Epidemic Disease in Ghana 1901–1960

the discovery of antitoxins (von Behring and Kitasato), the standardization of toxins and anti-toxins, the distinction between active and passive immunization (Ehrlich), bacteriolysis (Pfeiffer), haemolysis, agglutination of blood corpuscles as a diagnostic test, the opsonic index, and prophylaxis and treatment of many diseases by vaccines. In certain diseases, for example, cerebro-spinal meningitis and tuberculosis, vaccines have been superseded by the triumphs of chemotherapy. In others immunization still reigns supreme, as in the prevention of diphtheria and epidemic poliomyelitis. Such are some of the features of the history which Dr. Parish has to tell. The book is well documented, well produced, and its interest is enhanced by portraits of the great exponents of immunization, past and present.