356 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Reference is made to certain diseases which may adversely afitct child life. It 

 is, perhaps, unfortunate that the introduction of so much medical matter was 

 found necessary. The lay reader would have been greatly assisted by a Glossary 

 of scientific terms used in the text. Some of the appendices appear too technical 

 for a popular treatise, and might possibly have been modified or omitted with 

 advantage. The purpose of the author expressed in the book is worthy of praise, 

 and the chapters are well written and instructive. 



The writer has displayed great skill in discussing a delicate subject in 

 language the diction of which may be commended. The principles of sex 

 education on which the book is based should be valuable to those who can 

 realise their importance, and who are prepared to act. to the best of their 

 ability, in carrying them out. 



J. W. Cropper. 



The Minor Horrors of War. By A. E. Shipley, Sc.D., F.R.S. [Pp. xix 

 + 178, with 64 illustrations. Second, revised and enlarged edition.] 

 (London : Smith, Elder & Co., 191 5. Price 2s. net cloth, and is. 6d. net 

 paper cover.) 



The future of medicine has been rather aptly said to lie rather in prevention than 

 in cure. While this is obvious enough to those with scientific knowledge, it is 

 extremely difficult to bring home to the mass of the population the value of pre- 

 ventive measures in relation to insect-borne diseases. Nevertheless, the health 

 not only of our troops in the field and in training, but also of our workers at home, 

 depends largely on the adoption of various measures for the destruction of a 

 number of pests, insects and others, that are concerned in spreading disease. 

 Knowledge of the habits of such pests and of remedies against them is now 

 within the reach of all. The information is presented in a simple and entertaining 

 manner in Dr. Shipley's book, The Minor Horrors of War, which in a month 

 has reached a large second edition— a sure index, both of its popularity and of 

 its utility. 



The book contains twelve well-illustrated chapters dealing with such parasites 

 of the human body as lice and fleas, pests of dwellings such as bed-bugs, ticks, 

 and flies, irritating animals like mites and leeches, and destructive insects that 

 play havoc with the army biscuit and infest flour. The means of dealing with 

 these minor horrors that almost invariably accompany the assembling of large 

 bodies of men in relatively small areas are indicated clearly in each case. 



Lice are among the most serious annoyances to men, and at times, when 

 personal cleanliness cannot adequately be secured, are sources of great discomfort, 

 if nothing worse. Irritation and broken rest are inevitable. Worse may occur. 

 Lice are known to be the agents of spread of relapsing fever and of typhus fever. 

 By rubbing or scratching, the lice are crushed on to the skin and the germs of 

 disease (e.g. Spirochceta recurrentis of relapsing fever) are inoculated directly 

 into the blood through the surface damaged by scratching. Similarly, the 

 rubbing of the eye by a finger, soiled by a crushed louse, is another means of 

 introducing the parasite into the body. As typhus and relapsing fever are 

 endemic in certain areas of the eastern front of the present theatre of war, 

 attention should be paid to the copious preventive measures against lice set forth 

 in this book. 



Plague is conveyed by fleas from infected rats to man. Hence, a knowledge 

 of the life-history and habits of these insects is necessary. The commonest rat- 

 flea in all tropical and subtropical countries, Xenopsylla cheopis — and to a lesser 



