We have recently attempted to assess the value of a modification of the Wassermann reaction, based upon the suggestion of Richardson (1940). The results are being described in a pathological journal (Jennison, Penfold, and Roberts, 1949). The present paper deals with certain points which emerged during the statistical analysis, and which have a rather more general interest in regard to the application of statistical methods to biological data.
我们最近试图评估基于理查森(1940)的建议对瓦色尔曼反应进行修正的价值。研究结果发表在病理学杂志上(Jennison, Penfold, and Roberts, 1949)。本文讨论统计分析过程中出现的一些问题，这些问题对统计方法在生物数据中的应用具有相当普遍的意义。
{"title":"An Application to a Laboratory problem of Discriminant Function Analysis involving more than two Groups","authors":"R. Jennison, J. Penfold, J. Roberts","doi":"10.1136/jech.2.4.139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2.4.139","url":null,"abstract":"We have recently attempted to assess the value of a modification of the Wassermann reaction, based upon the suggestion of Richardson (1940). The results are being described in a pathological journal (Jennison, Penfold, and Roberts, 1949). The present paper deals with certain points which emerged during the statistical analysis, and which have a rather more general interest in regard to the application of statistical methods to biological data.","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"139 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/jech.2.4.139","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
To the medical branch of an air force, the social or environmental conditions of pressing importance are the psychological stresses inevitable in air warfare. Only in war is it possible to observe the effects of such factors as acute hazard and intensive operational effort, with their resultant anxiety and fatigue, on the performance and well-being of such a highly selected population as the air crews of the Royal Air Force. Both the immediate effects of these stresses on efficiency and the long-term results in health were, therefore, the urgent concern of those whose duty it was to minimize these effects by every means open to the medical branch of a combatant force. The central issue was one of limitation of spells of duty?either short term, where the effects of hours of prolonged attention were to be forestalled, or long term, where the limits of an operational tour had to be set at a level high enough to ensure an adequate operational return for the training investment made yet not so long as to endanger health and morale. The problems of peacetime practice in social and industrial medicine are hardly as dramatic,, yet the essential mechanism of the adjustment of men to the less hazardous but frequently harassing conditions of post-war life are identical. This account of some typical studies of sickness in relation to measurable environmental and personal factors is given in the hope oT displaying the potentialities of the methods used in the study of problems of sickness and morale in an industrial population. Research on duty limitation in the R.A.F. during the war had a tripartite approach by clinical, laboratory, and field surveys. The clinical studies have been described by Symonds (1943), the laboratory work by Russell Davis (1948); in the present paper is set out an application of statistical methods to data collected in the course of active operations in the field.
{"title":"Sickness and Stress in Operational Flying","authors":"D. Reid","doi":"10.1136/jech.2.4.123","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2.4.123","url":null,"abstract":"To the medical branch of an air force, the social or environmental conditions of pressing importance are the psychological stresses inevitable in air warfare. Only in war is it possible to observe the effects of such factors as acute hazard and intensive operational effort, with their resultant anxiety and fatigue, on the performance and well-being of such a highly selected population as the air crews of the Royal Air Force. Both the immediate effects of these stresses on efficiency and the long-term results in health were, therefore, the urgent concern of those whose duty it was to minimize these effects by every means open to the medical branch of a combatant force. The central issue was one of limitation of spells of duty?either short term, where the effects of hours of prolonged attention were to be forestalled, or long term, where the limits of an operational tour had to be set at a level high enough to ensure an adequate operational return for the training investment made yet not so long as to endanger health and morale. The problems of peacetime practice in social and industrial medicine are hardly as dramatic,, yet the essential mechanism of the adjustment of men to the less hazardous but frequently harassing conditions of post-war life are identical. This account of some typical studies of sickness in relation to measurable environmental and personal factors is given in the hope oT displaying the potentialities of the methods used in the study of problems of sickness and morale in an industrial population. Research on duty limitation in the R.A.F. during the war had a tripartite approach by clinical, laboratory, and field surveys. The clinical studies have been described by Symonds (1943), the laboratory work by Russell Davis (1948); in the present paper is set out an application of statistical methods to data collected in the course of active operations in the field.","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"123 - 131"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/jech.2.4.123","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Statistical Specificity of a Code Personnel Cypher Sequence","authors":"L. Hogben, K. W. Cross","doi":"10.1136/JECH.2.4.149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/JECH.2.4.149","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"149 - 152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/JECH.2.4.149","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disorders of Sex and Reproduction","authors":"F. Crew","doi":"10.1136/JECH.2.4.155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/JECH.2.4.155","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"155 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/JECH.2.4.155","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We may, as a matter of convenience, distinguish two categories of gerontological research, the study of old age or old people on the one hand, and the study of ageing on the other. Almost the whole of pathology is our field in the study of old age; for whilst there are very few diseases which spare the aged, many present special features when occurring in them, either attacking them more readily or being more dangerous and less tractable. The study of these phenomena presents a vast and important task, in which, however, orthodox pathology can be of great help. In the study of ageing the field is much narrower and the guidance to be derived from existing disciplines much less. Each one of the diseases of old age is characterized by the fact that it attacks individuals or groups of individuals, leaving a significant proportion of mankind untouched. These diseases are, however, only the superimposed complications of an under lying process of functional deterioration in which all human beings share, and it is with this universal process that we are concerned in the study of ageing. It must be admitted that strict proof for the existence of such a separate process of ageing is lacking. The concept that we are all subject to an identical processor complex of processes of deterior ation is based on purely circumstantial evidence and on an impression which has been prevailing in the human race throughout the centuries. But if, as a working hypothesis, we accept the existence of ageing as a separate physiological or pathological entity and begin to look round for its manifestations, we are struck by the extraordinary difficulty of finding them. In order to be acceptable as a part of the complex of senescence a phenomenon must fulfil at least two conditions: it must be exhibited by all the members of the species, and it must be demonstrable at a time at which the complications of old age are still rare. Atheroma of the aorta is one of the very few * Whaitt Research Scholar. co ditions which not only passes the test of both t se criteria but also furnishes us with easily accessible and comparatively easily measurable lesions. An analysis of aortic atheroma might, therefore, apart from its intrinsic interest, contribute to our understanding of the process of senescence.
{"title":"The Gerontological Aspects of Atheroma","authors":"E. Geiringer","doi":"10.1136/jech.2.4.132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2.4.132","url":null,"abstract":"We may, as a matter of convenience, distinguish two categories of gerontological research, the study of old age or old people on the one hand, and the study of ageing on the other. Almost the whole of pathology is our field in the study of old age; for whilst there are very few diseases which spare the aged, many present special features when occurring in them, either attacking them more readily or being more dangerous and less tractable. The study of these phenomena presents a vast and important task, in which, however, orthodox pathology can be of great help. In the study of ageing the field is much narrower and the guidance to be derived from existing disciplines much less. Each one of the diseases of old age is characterized by the fact that it attacks individuals or groups of individuals, leaving a significant proportion of mankind untouched. These diseases are, however, only the superimposed complications of an under lying process of functional deterioration in which all human beings share, and it is with this universal process that we are concerned in the study of ageing. It must be admitted that strict proof for the existence of such a separate process of ageing is lacking. The concept that we are all subject to an identical processor complex of processes of deterior ation is based on purely circumstantial evidence and on an impression which has been prevailing in the human race throughout the centuries. But if, as a working hypothesis, we accept the existence of ageing as a separate physiological or pathological entity and begin to look round for its manifestations, we are struck by the extraordinary difficulty of finding them. In order to be acceptable as a part of the complex of senescence a phenomenon must fulfil at least two conditions: it must be exhibited by all the members of the species, and it must be demonstrable at a time at which the complications of old age are still rare. Atheroma of the aorta is one of the very few * Whaitt Research Scholar. co ditions which not only passes the test of both t se criteria but also furnishes us with easily accessible and comparatively easily measurable lesions. An analysis of aortic atheroma might, therefore, apart from its intrinsic interest, contribute to our understanding of the process of senescence.","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"132 - 138"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/jech.2.4.132","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"American medical services.","authors":"T McKEOWN","doi":"10.1136/jech.2.3.77","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2.3.77","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 3","pages":"77-105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/jech.2.3.77","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27145659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Existence of sex differentials with respect to disease in human populations is a matter which deserves investigation both from a practical and from a theoretical viewpoint. At the operational level, their interest scarcely calls for comment; but the biological significance we attach to them is an issue we are prone to dismiss too lightly by undue reliance on experience of laboratory stocks. In one way or another, most human societies are polarized with respect to the prevailing pattern of occupation in which one or other sex is engaged. Hence statistical regularities characteristic of the sex difference may well arise in virtue of hazards peculiar to different occupations in contradistinction to agencies ultimately traceable to the X-chromosome complement. If a wholly decisive test for discrimination between these possibilities or for evaluation of their relative importance in a given situation is not available, there is at least one framework of com parison relevant to a balanced judgment. On the whole, single females, if adult, have gainful employ ment outside the home, as do the majority of men. To this extent, we are entitled to expect that sex differences, if attributable to differential occupational risk, will be less obtrusive if we restrict our com parison to unmarried women. This does not mean that a sex differential attributable wholly or largely to circumstances unconnected with constitutional differences will disappear if we confine our compari son to men as a whole and to single women only. We must not disregard the fact that single women and men, if gainfully employed, dominate different trades and professions. For instance, men dominate the heavy industries and single women predominate in domestic and cognate services, including the care of children and the sick. It is none the less broadly true that the daily regime of the single woman conforms more to that of the male than does that of the married woman. In so far as the morbidity experience of the single woman conforms more to the male pattern we have therefore good grounds for assuming that differences which distinguish women as a whole are appreciably attributable to occupational status. The converse is not true, inasmuch as a difference which distin guishes the sexes may be associated with an occupa tional hazard almost or wholly restricted to males. Needless to say any comparison undertaken with this end in view is liable to lead us grossly astray if we do not pay attention to the differential incidence of disease with respect to age. Accordingly, comparisons of the mortality experience of men with that of women, or of single women with that of married women should take within their scope a breakdown with regard to age of the relevant populations at risk. This communication is an exam ination of what materials official statistics of disease supply. 2. Sources of Figures
{"title":"The significance of nuptiality with respect to interpretation of sex differences.","authors":"M M JOHNSTONE, M E HOSKER","doi":"10.1136/jech.2.3.106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2.3.106","url":null,"abstract":"Existence of sex differentials with respect to disease in human populations is a matter which deserves investigation both from a practical and from a theoretical viewpoint. At the operational level, their interest scarcely calls for comment; but the biological significance we attach to them is an issue we are prone to dismiss too lightly by undue reliance on experience of laboratory stocks. In one way or another, most human societies are polarized with respect to the prevailing pattern of occupation in which one or other sex is engaged. Hence statistical regularities characteristic of the sex difference may well arise in virtue of hazards peculiar to different occupations in contradistinction to agencies ultimately traceable to the X-chromosome complement. If a wholly decisive test for discrimination between these possibilities or for evaluation of their relative importance in a given situation is not available, there is at least one framework of com parison relevant to a balanced judgment. On the whole, single females, if adult, have gainful employ ment outside the home, as do the majority of men. To this extent, we are entitled to expect that sex differences, if attributable to differential occupational risk, will be less obtrusive if we restrict our com parison to unmarried women. This does not mean that a sex differential attributable wholly or largely to circumstances unconnected with constitutional differences will disappear if we confine our compari son to men as a whole and to single women only. We must not disregard the fact that single women and men, if gainfully employed, dominate different trades and professions. For instance, men dominate the heavy industries and single women predominate in domestic and cognate services, including the care of children and the sick. It is none the less broadly true that the daily regime of the single woman conforms more to that of the male than does that of the married woman. In so far as the morbidity experience of the single woman conforms more to the male pattern we have therefore good grounds for assuming that differences which distinguish women as a whole are appreciably attributable to occupational status. The converse is not true, inasmuch as a difference which distin guishes the sexes may be associated with an occupa tional hazard almost or wholly restricted to males. Needless to say any comparison undertaken with this end in view is liable to lead us grossly astray if we do not pay attention to the differential incidence of disease with respect to age. Accordingly, comparisons of the mortality experience of men with that of women, or of single women with that of married women should take within their scope a breakdown with regard to age of the relevant populations at risk. This communication is an exam ination of what materials official statistics of disease supply. 2. Sources of Figures","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 3","pages":"106-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/jech.2.3.106","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27159343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dr. Munn is a lecturer in Psychology in Tennessee. He has written a book indicating the foundations of the lectures which he gives, and a remarkably full book it is, ranging from Plato to Rorschach. It moves through the problems of feeling, emotion, cognition, and achievement to those of intelligence and personality. The emphasis is throughout upon the experimental method of the psychological laboratory, and diagrams and figures are abundant. Every chapter is followed by a bibliography. The material presented is considerable, but it is all "potted." The small reproduction of Healy's picturecompletion test in Fig. 203 seems valueless as it stands, and similar criticisms could be levelled at many other figures. Where Dr. Munn is discussing introversion and extroversion he again inserts a figure which is interesting, but he does not in the text really tackle the problems involved. This is typical of the information given: it is true up to a point, but it is doubtful if any student could rely satisfactorily upon learning any useful psychology from this volume alone. The mischief is that many students would consider that they could. We have no doubt that Dr. Munn knows these dangers better than the reviewer. This book reminds us of those medical primers " Aids to... " which are so compressed that at times they give information which could be falsely interpreted. So long as Dr. Munn's book is recognized as an attempt to abbreviate an enormous subject and to stimulate further reading, well and good. But its danger lies in its being accepted too glibly as authoritative per se, and the simplicity of some of its diagrams illustrates these dangers only too well. As a form of suggestive notes to the teacher of psychology already well versed in the subject it has something useful to offer. H.W.
{"title":"PRINCIPLES OF MEDICAL STATISTICS","authors":"Norman L. Munn","doi":"10.1136/oem.5.3.161-b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.5.3.161-b","url":null,"abstract":"Dr. Munn is a lecturer in Psychology in Tennessee. He has written a book indicating the foundations of the lectures which he gives, and a remarkably full book it is, ranging from Plato to Rorschach. It moves through the problems of feeling, emotion, cognition, and achievement to those of intelligence and personality. The emphasis is throughout upon the experimental method of the psychological laboratory, and diagrams and figures are abundant. Every chapter is followed by a bibliography. The material presented is considerable, but it is all \"potted.\" The small reproduction of Healy's picturecompletion test in Fig. 203 seems valueless as it stands, and similar criticisms could be levelled at many other figures. Where Dr. Munn is discussing introversion and extroversion he again inserts a figure which is interesting, but he does not in the text really tackle the problems involved. This is typical of the information given: it is true up to a point, but it is doubtful if any student could rely satisfactorily upon learning any useful psychology from this volume alone. The mischief is that many students would consider that they could. We have no doubt that Dr. Munn knows these dangers better than the reviewer. This book reminds us of those medical primers \" Aids to... \" which are so compressed that at times they give information which could be falsely interpreted. So long as Dr. Munn's book is recognized as an attempt to abbreviate an enormous subject and to stimulate further reading, well and good. But its danger lies in its being accepted too glibly as authoritative per se, and the simplicity of some of its diagrams illustrates these dangers only too well. As a form of suggestive notes to the teacher of psychology already well versed in the subject it has something useful to offer. H.W.","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"161 - 162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/oem.5.3.161-b","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63741698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A new short-term summary sickness return was instituted in the Royal Navy in July, 1945. The Admiralty Fleet Order calling for the new return is appended and explains its purpose and mechanism (Appendix). It was limited to ships carrying a medical officer and did not apply to shore establish ments or hospital ships. The primary purpose was the collection of statistics that would have a bearing on questions of habitability. For the first time the attempt was made to utilize minor sickness, and so the return called for counts of those on the Attending List as well as those on the Sick List and those discharged to hospital. It was anticipated that Attending List figures might perhaps prove a better index of living conditions than more serious illness necessitating absence from duty. Ships offer special advantages for this type of study. They bear a self-contained community with a relatively stable population. Changes in person nel are relatively small and gradual over considerable periods. The numbers at risk can be stated with accuracy. Such factors as changes in climatic conditions and differences in ship design can be readily studied in regard to their influence on fitness.
{"title":"Returns of Sickness from Ships of the Royal Navy (1945-46); A Contribution to Medical Climatology *","authors":"J. Roberts","doi":"10.1136/jech.2.2.55","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2.2.55","url":null,"abstract":"A new short-term summary sickness return was instituted in the Royal Navy in July, 1945. The Admiralty Fleet Order calling for the new return is appended and explains its purpose and mechanism (Appendix). It was limited to ships carrying a medical officer and did not apply to shore establish ments or hospital ships. The primary purpose was the collection of statistics that would have a bearing on questions of habitability. For the first time the attempt was made to utilize minor sickness, and so the return called for counts of those on the Attending List as well as those on the Sick List and those discharged to hospital. It was anticipated that Attending List figures might perhaps prove a better index of living conditions than more serious illness necessitating absence from duty. Ships offer special advantages for this type of study. They bear a self-contained community with a relatively stable population. Changes in person nel are relatively small and gradual over considerable periods. The numbers at risk can be stated with accuracy. Such factors as changes in climatic conditions and differences in ship design can be readily studied in regard to their influence on fitness.","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"55 - 65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/jech.2.2.55","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dr. Sheldon puts it. For this reason it is deplorable that, in common with other recent investigators, he has not found it possible to emancipate himself from the use of the term "normal." It is absurd that in a survey which represents a beginning towards an effort to find the normal standards of ageing, individuals should straightway be divided into normal, super-normal, and sub-normal for their age. The plea that this was done on common-sense grounds seems rather strange. Altogether such few conclusions and speculations as there are in this book are inclined to be expressions of what is commonly known as common sense. Our old friend " wear and tear " is also met with in the pages of this book. If authors dealing with old age would begin to pay tribute to their own ignorance by foregoing the use of such biologically meaningless metaphors they Wvould help to clear the path for the acquisition of some real knowledge. Such criticism, however, concerns only the analytic parts of this book, the main part of which is devoted to an orderly account of the facts which emerged from an investigation extending over two years, in the course of which the social pattern of the lives of a 1: 30 random sample of the old people of Wolverhampton and the functioning of their minds and bodies were scrutinizedand studied with the help of a detailed questionnaire. The medical part of the investigation had to be restricted to the taking of histories, but the limitations arising from this and other difficulties are clearly realized by the author, who has made allowance for them in presenting his results. The scope of the survey is very wide indeed. After giving an account of the physical state of the subjects concerned and of the main physical symptoms complained of by them, the author goes on to deal in a similar manner with their mental state, the social structure of their homes, and the problems arising from illness in these old people. The author explodes some popular misconceptions and applies the corrective of exact recording to many vaguely held notions on the subject of old age. The main impression which he manages to convey is that old people are on the whole less handicapped than our clinical experience would tend to make us think. This book, packed with facts set down by a competent and sympathetic observer, should be read by gerontologists, social workers, and administrative planners alike. Theirs is the task of filling in the details, and they will be better fitted to do so after having studied this outline of the complete physical and social status of a typical sample of old people. F. A. E. CREw.
{"title":"The Social Medicine of Old Age: Report of an Inquiry in Wolverhampton","authors":"F. Crew","doi":"10.1136/JECH.2.2.75","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/JECH.2.2.75","url":null,"abstract":"Dr. Sheldon puts it. For this reason it is deplorable that, in common with other recent investigators, he has not found it possible to emancipate himself from the use of the term \"normal.\" It is absurd that in a survey which represents a beginning towards an effort to find the normal standards of ageing, individuals should straightway be divided into normal, super-normal, and sub-normal for their age. The plea that this was done on common-sense grounds seems rather strange. Altogether such few conclusions and speculations as there are in this book are inclined to be expressions of what is commonly known as common sense. Our old friend \" wear and tear \" is also met with in the pages of this book. If authors dealing with old age would begin to pay tribute to their own ignorance by foregoing the use of such biologically meaningless metaphors they Wvould help to clear the path for the acquisition of some real knowledge. Such criticism, however, concerns only the analytic parts of this book, the main part of which is devoted to an orderly account of the facts which emerged from an investigation extending over two years, in the course of which the social pattern of the lives of a 1: 30 random sample of the old people of Wolverhampton and the functioning of their minds and bodies were scrutinizedand studied with the help of a detailed questionnaire. The medical part of the investigation had to be restricted to the taking of histories, but the limitations arising from this and other difficulties are clearly realized by the author, who has made allowance for them in presenting his results. The scope of the survey is very wide indeed. After giving an account of the physical state of the subjects concerned and of the main physical symptoms complained of by them, the author goes on to deal in a similar manner with their mental state, the social structure of their homes, and the problems arising from illness in these old people. The author explodes some popular misconceptions and applies the corrective of exact recording to many vaguely held notions on the subject of old age. The main impression which he manages to convey is that old people are on the whole less handicapped than our clinical experience would tend to make us think. This book, packed with facts set down by a competent and sympathetic observer, should be read by gerontologists, social workers, and administrative planners alike. Theirs is the task of filling in the details, and they will be better fitted to do so after having studied this outline of the complete physical and social status of a typical sample of old people. F. A. E. CREw.","PeriodicalId":84321,"journal":{"name":"British journal of social medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":"75 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1948-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/JECH.2.2.75","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63774595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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