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each culture gave cross-agglutinating sera. Consider-

ing the great number of different known streptococci,the authors claim that this similarity amounts practic-ally to identification. Previous work has shown

them, they say, that streptococci isolated frominfected patients in the same hospital over a periodof two years were all of the same bacteriologicaltype, and that streptococci taken from women.confined outside the hospital were of different types.They are doing further work on the bacteriology ofthe present epidemic. This report undoubtedlyprovides evidence of considerable weight for the

droplet aetiology. ____

THE HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE.

THE activities of animal life are a blessing whenceoriginate health and, for mind-possessing man,

happiness. But man, while his intelligence was

dimly dawning, converted this blessing into a curse ;and was continuing so to do when historical timesopen. Thence onward the story of occupationaldiseases and of forced labour, commencing with earlyEgyptian records, has just been told in a reviewcontributed by Dr. L. Carozzi to the encyclopediacompiled by the International Labour Office atGeneva. 1 The copper industry is an instance whicharose about 5300 B.C., when conquered women andchildren were the first miners, goaded on by soldiersto their labours. An early papyrus is quoted :

" I have never seen a blacksmith acting as ambassadoror a foundry worker sent on a mission, but what I haveseen is the metal worker at his work ; he is grilled at themouth of the furnace. The mason, exposed to all weathersand all risks, builds without clothing. His arms are wornout with work, his food is mixed up with dirt and rubbish ;he bites his nails, for he has no other food. The barberbreaks his arms to fill his stomach. The weaver engagedin home work is worse off in the house than the women ;doubled up with his knees drawn up to his stomach, hecannot breathe. The laundryman on the quays is theneighbour of crocodiles. The dyeworker stinks of fishspawn; his eyes are tired, his hand works unceasingly, andas he spends his time in cutting up rags he has a horror ofclothing." "

The gigantic masterpieces of architecture whichstand to-day on the banks of the Nile are evidenceof the cruel sacrifices demanded of human tools bythe Pharaohs. Dr. Carozzi recalls that Hippocrates i

recognised lead poisoning, and Plato noted how anartisan’s body may be deformed by the exercise ofhis profession. He has discovered a pamphlet,written by Ulrich Ellembog in 1743, insisting on

the toxic action of carbon monoxide, lead, mercury,and other metals. By a curious misprint this

pamphlet is stated to have been printed for the firsttime in 1524. A short sketch is given of the life andwork of Ramazzini. This remarkable man recognisedthe influence of the way life is lived upon the waydeath has to be faced ; he was a scholar, a physicist,a geologist, a hydrologist, as well as a doctor, andabove all a hygienist ; a maxim he cites is longepraestantius est praeservare q1Lam curare. He added tothe famous questionaire of Hippocrates the pertinentquery " what is your occupation ? " He lived toa ripe old age, dying at last of apoplexy on his way tolecture at the University of Padua. Dr. Carozzigoes on to relate how, with the industrial develop-ment which saw its birth in Great Britain, theexistence of ill-health and disease arising fromoccupation became recognised, and was the cause forfactory legislation, which was the first effort at apublic health code. He closes with pointing out theunexpected influence which the world war exerted

1 Occupation and Health: Industrial Diseases. HistoricalReview (Brochure No. 254).

upon the development of industrial hygiene, when thehealth of the munition worker became as importantto the preservation of the state as the activities ofthe fighting forces. ____

OSLER

IN two large volumes Dr. Harvey Cushing haswritten with eloquence, breadth, and detail, the lifeof William Osler, but because that biography was solarge we find a brief appreciation of the great physicianwelcome, and we have no doubt that many readerswill share this sentiment. Miss Reid was a closefriend of Osler and his family, and this has enabledher to obtain new material as well as some interestingillustrations, among others a charming representationof Osler’s centenarian mother. A vivid and sympa-thetic history is here of one who combined the closestspirit of scientific inquiry with the openest appreciationof human life in general. The reason of Osler’ssuccesses, as physician, as teacher, as author, and asman of the world are all made clear, and we canappreciate how often the unexpectedness of hiswords or his attitudes lent them their great significance.He was able to illustrate abstruse doctrines with thehomeliest examples, to act as a philosopher whilejoking as a schoolboy; his reading was enormous,and his antiquarian interests profound, but he neverdropped into pedantry; he resolutely eschewedsentiment, and was one of the most affectionate ofmen. Although at the end of Osler’s life he was sostricken by the loss during the war of his only son,he tried to staunch the wound in his heart by work,and in all the waste and misery of the war he under-stood the good that could be rescued if every readjust-ment were an advance towards permanent peace.He has been spared the miserable medley of disorderand futility which has in so many fields taken theplace of readjustment, but it is probable that if afew such as he had been among the internationalworkers of the last decade the world would presenta different picture. For Osler had the equipment ofthe true international, the brains needed to follow,and the power of sympathy needed to appreciatethe aspirations of his fellow men, whatever theirgeographical home. ____

TUBERCLE IN INDIAN CITIES.

Dr. M. Kesava Pai, superintendent of the Madrastuberculosis hospital, estimates 2 that there are atleast 30,000 persons suffering from active tuberculosisin Madras. Roughly he thinks there must be a caseto every other house in the city, and the picture hedraws of the dirty, ill-ventilated, and overcrowdedtenements in which they exist is sufficiently impressive.The construction of a new tuberculosis hospital isunder consideration and its location has given rise tomuch controversy. There is considerable oppositionto the proposal to build within city limits. Thatsection of public opinion which fears infection andurges that it should be built in rural surroundingsappears likely to prevail. Dr. Pai, on the other hand,argues that it would be of more use if centrallysituated. In the absence of adequate provision oftuberculosis dispensaries there may be something tosay for this point of view. Meanwhile any contro-

versy of this kind sinks into insignificance whencontrasted with the importance of preventive propa-ganda. Tuberculosis has been a scourge of India

1 The Great Physician: A life of Sir William Osler. ByEdith Gittings Reid. London, New York, and Toronto.Oxford University Press. 1931. Pp. 299. 12s. 6d.

2 The Antiseptic, June, 1931.