Early Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment.
In the publication of his small book on Early Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Dr. John B. Hawes, 2d, of Boston, has filled a longfelt want. As Dr. Richard C. Cabot writes in the preface of this work- There are plenty of large authoritative books about tuberculosis. There are plenty of small books which are not Doctor Hawes has written a book which is small and yet authoritative. In fifty-eight pages Doctor Hawes takes up the subject in a systematic concise manner, devoting a chapter each to the important facts of the family history, past history, work and habits, present illness, physical -examination, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. There are also important chapters on Adventitious Signs not Due to Pulmonary Disease; on Conditions which may Stimulate Tuberculosis; and on special methods of diagnosis and treatment such as the X-ray, tuberculin, and artificial pneumothorax. More might be added of the value of artificial pneumothorax in. early cases which are characterized by hemoptysis or by high fever or by both. A novel feature of this book is the appendix, which fills forty-eight pages, and which, by means of illustrative cases, photographs and X-ray plates of identical cases, etc., brings out many of the important points discussed in the first part of the book. If every physician would follow the advice given by Doctor Hawes, there would be many less cases of advanced pulmonary tuberculosis; this is particularly true in the case of children when the involvement of the bronchial glands should be recognized before the infection invades the lung tissue. Certainly there is no more important factor in the health of any community than the detection of early cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Rae W. Whidden, M.D.