton had been. He was the first President of the Home Counties Branch, and afterwards President of the Society itself. W h e n Dr. Seaton left the Presidential Chair she continued to maintain an active interest in the Society, H e w a s ' a very regular attendant at their ordinary mee.tings up to within recent years, and his wise counsel was helpful on many occasions. H e (the President) formally moved from the chair that the Hon. Secretary be asked to write a;letter of condolence to Mrs. Seaton, expressing the sympathy of the Society with her in her bereavement, and referring to the g r e a t loss the Fellows had sustained by his death. DR. CHARLES SANDERS (hon. t r e a s u r e r ) s a i d that, as one of the oldest members of the Home Counties Branch, he wished to associate himself with the vote so ably moved by the President.