May 1, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



695 



Two parties are to be considered, the 

 tuberculous persons and the community, 

 and while the former are entitled to every 

 consideration and attention, the good of 

 society in general must be the principal 

 consideration which guides our action. 

 Fortunately, the interests of the two parties 

 are not irreconcilable and much can be done 

 by education -to smooth the difficulties 

 M'hich lie in our path. 



There should be in every state and in 

 every large city societies whose objects are 

 the study of methods of prevention and 

 the dissemination of such knowledge in 

 short, plainly written tracts among the 

 people. 



In addition to this, boards of health 

 should issue circulars constantly giving 

 such information and advice. At present 

 only twenty-two states and seven cities 

 issue such circulars and recommendations, 

 while five states have societies and five 

 cities have local societies for the preven- 

 tion of tuberculosis. 



These societies can do much good also 

 in shaping legislation. States and cities 

 should have uniform laws regarding expec- 

 toration in public conveyances, buildings 

 and on sidewalks ; overcrowding of factories 

 and tenement houses, the construction of 

 such buildings as regards light and ventila- 

 tion, and the employment of children under 

 age. 



Health officers should have the power 

 to force ignorant and vicious tubercular 

 persons who persist in reckless expectora- 

 tion into hospitals provided for them by the 

 public. There shoiild be compulsory notifi- 

 cation and registration of persons suffering 

 with phthisis, and apartments occupied by 

 such persons shoiald be thoroughly disin- 

 fected periodically, and always after death 

 or vacation of the premises before new 

 tenants are allowed to enter them. 



The urgent need is for institutions in 

 which the sick can be eared for and in- 



structed. These should be of two types- 

 sanatoria, built in open country districts 

 in regions known to be specially adapted 

 to the treatment of tuberculosis, and, sec- 

 ond, hospitals for the hopelessly ill and 

 destitute, where the maximum of comfort 

 can be given to them and where they will 

 cease to be sources of infection to their 

 families and the public in general. 



In spite of the enormous expenditure 

 which would be involved in providing hos- 

 pital accommodations for the indigent tu- 

 berculous, it would cost less than the pres- 

 ent money loss to the country from deaths 

 alone, and in a few years we could confi- 

 dently expect a marked decrease in the 

 disease. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The Diamond Mines of South Africa. Some 



Account of their Rise and' Development. 



By Gardner F. Williams. New York and 



London, The Macmillan Co. 1902. Pp. 681. 



With 491 illustrations, 29 photogravures and 



11 maps. 



The most important volume that has ever 

 appeared upon the diamond fields of South 

 Africa, or in fact upon diamond mining in 

 general, is that from the pen of Mr. Gardner 

 F. Williams, General Manager of the De Beers 

 Consolidated Mines. There is no doubt that 

 the late Hon. Cecil J. Ehodes, who died dur- 

 ing the early part of 1902, would have been 

 deeply interested in this volume, and it was 

 the desire of the author that he should see it 

 — little realizing that this great organizer 

 would so soon have passed away. But it must 

 also be recognized that it was through the di- 

 recting capacities and experienced mining 

 knowledge of Mr. Williams himself that the 

 De Beers Mines were managed in such a way 

 that the cost of production was gradually 

 brought -down to the lowest possible limit ; that 

 theft was almost , entirely done away with; 

 and that each year had shown a decrease in the 

 cost of production, and a greater security of 

 these mines as an investment. To the union 

 of these two men — one as the organizer, Mr. 



