' s Choice Chronic mercury poisoning

It would hardly be possible to imagine a selection of papers from the Journal that did not contain at least one by Donald Hunter, the first editor. Hunter, who was never himself an occupational physician in the sense that he was never employed in industry, nevertheless had the most profound effect on occupational medicine. His pre-eminent place was due in large measure to his Diseases of Occupations, which appeared first in 1955 and went through six editions before his death. There can have been few, if any, textbooks of medicine that were such a pleasure to read and that were so full of good advice. Even now the section on the social history of occupational health is worth a read. If the later editions of the book started to show their age, this is perhaps the occupational hazard which besets the author of a big popular work. The new, multiauthored continuation of the book bears little resemblance to the original in style or readability and in my view would best be called something else. It is such a pity that there is no longer anyone with either the breadth of knowledge or the writing ability to produce another work in the same class. The second way in which Hunter had such an influence was through his students, several of whom became-or remain-prominent in occupational medicine. Unfortunately I never knew Hunter but my first boss, A R Thompson, who was chief medical officer at Vauxhall Motors had been a student at the London Hospital and had a vivid recollection of Hunter's lectures which were remembered by all present long after the event.