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The report of the medical research council for the year 1938–1939
REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS REVIEWS
OF N E W
47
BOOKS
Tuberculosis and Genius. By L~wIs J. MOORMA~, M.D.
The University of Chicago Press (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press). Price i5 s. From this book one can appreciate fully the peculiar influence tuberculosis had on the lives of some of our greatest writers. It depicts clearly that swift, feverish alliance between tuberculosis and genius, showing how a mental stimulus seems to be enhanced when the disease is at its height; how the " spark" is fanned by the haste of approaching death, by the frantic writing against time, and the growing realisation of the life-pattern. I t calls to mind that poignant sonnet of Keats: " W h e n I have fears that I might cease to be, Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain."
Dr. Moorman--himself a specialist of the disease--has given us an extremely interesting book. He has traced the influence of tuberculosis on the lives of Robert Louis Stevenson, Schiller, Marie Bashkirtseff, Katherine Mansfield, Voltaire, Moli~re, Francis Thompson, Shelley, Keats, and St. Francis of Assisi, devoting a chapter to each. Numerous references are made throughout to other famous writers who were also diseased in this way, and it is disturbing to see what a great number there are. The book, which is beautifully produced and written in a pleasing style, will interest the specialist and layman alike.
The Report of the Medical Research Council for the Tear I938-39. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. Price 3s. net. This report gives a brief account of the proceedings of the Council in promoting and financing research throughout the whole field of medicine, and it includes an interesting section on War Emergency Services. Two problems related to tuberculosis have been studied: the National Institute for Medical Research is investigating the solid P.P.D. form of tuberculin with a view to the adoption of a new international standard for this substance, and Dr. Stanley Griffith has completed his investigations of the bacteriological characteristics of tubercle bacilli occurring in the sputum of persons suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. In addition, the Council has given financial help to a numbe~r of workers investigating single problems connected with tuberculosis.
A Practical Manual of Diseases of the Chest. By MAIIRICE DAVIDSON, M.A., M.D. Oxon., F.R.C.P. London: Second Edition, 1941. Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford. Price 42s. The first edition of this book was a notable contribution to the literature of pulmonary disease. It appeared when the time was ripe for a comprehensive survey of those many advances which had taken place since the last war, and when the need for an up-to-date textbook on the subject
OF N E W
47
BOOKS
Tuberculosis and Genius. By L~wIs J. MOORMA~, M.D.
The University of Chicago Press (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press). Price i5 s. From this book one can appreciate fully the peculiar influence tuberculosis had on the lives of some of our greatest writers. It depicts clearly that swift, feverish alliance between tuberculosis and genius, showing how a mental stimulus seems to be enhanced when the disease is at its height; how the " spark" is fanned by the haste of approaching death, by the frantic writing against time, and the growing realisation of the life-pattern. I t calls to mind that poignant sonnet of Keats: " W h e n I have fears that I might cease to be, Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain."
Dr. Moorman--himself a specialist of the disease--has given us an extremely interesting book. He has traced the influence of tuberculosis on the lives of Robert Louis Stevenson, Schiller, Marie Bashkirtseff, Katherine Mansfield, Voltaire, Moli~re, Francis Thompson, Shelley, Keats, and St. Francis of Assisi, devoting a chapter to each. Numerous references are made throughout to other famous writers who were also diseased in this way, and it is disturbing to see what a great number there are. The book, which is beautifully produced and written in a pleasing style, will interest the specialist and layman alike.
The Report of the Medical Research Council for the Tear I938-39. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. Price 3s. net. This report gives a brief account of the proceedings of the Council in promoting and financing research throughout the whole field of medicine, and it includes an interesting section on War Emergency Services. Two problems related to tuberculosis have been studied: the National Institute for Medical Research is investigating the solid P.P.D. form of tuberculin with a view to the adoption of a new international standard for this substance, and Dr. Stanley Griffith has completed his investigations of the bacteriological characteristics of tubercle bacilli occurring in the sputum of persons suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. In addition, the Council has given financial help to a numbe~r of workers investigating single problems connected with tuberculosis.
A Practical Manual of Diseases of the Chest. By MAIIRICE DAVIDSON, M.A., M.D. Oxon., F.R.C.P. London: Second Edition, 1941. Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford. Price 42s. The first edition of this book was a notable contribution to the literature of pulmonary disease. It appeared when the time was ripe for a comprehensive survey of those many advances which had taken place since the last war, and when the need for an up-to-date textbook on the subject