REVIEWS 529 



Plague and Pestilence in Literature and Art. By Raymond Crawfurd, 

 M.A., M.D. Oxon., F.R.C.P., Fellow of King's College, London. [Pp. viii 

 + 222.] (Oxford : At the Clarendon Press. Price 12s. 6d. net.) 

 At first sight it might seem extraordinary that any one should find a connection 

 between literature and art, and plague and pestilence ; but Dr. Raymond Craw- 

 furd's fine book amply justifies the venture. As a matter of fact there is a close 

 connection, because, indeed, art should find its greatest themes in those matters 

 which most concern humanity, and among these there has been nothing so 

 germane to us as the frightful pestilences which have destroyed us probably for 

 untold ages and which are still capable of sudden disastrous revivals. Both 

 literature and art in their most genuine periods did not hesitate to describe and 

 figure these terrible experiences of mankind. Dr. Crawfurd's book is full of 

 beautiful reproductions of beautiful pictures. Of course, in the highest period of 

 art, painters treated everything in a manner which scientific men would call 

 diagrammatic rather than realistic — that is to say, all the events of an outbreak of 

 plague might be crowded into the different parts of the same picture. But this 

 does not in any way detract from the artistic beauty of those classical productions. 

 The seriousness, the clarity, the realism, the finish, and the technical capacity 

 shown in them should be compared with much of our present-day rubbish which 

 passes under the names of impressionism and so on. 



The history begins practically with an account of the great plague of Athens 

 derived from Thucydides. Dr. Crawfurd gives a detailed discussion of the nature 

 of this outbreak and concludes that it was plague ; but we must confess still to 

 feeling some doubts as to whether it was not smallpox. He also discusses the 

 views of the ancients as to the cause of these terrible inflictions, and does so in a 

 very able manner. Next he comes to the great pestilences of the Middle Ages ; 

 but the book is not a scientific treatise of epidemics, and the author therefore does 

 not cover the whole ground, but confines himself to such epidemics as have been 

 best described in literature and art. His narrative concludes with the outbreak of 

 plague in Napoleon's army in Egypt and with the fine picture of Baron Gros. 



It is very curious how little interest men have taken in the scientific study even 



of such important matters as the diseases which destroy them by hundreds of 



thousands and millions ; and how slowly the true theory grows in the human mind. 



At a very early day Lucretius really formed something like a true conception when 



he attributed plagues to atoms ; but men persisted in accusing Heaven of causing 



them. A no less wonderful history is the scientific history that records the manner 



in which we have gradually discovered the truth ; but (and we rather regret it) the 



author does not deal at all with this theme, though we think the book might easily 



have terminated with some account of the important discoveries of Kitasato and 



Yersin and of the epoch-making discovery that this terrible infliction, so often 



attributed to wrathful gods, is simply due to such a contemptible thing as a rat flea. 



The book contains no list of contents and no index ; but is nevertheless one which 



should be possessed by all medical men and which will be of interest to all lovers 



of art and science. 



R. ROSS. 



SOCIOLOGY 



Interpretations and Forecasts. A Study of Survivals and Tendencies in Con- 

 temporary Society. By Victor Branford, M.A. [Pp. x + 83] (London: 

 H. K. Lewis, 1914. Price 5s. net.) 

 Mr. Victor Branford's book will please and soothe many a fireside, especially 

 the well-screened and cushioned firesides of the gentler sex. It consists of a 



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