WHO'S WHO AMONG THE MICROBES

By WILLIAM H. PARK AND ANNA W. WILLIAMS, The Century Company, New York.

The material of this book grew out of a series of radio talks on communicable diseases and their microbes. So many requests for information followed those talks that the authors decided to add somewhat to the original story, and to put it in permanent form. Their main object is to tell of these microscopic living things in language familiar to the general public.

Here may be found an interesting sketch of the change in attitude from that of the time when disease was looked upon as a visitation by gods or devils, and associated with magic and witchery, to that of the present time. The authors tell how and why some microbes are harmful to man, others harmless and still others helpful, and how man may protect himself from the harmful ones and make better use of the activities of the useful. Perhaps the most fascinating of all is the account of the long struggles in bringing many of the dangerous microbes under control.

Scientific terms and phrases appear but they are parenthetical, as it were. They do not make the book technical or the reading of it difficult. It is probably the best book of its kind that has been written.

Department of Botany.