December 9, 1915] 



NATURE 



395 



pamphlets about food values. The new products 

 must undersell the old ones, and then they will 

 soon beg^in to find buyers. 



Prof. Dunstan and his staff are to be oonj^ratu- 

 lated on the bold way in which they have grappled 

 with the problem and the lucid statement they 

 have drawn up. Already they see some results of 

 their labour; shipments of seeds are bei^inning- to 

 g^o to Hull to be pressed, and the residues (which 

 alone present any difficulty) have been put under 

 investigation at the various agricultural colleges. 

 Only gross mismanagement can prevent the 

 development of the new industry — unless after the 

 war the Germans again subsidise their own indus- 

 try so as to extinguish ours, as it is said they did 

 on an earlier occasion when attempts were made 

 to work up the seeds in this country. 



E. J. R. 



PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 

 A Manual for Health Officers. By J. S. Mac* 

 Nutt. Pp. X + 650. (New York: J. Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 

 1915.) Price 125. 6d. net. 



IN this country there are numerous manuals of 

 public health, detailing the duties of medical 

 officers of health and other sanitary officers. In 

 the United States we believe the volume here 

 noticed is the first to review public health ad- 

 ministration from a practical viewpoint. Part i. is 

 concerned with the organisation and powers of 

 health authorities, part ii. with public health 

 administration. 



In a community consisting of separate States, 

 <ach possessing home rule in sanitary matters, 

 there is evidently much scope for differing regu- 

 lations. Such differences exist, and we should 

 have liked a fuller statement of the types of legis- 

 lation and administration than is given in this 

 manual. The information given is, however, 

 clearly set out, and the reader wishing for guid- 

 ance will find in this book much information in 

 regard to the various classes of service — inspec- 

 tion service, medical service, public health nurse, 

 laboratory service,, veterinary service, labour, 

 k'gal counsel and service. 



State organisation is vested in a board or in a 

 ommissioner, more often in a board. In Massa- 

 chusetts tliis consists of seven persons appointed 

 I)y the governor, with the advice and consent of 

 liis council, for a term of seven years. In New 

 York State, on the other hand, power is vested 

 in a commissioner of health, assisted by an ad- 

 \ isory council consisting of two laymen, one 

 mitary engineer, and three physicians. In both 

 M rangements, democratic control in this re- 

 NO. 2406, VOL. 96] 



putedly democratic country is indirect and remote, 

 and the medical professions exert a predominant 

 influence. .As time passes and experience becomes 

 riper/ it will be interesting to compare American 

 city experience with English city experience in 

 sanitary matters. In the latter, as is well known, 

 the electors can more directly and more swiftly 

 influence and alter the constitution of the sanitary 

 authority; and although this sometimes means 

 selfish obstruction to sanitary progress, it necessi- 

 tates progressive public education in local sani- 

 tary administration, and there is seldom serious 

 relapse in progress made. Nor is "graft" so 

 conspicuous in English as in some American 

 cities. 



It is remarkable that the States have only in 

 an embryonic stage any central and national 

 health organisation corresponding with that of 

 the English Local Government Board; There is 

 much agitation on this subject ; and although the 

 statement sometimes made that " Uncle Sam " 

 spends millions on the health of hogs and little 

 or nothing to promote the health of human beings 

 is exaggerated, it contains a modicum of truth. 



The gaps in official administration are much 

 more largely filled up by voluntary associations in 

 America than in this country ; and anyone wishing 

 to study the problems of charity, of tuberculosis, 

 of housing, and of child welfare, would need to 

 go largely to these societies for information and 

 for insight into some of the best American work. 



Excellent sections of this book are concerned 

 with exploding the sanitary fallacies surviving 

 from an earlier period. The sanitary significance 

 of dirt is stated with discrimination. The limited 

 role of sewer gas and foul odours is defined ; and 

 the error of supposing that running water will 

 more quickly purify itself from pathogenic germs 

 than stagnant water is shown. 



Each communicable disease is dealt with in 

 turn, and the succinct advice given is sound and 

 reasonable. The following statement from the 

 section on tuberculosis is the basis on which 

 modern administrative control over this disease is 

 founded. " Experience shows that the normal 

 human system is capable of resisting small doses 

 of infection when it would succumb to a heavier 

 dose, and it is just these heavier doses which 

 supervision over the germ-shedding patient 

 prevents." 



In regard to small-pox, it is urged that a hos- 

 pital for this disease "may be a special depart- 

 ment of a regular contagious disease hospital, and, 

 if properly conducted, need not be located at a 

 distance from other habitations. . . . Certainly 

 air infection out of doors is practically nil." This 

 is in direct contradiction to the rigid rule of the 



