Handbook of Hygiene for Students and Practitioners of Medicine

This small handbook of hygiene covers an almost unbelievable amount of ground. Vital statistics, insect-borne diseases, parasitic worms, occupational hygiene, poisonous gases, personal hygiene and the assessment of normal health are all included with the other subjects more commonly discussed in a short textbook of hygiene. The discussions are brief, as they needs must be, but on the whole the material is well selected and accurate. A sentence on page 107 is especially interesting in view of the recent furor about poliomyelitis. The sentence reads "Epidemics (of poliomyelitis) rarely occur in cities." This statement does not appear to apply in this country but may represent a difference in the biology of the disease in Ireland. There are no references to the literature in this book, but for the purpose of an elementary introduction to the subject it would be hard to find anything so inclusive, either more simply written or