23 JUNE 1923, Page 20

SCIENCE.

Dr. Roberts has practised medicine for thirty years amongst all classes of society, and his general experience, added to his special knowledge of Public Health problems, gives him a special qualification for the writing of a work of this kind. His suggested policy is essentially a practical one, based on personal observations as well as on official statistics. He realizes that for the formulation of a sound health policy " we shall have to get away from the abstract Utopianism which forms the traditional practice of politicians and governments, and get down to the realism of doctors and scientists and working people generally." Unless we are prepared to abolish overcrowding, the prime factor in the causation of disease and unhealth, " Mothers' Welcomes " will not save us, nor will Tuberculosis Clinics, nor Insurance Acts, nor Pasteurized milk, nor the medical profession. His scheme for " organizing the doctors " is both ingenious and sensible ; he believes that " the organization of the health service of the nation should be based upon the family as the normal unit, and on the family doctor as the normal medical attendant and guardian." We commend this book as being

humane without being sentimental, idealistic without being visionary, and instructive and thought-provoking without being tedious.