Consumption and Civilization. By John B. Huber, M.D. (J. B.
Lippincott and Co. 15s. not.)—Dr. Huber has collected in this volume a vast amount of facts on the causes of the disease, the
possible prevention's, and the curative treatment. It is a sign of the times that such a book should be wanted. There is a large public profoundly interested in the subject, and ready to welcome the efforts which are being made to work out scientific conclusions into measures of practical hygiene. There have always been in this, as in every subject, men before their time; but the average man or woman of fifty years ago would have thought any one crazy who suggested that consumption was infectious. We com- mend Dr. Huber's book to our readers, though we cannot but feel that for practical purposes a much smaller volume would have been more useful. In one matter our author seems too optimistic. " Who outside an insane asylum," he asks, "can con- ceive a return by choice to ante-Jenner conditions when small- pox decimated cities and towns, wiped villages entirely off the svap, and left every other survivor hideously pock-marked ? " " Who outside an insane asylum," indeed ! Why, if an anti- vaccination Resolution were proposed in the House of Commons, it would probably be supported by more Members than the Unionists can count.
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