Rural Medicine

Although this was primarily a local conference centering about the activities of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital at Cooperstown, N. Y., the speakers were drawn from a wide circle. There were four subjects under discussion: rural morbidity, health department programs and school health programs in rural areas, postgraduate medical education in rural areas, and economics of rural medicine. In spite of a well organized program with a wide variety of speakers, the proceedings of the conference are not simply a presentation of divergent views, lacking in continuity and comprehensiveness. The material assembled under these various heads constitutes valuable material for the study of the problems of rural medicine. It may be significant of an advance in the discussion of medical problems that no speaker attempted to present a panacea. The rather extensive bibliography on rural medicine that is included can hardly be considered either adequate or impartial, but it is at least a beginning which should form a basis for a more complete bibliography.