August 25, 1923] 



NATURE 



275 



1921, lack of space apparently added great difficulties 

 to the work, and it is significant of the capacity of 

 Prof. Onnes and those who have laboured with him 

 that the output of valuable results has been so profuse. 

 The new laboratory is indeed a fitting monument to 

 a great man. 



The book is, appropriately enough, mainly in Dutch, 

 but each contributor has, in fact, written in his own 

 language. Prof. Lorentz has contributed the fore- 

 word, in which he pays glowing tributes to his colleague. 

 There are five chapters, of which the first contains 

 articles descriptive of the laboratory itself. The 

 late Prof. Kuenen describes the international character 

 of the work, and Dr. Crommelin, upon whom seems 

 to have fallen a lion's share of the labour of production, 

 gives a very complete picture of the buildings, equip- 

 ment, apparatus, and methods of work. Each of the 

 four remaining chapters deals with a special field in 

 which low temperatures have been applied. W. H. 

 Keesom and E. Mathias, among others, contribute 

 papers on thermodynamic investigations with gases. 

 Researches on magnetism at low temperatures, carried 

 out by himself and Prof. Onnes, are described by 

 P. Weiss. Chapter IV. is entitled " Investigations in 

 Optics, Magneto-optics, and Radioactivity," and 

 contains papers by Zeeman, Jean Becquerel, Ehrenfest, 

 and Mme. Curie. The last chapter, which refers 

 mainly to the super-conductivity displayed by metals 

 at very low temperatures, and contains a paper by 

 Einstein, includes also reviews of results connected 

 with the Hall effect, piezo-electricity, and other 

 electric phenomena. There are numerous illustrations 

 and diagrams ; a few sketches appear also, including 

 a frontispiece portrait of Prof. Onnes, drawn it is 

 not clear whether by himself or by a near relative 

 of the same name. 



It is altogether a book worthy of the occasion ; 

 it properly impresses one with the exceptional greatness 

 of the work and of the man. Strictly, of course, it 

 is a tribute from his colleagues and students, but it 

 is one in which, without distinction of nationality, 

 we should all be ready to join unreservedly. 



Thirty Years of Public Health Work 

 in Manchester. 



Observations on the History of Public Health Effort in 

 Manchester. By Dr. James Niven. Pp. vii + 230. 

 (Manchester and London : John Heywood, Ltd., 

 1923.) n.p. 



THE retirement of Dr. James Niven, the medical 

 officer of health of Manchester, has led to the 

 preparation by him of an intensely interesting account 

 of public health effort in Manchester since 1894, when 

 NO. 2808, VOL, 112] 



he first became responsible for the official health work 

 of this city. The story is one which will be read with 

 interest and admiration, not only by those colleagues 

 in the public health service who for many years have 

 looked to Dr. Niven for light and guidance in the 

 application of science to preventive medicine, but also 

 by ijiany others who know that sanitary progress in 

 this period has been as great as, or even greater than, 

 the progress in life-saving surgery. 



Here we can merely direct attention to a few salient 

 points, advising all who can obtain a copy to study the 

 report in detail. 



In the stride forward of preventive medicine, there 

 has been a tendency to have regard solely to specific 

 infection as a source of disease ; but Dr. Niven wisely, 

 in the outset of his report, expresses the well-founded 

 view that by far the most important influence which 

 has governed the improvement of the public health in 

 Manchester, apart from economic conditions, has been 

 the removal of organic filth, whether within or without 

 the habitations of the people. The story of improve- 

 ment in this respect is vividly told, the region of 

 least success being that of emission of smoke from 

 chimneys. 



The general result of all the reforms achieved, as 

 shown in vital statistics, comparing the period 1891-95 

 with 1916-20, is that the general death-rate has declined 

 40 per cent., typhus fever is extinct, the death-rate 

 from enteric fever has declined 92 per cent., diarrhoeal 

 diseases 74 per cent., the rate of infant mortality 

 44 per cent., and pulmonary tuberculosis 42 per cent. 

 The story as regards enteric fever and diarrhoea is 

 especially impressive. The -abolition of pail-closets, 

 the reform of stable-yards, the aid furnished by 

 bacteriology in the diagnosis of enteric fever, the 

 recognition of carriers and shell-fish as important 

 sources of infection, and steady action against the 

 domestic fly, have all borne their share in securing the 

 vast improvement which is recorded. 



Dr. Niven was the pioneer of administrative control 

 of tuberculosis in Great Britain, and his review of 

 progress made is especially important. In defending 

 direct action against the disease as distinguished from 

 indirect action against slum dwellings, he holds the 

 balance very fairly. He agrees that history and 

 experience alike point to the relief of economic pressure 

 as the most powerful weapon in combating tuber- 

 culosis ; but attack solely from this point of view 

 erroneously assumes that economic conditions can be 

 altered at will. This being so, there is no excuse for 

 neglecting direct action founded on an intimate know- 

 ledge of the disease. There is the further point that 

 we are concerned with a vicious circle. Not only does 

 poverty favour tuberculosis, but it is itself a poverty- 



