150 Reviews. [Jan. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH.* 



It is not because we are behindhand in England with regard to public 

 health that so few works in our language have been devoted to the 

 subject. In fact, there are few countries in Europe in which so large 

 a mass of matter exists on this subject. Our sanitary activity takes 

 date from the invasion of cholera in 1831, since which time Parlia- 

 mentary inquiries have resulted in a number of Blue Books containing 

 abundant facts on the subject of public health. Our Legislature has 

 been by no means behindhand. A Board of Health has been esta- 

 blished, and, although not now existing, has left a permanent institu- 

 tion on our Statute Books. The Nuisances Removal Act, the Local 

 Government Act, the Metropolitan Management Act, the Vaccination 

 Act, the Army Sanitary Commission, the Burial Board, the Chil- 

 dren's Employment Commission, the Lodging House Act, the Bake- 

 house Act, the Adulteration of Food Act, and a number of other Acts 

 and institutions are so many proofs of our sanitary activity and the 

 regard we pay to public health. To be sure, our legislation has been 

 rather fragmentary, but that is the character of all our legislation, 

 and our Legislators seem to glory in the fact. But during all this 

 time, we have had no systematic teaching of Hygiene. In every Uni- 

 versity on the Continent the subject has been considered of sufficient 

 importance to demand teaching from a special Chair ; hence, men 

 have been trained to teach and learn the first principles of Sanitary 

 Science, and manuals and text-books have been published for the 

 benefit of students and the public. It was a grand move in the right 

 direction when the Government determined to give to the ill-educated 

 youths who were induced to enter the medical service of the army, the 

 opportunity of studying, more especially the subjects which would 

 demand their attention as surgeons in military service. The Medical 

 School which was first opened at Chatham, and afterwards transferred 

 to Netley, was made to comprise a Chair of Military Hygiene, and 

 to this Chair Dr. Edmund Parkes was appointed. A happier selec- 

 tion could not have been made. Dr. Parkes is not a man to sit down 

 quietly to enjoy a good appointment. Having now delivered several 

 courses of lectures in his new Chair, he has given to the public in this 

 volume the subject of his teachings. Hence, we get for the first time 

 a comprehensive work on Public Health. 



Although this volume is written from the military point of view, 

 and is prepared especially for use in the medical service of the army, 

 it nevertheless contains the first princijdes of all sanitary action, and 

 is essentially a work on general hygiene. We shall not attempt here 

 to criticize a work which, after attentive perusal, we regard as equal 

 to any that have appeared either in France or Germany on this sub- 

 ject ; and which in every department gives indications of the author's 

 comprehension and laborious inquiries. We almost regret that the 



* ' A Manual of Practical Hygiene, prepared especially for Use in the Medical 

 Service of the Army.' By Edmund A. Parkes, M.D. London : Churchill & Sons. 



