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Reid's practical sanitation
PUBLIC HEALTH A Clinical Course f o r M e d i c a l P r a c t i t i o n e r s was arranged by the Group on May 30th and 31st, and proved to be very popular. On Sunday, May 80th, at 10.30 a.m., a visit was paid to the Willesden Municipal Fever Hospital. The President, Dr. Agnes Nicoll, took the chair, and over 40 attended. A paper was read on " Special Points in Administration and Treatment," by Dr. Arthur Troup, the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital. Dr. Troup conducted the party round the Hospital at the conclusion of his paper, and the model isolation wards were found to be particularly interesting. After a welcome cup of coffee and a discussion, Dr. Troup answered questions, and the thanks of the meeting to Dr. Troup and his staff for so generously giving a Sunday morning for our instruction were expressed by Dr. Maule Horne and by the President. On Monday, May 81st, a practical lecture was given at 11.15 a.m. at St. John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Leicester Square, by Dr. John Wigley, entitled " Common Skin Affections in Infants and Young Children." Sixty-four doctors packed the lecture room, and the President expressed t h e i r thanks to Dr. Wigley. At 2.80 p.m., a visit was paid by a party of over 56 to Moorfield's Eye Hospital, City Road, where Mr. Robert Davenport, r.a.c.s., gave a lecture entitled " The More Common Eye-lesions in the Pre-school Child," and showed some illustrative cases. A welcome and delightful tea dosed an instructive and enjoyable week-end, and general appreciation and thanks were expressed by everyone to the lecturers, the hospitals and the Secretary. It is hoped to report these lectures more fully in a subsequent number of the journal.
JULY
tax the staying powers of the student. Within its own limitations the ground work is well covered and Chapters V and VI dealing with sanitary work and appliances are particularly useful in that a comparison is made of satisfactory and unsatisfactory work. The diagrams on the whole are clear and goOd, but it would be preferable to show in the diagram all the necessary details described in the text, e.g., underfloor ventilation in Fig. 76, and in Fig. 27 the protection from damp would not be complete unless the cavity was drained and ventilated or the house-side of its wall rendered damp-proof. For examination purposes, great stress is laid on accuracy of detail in diagrams, and rightly so, hence it is advisable to show the same degree of accuracy in a textbook, e.g., Fig. 62, floor joists are not shown as carried into the house wall; Fig. 52, the joint space and cement mortar filling is shown in one joint but not in the other--there is no such thing as a " tuck-in, tight-fit " j o i n t in drain-laying ! On page 176, the definition of a " carrier" implies that one must have had the disease previously, but this is corrected later in reference to diphtheria. It would be better to define the carrier as " a person who, with or without having had the disease harbours, etc." It might be well, too, to drop the term " waste waterpreventer " (page 97) and substitute " flushing cistern," just as " Inspector of Nuisances " in the older editions has yielded place t o " Sanitary Inspector " in the present edition, and on page 8, the subtle distinction between a " necessity" (referring to a condition) and a " necessary" (referring to a thing) should be preserved. An obvious misprint occurs on page 282 (hyboid for hyoid bone). The Appendix, which in the course of 80 pages, gives a summary of Public Health Law, is perhaps too concentrated for continuous reading, but it serves a still more useful purpose, for it does draw attention to the salient points in that maze of legislation, and forms a most useful guide through its entanglements. It is Reid's Praoti0al Sanitation. A Handbook for Sanitary Inspectors, etc. 23rd Edition. Revised and re- thoroughly up-to-date, too, in that it includes the new written by JoaN J. BUCHAN,M.D., D.P.H. London : Public Health Act of'1986, and the Housing Act of that Charles Griffin & Co., 1987. pp. 882, 8 plates and year, while in the main text, the " one-pipe" drainage system, the needlessness of interceptors and disinfesta84 diagrams. Price 7s. 6d. net. tion, especially for bugs, are adequately discussed. Amongst the mass of new and specialised text books that appear year by year to load the library shelves and H o s p i t a l Design a n d E q u i p m e n t . - - T h e number of the bewilder the student, it is refreshing to meet an old friend of one's earlier days, rejuvenated and still worthy A r c h i t e c t s ' J o u r n a l for June 24th, is devoted to a survey of modern hospital design and equipment. The of its high place in the concourse of newcomers. number is profusely illustrated with photographs and " Reid's " appeared in 1892, in order that Inspectors of Nuisances, as they were then called, might acquire plans of newly-constructed hospitals and sanatoria in England and on the Continent, and should be of interest " a practical and scientific knowledge of their duties," a need that has not diminished with the passage of years to medical officers of health for future reference. It can and which is fully recognised in the preface to the new be obtained, price ls., from the Architectural Press, edition. The fact that this handy little volume has Ltd., 9, Queen Anne's Gate, London, S.W.1. passed through no fewer than twenty-five editions, N e w P o s t e r s . - - P o s t e r s Nos. 11 and 12, published by revisions and reprints in the course of forty-five years shows that it has an enviable reputation for fulfilling its the Association of Maternity and Child Welfare Centres, 117, Piccadilly, London, W.1, price ls. 9d., post free, primary purpose and is still in demand. It is not possible to concentrate into three hundred should be useful for display in welfare centres. No. 11 odd pages all the knowledge that a Sanitary Inspector is a letterpress poster dealing with the importance of should possess before presenting himself for examination, drinking water as an aid to health, and No. 12 shows the but here we have an excellent groundwork that can diagram of a bullock sub-divided so as to give the locareadily be amplified by reference to the larger text books, tion of the various cuts of beef, together with the prices and further, it is written in an easy style that does not for English and chilled beef and the calories yielded.
Book R e v i e w s
338
JULY
tax the staying powers of the student. Within its own limitations the ground work is well covered and Chapters V and VI dealing with sanitary work and appliances are particularly useful in that a comparison is made of satisfactory and unsatisfactory work. The diagrams on the whole are clear and goOd, but it would be preferable to show in the diagram all the necessary details described in the text, e.g., underfloor ventilation in Fig. 76, and in Fig. 27 the protection from damp would not be complete unless the cavity was drained and ventilated or the house-side of its wall rendered damp-proof. For examination purposes, great stress is laid on accuracy of detail in diagrams, and rightly so, hence it is advisable to show the same degree of accuracy in a textbook, e.g., Fig. 62, floor joists are not shown as carried into the house wall; Fig. 52, the joint space and cement mortar filling is shown in one joint but not in the other--there is no such thing as a " tuck-in, tight-fit " j o i n t in drain-laying ! On page 176, the definition of a " carrier" implies that one must have had the disease previously, but this is corrected later in reference to diphtheria. It would be better to define the carrier as " a person who, with or without having had the disease harbours, etc." It might be well, too, to drop the term " waste waterpreventer " (page 97) and substitute " flushing cistern," just as " Inspector of Nuisances " in the older editions has yielded place t o " Sanitary Inspector " in the present edition, and on page 8, the subtle distinction between a " necessity" (referring to a condition) and a " necessary" (referring to a thing) should be preserved. An obvious misprint occurs on page 282 (hyboid for hyoid bone). The Appendix, which in the course of 80 pages, gives a summary of Public Health Law, is perhaps too concentrated for continuous reading, but it serves a still more useful purpose, for it does draw attention to the salient points in that maze of legislation, and forms a most useful guide through its entanglements. It is Reid's Praoti0al Sanitation. A Handbook for Sanitary Inspectors, etc. 23rd Edition. Revised and re- thoroughly up-to-date, too, in that it includes the new written by JoaN J. BUCHAN,M.D., D.P.H. London : Public Health Act of'1986, and the Housing Act of that Charles Griffin & Co., 1987. pp. 882, 8 plates and year, while in the main text, the " one-pipe" drainage system, the needlessness of interceptors and disinfesta84 diagrams. Price 7s. 6d. net. tion, especially for bugs, are adequately discussed. Amongst the mass of new and specialised text books that appear year by year to load the library shelves and H o s p i t a l Design a n d E q u i p m e n t . - - T h e number of the bewilder the student, it is refreshing to meet an old friend of one's earlier days, rejuvenated and still worthy A r c h i t e c t s ' J o u r n a l for June 24th, is devoted to a survey of modern hospital design and equipment. The of its high place in the concourse of newcomers. number is profusely illustrated with photographs and " Reid's " appeared in 1892, in order that Inspectors of Nuisances, as they were then called, might acquire plans of newly-constructed hospitals and sanatoria in England and on the Continent, and should be of interest " a practical and scientific knowledge of their duties," a need that has not diminished with the passage of years to medical officers of health for future reference. It can and which is fully recognised in the preface to the new be obtained, price ls., from the Architectural Press, edition. The fact that this handy little volume has Ltd., 9, Queen Anne's Gate, London, S.W.1. passed through no fewer than twenty-five editions, N e w P o s t e r s . - - P o s t e r s Nos. 11 and 12, published by revisions and reprints in the course of forty-five years shows that it has an enviable reputation for fulfilling its the Association of Maternity and Child Welfare Centres, 117, Piccadilly, London, W.1, price ls. 9d., post free, primary purpose and is still in demand. It is not possible to concentrate into three hundred should be useful for display in welfare centres. No. 11 odd pages all the knowledge that a Sanitary Inspector is a letterpress poster dealing with the importance of should possess before presenting himself for examination, drinking water as an aid to health, and No. 12 shows the but here we have an excellent groundwork that can diagram of a bullock sub-divided so as to give the locareadily be amplified by reference to the larger text books, tion of the various cuts of beef, together with the prices and further, it is written in an easy style that does not for English and chilled beef and the calories yielded.
Book R e v i e w s
338