The period 1700 to 1900 saw the beginnings, and the development, of the British Empire in India. Empire was not planned, at least not in the early stages. In a sense, it just happened. The first British in India came for trade, not territory; they were businessmen, not conquerors. It can be argued that they came from a culture that was inferior, and a political entity that was weaker, than that...

depressed marionette in the medical advertisement discussed by Dr Jordanova is brought back to life by a daily dose of Ludiomil. For the most part the analyses are compelling, even if at times the reader might want rather more evidence and slightly less speculation. The gendered nature of anatomizing crops up several times in the book, culminating in a section in the final chapter in which Dr J...

It has been customary to fix the period of viability of the child at twenty-eight weeks of intrauterine gestation. But this period undoubtedly varies within relatively wide limits. In this respect much depends upon the nourishment of the fetus prior to birth, the health of the mother during pregnancy, the conditions demanding or leading up to the interruption of pregnancy, the character and dur...

The author reviews the various factors (sodium, aldosterone, renin-angiotensin system, and norepinephrine; each of these factors being influenced by others) involved in the mechanism of human hypertension. A coherent picture is emerging, with the final pathway of these mechanisms converging on the renin-angiotensin system in the presence of a positive sodium balance and responsible for arteriol...

About the year 1625 the Olive, a ship returning to Britain from Pernambuco and driven by bad weather, arrived at Barbados. The island was found to be uninhabited, although the presence of fruits and hogs suggested earlier visits by other ships. The ground "they found by tryalls in several parts, to be so overgrown with Wood; as there could be found no Champions or Savannahs for men to dwell in"...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To analyse the interindividual inequalities in mortality in Spain through the 20th century using the Gini coefficient, widely used as an income concentration index. DESIGN Age mortality data were obtained from official publications of vital statistics and age and sex compositions were obtained from population census. The Gini coefficient was estimated. It can take values betwe...

some times used their powers to achieve unjustifiable ends, at employers' or public's expense. But, although such excesses might illustrate the need for enlightened leadership or perhaps for some mild legal reforms, their conclusion on balance is that big labor was a necessary offset to big businesses. Knowing and agreeing to the outcome -big labor -in turn informs most histories of the evoluti...

A review of nineteen hundred cases of acute poisoning admitted to the Intensive Care Unit shows that poisoning was responsible for 40% of the emergencies treated at this Unit, between 15th January, 1976 to 15th November, 1985. Comparing our data with Western figures, it was noted that the pattern of poisoning in our Country is considerably different from that in the West. Organophosphorus insec...

growth studies were conducted for humanitarian purposes. Heights and weights of children were measured to provide evidence of poverty, malnutrition, disease, and labour abuse in an attempt to bring about social reforms. The emphasis on social comment is a great strength of this book. The author not only explains what was done and how it was done (details of the methodology are always given wher...