,160 '.rUllEHCLE

BOOK NOTICES.

[July, 1937

Brompton Hospital Reports. Yol. Y.193G. Published by the He.carch Dcpad·lIlcnt of the Hospital. Pp. 143. Price2s.6d.

These reports, fiS our readers must boaware, consist chiefly of papers recentlypublished frolll the IIospital. Thepresent volume contains in additionthree statistical reports of great interest,based on figures derived from experi­ence gained at Brompton. One of theseis a report prepared by the ,Registrars,dealing with fourteen years' experiencoof the treatment of pulmonary tuber.culosis by thoracoplasty. During this

'period, 437 cases of pulmonary. tuber­culosis have been treated by this form

.of collapse, out of a total of 21,726cases of pulmonary tuberculosis ad­mitted to the wards. In 1922, out of2,213 cases only one patient underwentthe operation. Each year since then,with one or two exceptions, the pro­portion steadily rose, until in 1935, outof 1,506 cases, thoracoplasty wascarried out for 95 patients, i,e., for6'3 per cent. of the total. The operativemortality over the whole penod hasnever oxcceded 21 per cent. and has:l.Veraged 14 per cent. An interestingpoint brought out is, that of the 437cases operated on, 297 are alive, ofwhom 65-i.e. some Hi per cent.-arefit for full work and are entirely freefrom symptoms referable to pulmonarytuberculosis. Another encouraging con­clusion which can be drawn from theresults of this investigation is that theexpectation of survival for those B 3cases whioh are suitable for thoraco­plasty is approximately three times asgreat as that of the average B 3 case.

The othel' statistical papp.ril deal ro­spectively with the Treatment of' Pul­monary Abscess, and with the RadonTreatment of Pulmonary Neoplasms.These papers form part of the AnnualMedical Beport of the Hospital. Theremaining papers have already appearedin various medical journals, and inoludeJ. E. H. Roberts' three' Lettsomian

Leotures of 1935, on the Surgery ofPleural and Pulmonary Infeotions.

The book is ll. worthy successor to theprevious volumes emanating from theBrompton Hospihl.

New York Tuberoulosis and HealthAssootation. Annual Report l!J35 und1936.

The chief concerns of the Tubercula.sis Service of the Association during thetwo-year period co\'ered by this reportwere three-fold: the securing of addi.tional ho~pital facilities to meet thetuberculosis problem of New York City;the completion of a study of present andfuture hospital needs for the HospitalSurvey of the United llospital l!'undand the care of the homeless tubel··culous. No substantial progress isreported in rega.rd to the first of thesepoints. less than fifty new beds havingbeen seoured during the two years,although on the b:isis of two beds forhospital care of the tuberculous for eachannual death frOIl1 the disease, of NewYork City patients, some 2,500 nddi-

. tional beds are required.A major nctivity of t.he Assooiation of

Tuberculosis Clinics during 1936 wasII. study on the genernl quality andcharacter of the medical work in theditIerent clinics, with the object offormulating as far as possible minimumstandards regarding medica.l work, towhioh all the tubercnlosi:; clinics shouldconform. A preliminary report waspublished in December, 193G. Thecomplete study will include a reviewof the medical and nursing activities ofthe clinios, and the home follow-up oftile patients.

The remainder of the Report dealswith the workof the Heart Assooiation,the SooialIIygiene Department, Indus·trial Hygiene, Community Dental Ser­vice, the New York Diabetes Assooia­tion, Health Education, Research andStatistios., The Assooiation is evidentlydoing valua.ble work for the advanc~­

ment of public health in New York.