The Country Doctor and the Specialist By Fred Lyman Adair (review) (1969)

But "when eugenics becomes self-conscious it tends to lose its virtue" (p. 86). Also "eugenic goals are most likely to be attained under a name other than eugenics" (p. 104). The book proceeds from a briefreview ofhistorical selection and survival to a consideration ofsurvival offamily Unes in a modern industrial state such as this country. The discussion ofmodern differentials in fertility is followed by an analysis ofdie genetic significance ofindividual as opposed to group differentials and a review ofthe evidence regarding die effects of relaxed selection on genetic defects and abnormaUties. FinaUy, die audior reviews eugenic poUcies and proposals and concludes widi an optimistic view of the future ofhuman heredity. The contribution of the book is aptly described by its subtitle "An Introduction to Eugenics in Modern Society." It is an unusual combination ofscientific findings presented in readable form, widi a sense ofsocial and human compassion not commonly associated with writings in this field. Dudley Kirk Food Research Institute Stanford University Stanford, California 94305 The Country Doctor and the Specialist. By Fred Lyman Adair, M.D. Box 65, Maitland, Florida 32751: Adair Award Fund, 1968. Pp. 215. Ten-dollar or more contribution to the Adair Award Fund. The Country Doctor andthe Specialist, an autobiography by Fred Lyman Adair, contrasts his own Ufe as a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology widi that ofhis father who was thetypical family doctor ofa generation before. Dr. Fred Adair was the first physician in Minneapolis to limit his practice to obstetrics and gynecology, and throughout his fortyfive years ofactive practice and teaching in Minneapolis and Chicago he exerted a strong influence, not only locaUy on patients and students, but nationally on the development of the specialty as a whole. Not evident from the book was his great concern over the welfare ofdie child before, during, and after birth at a time when most obstetricians were concerned almost entirely with the modier. He was one ofdie first to try to determine specific reasons for frequent failure to survive, and directed die coUection and analysis offindings from 1,000 autopsies on fetuses and newborn infants at die University ofMinnesota in the mid-i920s. He was actuaUy the founder ofthe fields offetology and neonatology as they exist today, a fact that is seldom recognized. The book is not only a delightfully written account ofa fuU and active Ufe but is also a record ofdie development ofobstetrics and gynecology as a recognized medical specialty and ofthe organization ofthe different societies that have exerted an influence on it during various periods ofits development. The book should be enjoyed by anyone interested in medicine as practiced early in the century and in the changes that have taken place in die subsequent years. It is also a valu126 Book Reviews Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Autumn 1969 ablerecord ofevents in dieobstetrical worldduringthefirsthalfofthis century. Copiesof the book are available from the Adair Award Fund, Box 65, Maitland, Florida 32751. Edith L. Potter, M.D. Gladiolus Drive Route 3, Box 658 Fort Myers, Florida 33901 Tobacco and Your Health: The Smoking Controversy. By Harold S. Diehl, M.D. New York: McGraw-HUl Book Co., 1968. Pp. 271. $4.95. Dr. Harold S. Diehl has been, since 1958, an official ofthe American Cancer Society, thus becoming deeply involved in the campaign against cigarette smoking in its relationship to the increased incidence ofcancer ofdie lung. The book is not offered as a scientific document but rather, as said by Dr. Berwyn F. Mattison ofthe American PubUc Health Association, a book by an author who "frankly disclaims die roles of disinterested observer and impartial reporter." The book is propaganda mustering, in weU-organized chapters, the mass ofopinion and the modicum ofscientific evidence which led to the expressions of opinion. Diehl traces the growth ofthe campaign, the supporting voices culminating in die papers by Drs. Ernest Wynder and Evarts Graham, by Drs. Richard Doll and A. B. Hill, and then the extensive statistical studies ofDrs. E. Cuyler Hammond and Daniel Horn. From this point onthe perspective widens to include die effects oftobacco on longevity , on respiratory diseases, on the circulation, and on the heart. Two briefpages concern air poUution with the potential synergistic effect ofsmoke from the...