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National Health Manual No. 1.—Infancy
PUBLIC H E A L T H .
456 REVIEWS. NATIONAL HEALTH MANUAL No.
I.--INFANCY.
Edited b y T . N. Kelynack, M.D. IS. net. Published by Robt. Culley, London, 191o. 184 pp. This little volume for the instruction of social workers and others is the joint production of no less than twelve writers. Among the subjects dealt with are the anatomy and physiology of the infant, the hygiene of infancy, the feeding of infants, common disorders of infancy, schools for mothers, cr6ches, milk dep6ts, and the legal, national, municipal and moral aspects of infant life. As each chapter is the work of a writer who is specially interested in his subject, it need hardly be said that the volume is eminently readable and thoroughly reliable. W e would suggest, however, that the preparation of a small manual of this sort hardly requires the collaboration of so many experts, and the result would have been equally satisfactory if the work had been the product of a single pen. However, as there cannot be too wide a diffusion of the information contained in the volume, we cordially recommend it to social workers, health visitors, and the public generally. INFECTIOUS DISEASES. A Practical Text-Book. By Claude Buchanan Ker, M.D., F.R.C.P. Edin., Medical Superintendent, City Hospital, Edinburgh, Lecturer on Infectious Diseases to the University of Edinburgh. Illustrated with ten coloured and fourteen uncoloured plates and sixty-six charts. Published by Henry Frowde, and Hodder and Stoughton, London, 191o. 555 PP. Price 2os. nett. No one who is familiar with-the practice of the medical superintendent of the Edinburgh City Hospital will need to be told that this is a thoroughly practical text-book. The author, being primarily a clinician, has almost entirely confined his attention to questions of diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, bacteriology and epidemiology being discussed only in so far as they have any direct clinical application. T h e work is therefore of special value to those who have charge of fever hospitals, and to all other medical men to whom the problems of diagnosis and treatment make special appeal. With one exception (relapsing fever) the diseases described are those which the author has had under his care at the City hospital, and hence it is not surprising that on almost every page it is patent that the reader is not perusing a compilation, but reaping the fruit of knowledge acquired at first hand. In every chapter, too, one finds useful information and suggestions on matters that are usually inadequately treated in textbooks, such as relapses in scarlet fever, the clinical variety of the same disease that presents such a striking resemblance to enteric fever and the diagnosis of post-diphtherial scarlatina.
SEPTBMBER,
Concerning milk-borne scarlet fever and diphtheria, the author remarks that in his experience adults formed a large proportion of those attacked. This is contrary to generally received opinion on the subject, but doubtless the incidence varies with the milk-drinking propensities of the community attacked. In the final chapter (on fever-hospital problems), the author discusses many matters of public health interest such a s dimcutties of fever hospitals, cross infection, hospitalism and return cases. This section deserves the careful study of general practitioners and of medical officers of health who are not in charge of hospitals. In conclusion we would congratulate both author and publishers on the form in which this work is presented, and especially on the admirable plates which illustrate what we believe to be the most useful modern text-books on infectious diseases. NOTES ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES. For the Use
of Teachers in Public Elementary Schools. By A. Mearns Fraser, M.D., Medical Officer of Health. This little booklet of some thirty pages has been prepared by Dr. Mearns Fraser for the use of the teachers in the Portsmouth elementary schools, and is designed to give that instruction in the symptoms of the chief infectious diseases which the memorandum of the medical officers of the Local Government Board and Board of Education declares so essential. T h e symptoms of the common communicable diseases are clearly set forth, and to these is added a lucid explanation of the chief administrative measures adopted for their control. The pamphlet is admirably adapted for the purpose for which it has been written, but we would suggest that when it is reprinted it might with advantage be enlarged to include notes on other diseases concerning which school teachers require instruction. We refer more particularly to rheumatic fever, chorea and parasitic affections. In the meantime the present edition is well calculated to ensure t h a t intelligent co-operation of teachers which is so essential in the administrative control of infectious diseases. SANITARY SCHOOL FLOORING.--An enormous improvement would be made in our schools if the floors, instead of being of wood, were made of one of the compositions now so largely used in hospitals. T h e amount of dust would be infinitely less, while the labour of cleaning would be materially reduced. The spread of infection would also be lessened ; children are frequently sick in school; this material falls into the crevices between the boards, and cannot be removed; later, when dry, in the form of dust, it is distributed about the room. With a jointless composition floor this risk would be entirely obviated.--A nnual Re~ort of Dr. Sowden, Medical Ojficer of Health, East Ham.
456 REVIEWS. NATIONAL HEALTH MANUAL No.
I.--INFANCY.
Edited b y T . N. Kelynack, M.D. IS. net. Published by Robt. Culley, London, 191o. 184 pp. This little volume for the instruction of social workers and others is the joint production of no less than twelve writers. Among the subjects dealt with are the anatomy and physiology of the infant, the hygiene of infancy, the feeding of infants, common disorders of infancy, schools for mothers, cr6ches, milk dep6ts, and the legal, national, municipal and moral aspects of infant life. As each chapter is the work of a writer who is specially interested in his subject, it need hardly be said that the volume is eminently readable and thoroughly reliable. W e would suggest, however, that the preparation of a small manual of this sort hardly requires the collaboration of so many experts, and the result would have been equally satisfactory if the work had been the product of a single pen. However, as there cannot be too wide a diffusion of the information contained in the volume, we cordially recommend it to social workers, health visitors, and the public generally. INFECTIOUS DISEASES. A Practical Text-Book. By Claude Buchanan Ker, M.D., F.R.C.P. Edin., Medical Superintendent, City Hospital, Edinburgh, Lecturer on Infectious Diseases to the University of Edinburgh. Illustrated with ten coloured and fourteen uncoloured plates and sixty-six charts. Published by Henry Frowde, and Hodder and Stoughton, London, 191o. 555 PP. Price 2os. nett. No one who is familiar with-the practice of the medical superintendent of the Edinburgh City Hospital will need to be told that this is a thoroughly practical text-book. The author, being primarily a clinician, has almost entirely confined his attention to questions of diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, bacteriology and epidemiology being discussed only in so far as they have any direct clinical application. T h e work is therefore of special value to those who have charge of fever hospitals, and to all other medical men to whom the problems of diagnosis and treatment make special appeal. With one exception (relapsing fever) the diseases described are those which the author has had under his care at the City hospital, and hence it is not surprising that on almost every page it is patent that the reader is not perusing a compilation, but reaping the fruit of knowledge acquired at first hand. In every chapter, too, one finds useful information and suggestions on matters that are usually inadequately treated in textbooks, such as relapses in scarlet fever, the clinical variety of the same disease that presents such a striking resemblance to enteric fever and the diagnosis of post-diphtherial scarlatina.
SEPTBMBER,
Concerning milk-borne scarlet fever and diphtheria, the author remarks that in his experience adults formed a large proportion of those attacked. This is contrary to generally received opinion on the subject, but doubtless the incidence varies with the milk-drinking propensities of the community attacked. In the final chapter (on fever-hospital problems), the author discusses many matters of public health interest such a s dimcutties of fever hospitals, cross infection, hospitalism and return cases. This section deserves the careful study of general practitioners and of medical officers of health who are not in charge of hospitals. In conclusion we would congratulate both author and publishers on the form in which this work is presented, and especially on the admirable plates which illustrate what we believe to be the most useful modern text-books on infectious diseases. NOTES ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES. For the Use
of Teachers in Public Elementary Schools. By A. Mearns Fraser, M.D., Medical Officer of Health. This little booklet of some thirty pages has been prepared by Dr. Mearns Fraser for the use of the teachers in the Portsmouth elementary schools, and is designed to give that instruction in the symptoms of the chief infectious diseases which the memorandum of the medical officers of the Local Government Board and Board of Education declares so essential. T h e symptoms of the common communicable diseases are clearly set forth, and to these is added a lucid explanation of the chief administrative measures adopted for their control. The pamphlet is admirably adapted for the purpose for which it has been written, but we would suggest that when it is reprinted it might with advantage be enlarged to include notes on other diseases concerning which school teachers require instruction. We refer more particularly to rheumatic fever, chorea and parasitic affections. In the meantime the present edition is well calculated to ensure t h a t intelligent co-operation of teachers which is so essential in the administrative control of infectious diseases. SANITARY SCHOOL FLOORING.--An enormous improvement would be made in our schools if the floors, instead of being of wood, were made of one of the compositions now so largely used in hospitals. T h e amount of dust would be infinitely less, while the labour of cleaning would be materially reduced. The spread of infection would also be lessened ; children are frequently sick in school; this material falls into the crevices between the boards, and cannot be removed; later, when dry, in the form of dust, it is distributed about the room. With a jointless composition floor this risk would be entirely obviated.--A nnual Re~ort of Dr. Sowden, Medical Ojficer of Health, East Ham.