Le triangle hippocratique dans le monde gréco-romain: le malade, sa maladie et son médecin

connexion with the remainder of the book, and I cannot see what purpose it serves. Chapters two to five comprise the bulk of the book and are by far the best and the most rewarding of study. A good account is given of lead mining in the ancient world, of smelting and of cupellation, and there is also much information on the lead mines of antiquity and an excellent chapter on the production and uses of lead. The final chapter, which accounts for half the title but only a quarter of the substance, is the weakest. There is an interesting account of occupational and non-occupational exposures, and the dreadful plight of the lead miners of antiquity is brought to notice again. The section on non-occupational exposure discusses in some detail the well-known sources, water, food, wine, cosmetics, and drugs. It is interesting-as the author reiterates-that the Romans were aware of the dangerous potential of water conducted through leaden pipes and that water from such a source was more harmful than water delivered from earthenware pipes, which were to be preferred. This did not stop them from using leaden vessels for preparing sapa, however, and there can be no doubt that the Romans were greatly exposed to lead from this source. Only in the last forty pages or so does the author discuss lead poisoning in antiquity, and he displays an unfortunate tendency to count any description of abdominal symptoms as lead poisoning, he also appears to have been somewhat misled by the notion propounded by some modem writers that almost any symptom may occur in lead poisoning. Nriagu seems to reason that if the disease may produce any symptom, then any symptom may be attributable to it. In fact, lead poisoning is not nearly as difficult to diagnose as some writers would have us believe, and it is not difficult to recognize accounts of true lead poisoning in the ancient literature. I would not accept any of the descriptions in the Hippocratic corpus as being those of lead poisoning, and certainly not that given from the Sanskrit Sushruta which is quoted at some length on page 391. Finally, the author speculates on the role of lead poisoning in the Fall of Rome and falls sadly into error. His statements that "The one incontestable historical fact about the Roman aristocracy is that its ranks declined quite rapidly during the last century …