A number of excellent books on contagious diseases have appeared in recent years, but there seems to be none that is quite the equal in completeness to this of Harries and Mitman. The third edition has been revised and expanded considerably by an additional chapter on the pneumonias and short descriptions of a number of other conditions, including the common cold, epidemic myalgia and infective polyneuritis.
In the opening chapter there is a discussion of the meaning of the terms "contagious" and "infectious," as well as one of certain public health regulations which are established by law. The authors point out that in Great Britain "infectious" is used to denote the diseases which in this country we call contagious, or communicable.
The well written chapters on infection and resistance; hypersensitiveness, allergy and serum reactions; transmission; diagnosis, and epidemiology, which comprise the first 100 pages, prepare the student for a better