November 8, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



727 



tic science was unique. His life was that 

 of the recluse bachelor, and his later years 

 brought anxiety and privation because his 

 science had lost its value as a means of 

 support. He will not soon be forgotten ; 

 but likewise no one will aspire to take his 

 place. W. Le Conte Stevens. 



Washington and Lee University, 

 Lexington, Virginia. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



1. Hygiene and Public Health. By Louis 

 Pabkes, M.D., D.P.H., London University, 

 and Henry Kenwood, M.B., D.P.H., F.O.S. 

 Sixth edition, 1901. Philadelphia, Pa., P. 

 Blakiston's Son & Co., publishers. With 

 numerous illustrations. Pp.732. Price, $2.50. 



2. The Theory and Practice of Military Hygiene. 

 By Edward L. Munson, A.M., M.D., Cap- 

 tain, Medical Department, U. S. Army. First 

 edition, 1901. New York, Wm. Wood & 

 Company, publishers. Illustrated by eight 

 plates and nearly four hundred engravings. 

 Pp. 971. Price, extra muslin, $8.00 ; leather, 



• $8.75. 



3. A Manual of Practical Hygiene^ for students, 

 physicians and medical officers. By Charles 

 Harrington, M.D., Assistant Professor of 

 Hygiene, Medical School of Harvard Uni- 

 versity. First edition, 1901. Philadelphia 

 and New York, Lea Brothers & Co., publish- 

 ers. Illustrated with twelve plates and one 

 hundred and five engravings. Pp.729. Cloth, 

 $4.25 net. 



4. The Principles of Hygiene ; a practical manu- 

 al for students, physicians and health oflflcers. 

 By D. H. Bergey, A.M., M.D., First Assist- 

 ant, Laboratory of Hygiene, University of 

 Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, W. B. Saun- 

 ders & Co., publishers. Pp.495. Price, cloth, 

 $3.00 net. 



5. School Hygiene. By Edward R. Shaw, Pro- 

 fessor of the Institute of Pedagogy, New 

 York University. First edition, 1901. New 

 York and London, The Macmillan Company, 

 publishers. Pp. 260. Price, cloth, $1.00. 

 In view of the act that hygiene is not an in- 

 dependent science, but a correlation of the 



teachings of physiology, chemistry, physics, 

 meteorology, pathology, epidemiology, bacteri- 

 ology and sociology, it is not surprising that 

 the progress of this branch has been phenom- 

 enal. Over twenty text-books have been issued 

 during the last ten years, and all but Parkes's 

 in the above list are products of the present 

 year. Indeed, this science was scarcely taught 

 in any of our medical schools twenty years ago, 

 and has received such an impetus during the 

 past two decades that many regard it of modern 

 origin. Such, however, isnot the case, for on turn- 

 ing to early history, we almost invariably find 

 that the health of the population has been made 

 the subject of legislation. Hygiene was practiced 

 by the Egyptians, the old Indians and Hebrews, 

 and a study of the habits of the primitive peo- 

 ples shows that a desire to prevent disease is 

 innate to all men. The Greeks and Romans 

 paid special attention to the physical culture of 

 their youth, public water supplies and baths, 

 and Athens and Rome were provided with 

 sewers at an early period of their history. 

 During the Middle Ages sanitation received a 

 decided check ; ignorance and brutal prejudices 

 appear to have been the ruling spirits, and for 

 many reasons it was the most unsanitary era in 

 history. About this time most of the towns in 

 Europe were built in a compact form, sur- 

 rounded with walls ; the streets were narrow 

 and often winding for defensive purposes, shut- 

 ting out light and air from the houses. The ac- 

 cumulation of filth was simply frightful. Stables 

 and houses were close neighbors, human filth 

 was thrown on the streets or manure heap. 

 The dead were buried within the church-yards. 

 Sewers and aqueducts having been permitted 

 to fall into disuse, the inhabitants were com- 

 pelled to resort to wells with polluted subsoil 

 water. All the conditions were favorable for 

 the spread of infectious diseases, and in the 

 fourteenth century alone the oriental or bubonic 

 plague, according to Hecker, carried off one- 

 fourth of the population of Europe. The mor- 

 tality in towns was greater than their birth rate, 

 and the city population until the close of the 

 eighteenth century had to be recruited continu- 

 ally from the country. The repeated invasion 

 of pestilential diseases, however, compelled 

 everywhere some sanitary efforts in the way of 



