Chronic Bronchitis in Newcastle-upon-tyne

THE title of this book is self-explanatory. It is so written that doctors in any part of the world and in any typc of practice can quickly learn the up-to-date treatment of many of the common emergencies which wc may be called upon to treat. It could be of particular value to those whose time is too limited to permit of much critical reading. It should therefore appeal particularly to the "successful" general practitioner in the United Kingdom, whose life, by reason of the capitation system of remuneration, becomes more and more harried as his practice grows. The editor of the B.M.J. has got together an excellent team of contributors, and I canl strongly recommend the lucidity of their subject matter. It is impossible to cover every common emergency in 250 pages of large print, but I was surprised to find no reference to the treatment of injuries caused by violence. Street accidents are common, and we are often called upon for advice, particularly where head injuries have been sustained. I hope this omission will be remedied in the next edition, which should not be long delayed, as this book deserves to be widely read. Tiiis study of chronic bronchitis is an attempt to show the incidence and some predisposing factors, in relation to the disease defined by some symptoms and by a clinical examination. Many environmental factors are considered, but few of the findings are more convincing than the evidence already available suggesting an association with certain specific hazards such as smoking and social class. This has been a major investigation which could be severely criticised from a number of aspects. The description of the findings contains strange statements such as "Eventually increasing disablement due to extending emphysema leads to heart failure, unless an acute respiratory infection should cause earlier death, or the patient should die of some other disease such as coronary thrombosis or malignant disease." There is an interesting section describing how a "social study" is started. THIs book brings together, in an enlarged form, a series of articles published by the author in a number of journals. One might expect that this would result in a lack of continuity in a work which is not a textbook , but rather a book which needs to be read at a single sitting. However, there is a clear connection between all the sections and the conclusion. The epidemiology …