This little book should appeal to pediatricians. Dr. Stieglitz boldly offers "consideration and recommendations as tentative suggestions" on the "probable future application of preventive medicine," and declares that pediatricians and obstetricians are the only practicing physicians who have actively applied their art and knowledge. His discussion of "definitions" is stimulating.
The chapter "Health Over the Last Forty Years" illustrates his argument without belaboring the available statistics. The remainder of the book is largely devoted to developing the concept of "constructive medicine" that is familiar to the pediatrician who succeeds in teaching parents to care for their children and who knows the numerous agencies and disciplines concerned with "the en masse approach to preventive medicine."
He emphasizes that "health is not an inalienable right. It is a privilege. Privileges invariably entail equivalent responsibilities.... Nature grants few rights, preferring to demand that privileges be earned. Health, like freedom and peace, continues only