i/8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The relative ionising and penetrating powers of the Alpha, Beta and Gamma, 

 and X-rays are dealt with in Chapter VII. 



The radioactive emanations are fully described ; the changes in the radium 

 which lead to their production, and the important changes which emanation 

 undergoes are shown. 



Part II of the book, which occupies over two-thirds of the volume, deals in 

 succession with the chemical action of the rays, the action upon certain forms of 

 animal life, developing forms, seeds and plants, bacteria, and finally the action 

 upon normal and morbid tissues. 



The matter dealt with in this section of the book is very important, and deals 

 with the theories on which the rationale of treatment by radiations is based. It 

 is also an historical survey of radiotherapy, and places in the hand of the 

 radiologist a valuable collection of facts and data expressed in a clear and con- 

 vincing manner, which reflects great credit upon the authors and upon all those 

 associated with them in a large amount of experimental work, the record of which 

 makes up the bulk of the book. 



The action of radiation from radium and X-rays upon malignant cells is fully 

 entered into — many photo-micrographs showing the action upon the cells illustrate 

 these pages. 



The much-discussed question of the production of malignancy in normal 

 tissues by radiation is also fully discussed. 



The chapter on idiosyncrasy and dosage provides information which will be 

 very valuable to the radiologist. 



The book concludes with a chapter on the important subject of selective and 

 differential action of the rays. 



The appearance of a work dealing with the action of radium and X-rays upon 

 the living cell is a clear testimony to the importance now attached to radiation 

 treatment in practical medicine — a treatment which may revolutionise many 

 theories hitherto accepted in explanation of the actions of drugs upon the system. 



The book is illustrated by a number of figures and two coloured plates. The 

 photo-micrographs are of the highest standard. The coloured plates are repro- 

 duced from Clunet's work on The Effects of X-Rays upon the Skin. 



The authors and publishers are to be heartily congratulated upon the produc- 

 tion of the book. 



Rural Sanitation in the Tropics. Being Notes and Observations in the Malay 

 Archipelago, Panama, and other Lands. By Malcolm Watson, M.D., 

 CM., D.P.H. [Pp. xvi + 320, with illustrations.] (London : John Murray. 

 Price 1 2 s. net.) 

 Dr. Malcolm Watson is one of the three or four British medical men who, out 

 of the hundreds or thousands of health officers and medical officers working in the 

 tropics, have made enthusiastic and persistent efforts to apply recent scientific 

 discoveries regarding diseases directly to the reduction of them. He was, 

 perhaps, the first Briton to take up the matter of malaria-prevention shortly after 

 malaria was proved to be carried by mosquitoes — that is, about sixteen years ago. 

 Stationed in the malarious Federated Malay States, being then Medical Officer of 

 the town of Klang, he was sagacious enough to recognise at once what a great 

 benefit would be conferred upon the country if the disease could by any means be 

 reduced in it. The practical problem confronting him was by no means an easy 

 one. The rainful is large, the country is covered with rich vegetation, and the 

 plantations are worked by large collections of coolies, chiefly brought from India. 



