24 NOVEMBER 1917, Page 20

Health and the State. By W. A. Brend. (Constable and

Co. 10s. Od. not.)—Dr. Brood's interesting and valuable book states the case for a complete reorganization of the public health services, with a Ministry of Health to investigate the causes of disease, and a local Health Council in each district to do all the work that is now shared by several independent authorities. Dr. Brand's chapters on "Medical Treatment among the Working Classes" and "Public Health and the National Insurance Act" put in a clear light facts that should be well known but are too often ignored by the more politician. The author draws attention, for example, to the vast sums spent and largely wasted on drugs under the Insurance Act, when the money could be more profitably expended in providing more institutional treatment for the poor. He discusses in his closing chapter the position of the voluntary hospitals in relation to his scheme.