322 T H I ~ B R I T I S H H O I ~ I ( E O P A T H I C J O U R N A L

do little beyond treating the underlying cause where it is known, and administer- analgesics wheLe it is not. Homoeopathy has rather more to offer; but whilst its application requires a greater interest in the type, site and modalities of the pain than in its exact mechanism, it would be wrong to suppose that the homoeo- pathic physician need not therefore make an effort to understand the nature of the condition he is dealing with.

Dr. Henri Vannier evidently diagnoses his thoracodynias before he treats them, and his book is an orderly account of the remedies for thoracic pain arising in the chest wall, the pleura, the bronchi and lungs, the heart, the oesophagus and the diaphragm. (Why not the emotions? We must all have seen pain in the chest directly attr ibutable to a broken heart, and I cannot believe tha t this is an exclusively Anglo-Saxon phenomenon.) As different conditions can cause similar symptoms, the same remedies occur again and again in the various sections, which helps to fix them in the mind of the reader. This is a most workmanlike and useful book. M.H.

Les Tuberciliniques et Leur Traitement Homoeopathique by DR. LEo~ VANNIER. 2nd ed. pp. 456. Doin et Cie, 1958.

This book is concerned with the homoeopathic t reatment , not of Tuberculosis but of Tuberlinics--a term not in common usage this side of the Channel, which denotes persons of a tuberculous diathesis, or, as homoeopaths would say, miasm.

The tubercular type, or one of its manifestat ions-- tal l delicate frame, fair skin, long eyelashes--is familiar to all medical men, and they are agreed tha t it is more prone than other types to contract the disease, tuberculosis. Less wide- spread in this germ-conscious generation is the view tha t the tuberculous toxin precedes the bacillus, and in fact invades the organism by a sort of hereditary contagion analogous to tha t of congenital syphilis. In the first par t of his book Dr. Vannier reviews various opinions, and concludes tha t there is a constitu- tional t y p e - - t h e Phosphoric who is predisposed to carry this toxin, and who is a Tuberculinic before ever the bacteria can be demonstrated which label him as tuberculous. A healed tuberculous pat ient is also classed as Tuberculinic.

In a short clinical s tudy the manifestations of the Tuberculinic are discussed. As in the Syphilitic, they are protean. Dr. Vannier classifies them under fever, constipation, colds, migraine and neuropathies, and mentions the cardinal features of demineralization, sluggish circulation, affections of the respiratory system and nervous instability. The clinical examination and usual findings in a patient of this type are described.

The remainder of the book is devoted to homoeopathic treatment, which is threefold, as follows:

(1) A tuberculin is given in high potency, infrequently. (2) The constitutional remedy is given in a medium potency rather more

frequently (perhaps twice a month). (3) One or more drainage remedies are given daily in low potencies.

Great stress is laid on the importance of proper drainage, and the dangers of administering a tuberculin to a system which cannot adequately eliminate the toxins thus liberated.

Eighteen remedies frequently used in these ways are described in detail. There follows an account of the five tuberculins commonly used by the author: Marmoreck, Dcnys, Spengler, T.K., and T.R., with their clinical indications and associated remedies. I t is interesting to note that all of these preparations are made either in vitro or by means of animals such as the guinea-pig. Neither

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Bacillinum nor Tub. bov. appear to be used today in France, though they are warmly mentioned in the text, albeit as historical curiosities.

A series of nineteen case histories follows, and the book concludes with an appeal for the use of this method in preventive medicine. Dr. Vannier is probably right in believing the tubercular miasm to be almost universal by now, and the administration of tuberculins, with drainage remedies, to expectant mothers and babies might be expected to result in a marked improvement in child health, especially with regard to catarrhal complaints. And if tuberculins, why not other nosodes? Great possibilities are indicated by this book. M.H.

PLANTS AND FALL-0UT

"By their fl'uits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" (Matt. vii. 16).

WRITING in Nature, May 23rd, 1959, F. R. Fosberg of the Pacific (sic) Vegetation Project, describes changes in the condition of certain plants in the area of the Marshall Islands affected by fall-out from the 1954 Bikini hydrogen bomb test:

"On Gegen Islet, Rongelap Atoll, the station with the greatest fall-out exposure, of a total flora of 15 species, 13 showed conspicuous pathological or abnormal symptoms, ranging from plants dead or almost so to chlorosis, dead terminal twigs and mistletoe-like abnormal g r o w t h s . . , on Eniwetak Islet, Rongerik Atoll, though only two species were involved, the symptoms, defolia- tion and die-back of twigs, were so conspicuous as to alter the appearance of the vegetation causing a general grey colour in place of the normal green.

"On Likiep Islet, Likiep Atoll, which had scarcely any measurable fall-out, no abnormal appearances of any sort were noticed.

"The plants most widely affected were: Suriana maritima L., which was completely dead on Kabelle Islet and partially dead on other islets where it was observed; Cordia subcordata Lam., which on Gegen Islet was dead or almost so, and on Eniwetak Islet, where it is the most important tree in the vegetation, had the tips of almost all its twigs dead for 10-15 cm.; and Pisonia grandis R. Br., which was more or less leafless on the more affected islets, and bore, on Gegen Islet, curious mistletoe- or witches-broom-like leafy branches of a dark green colour which have not been noted elsewhere on this species. The defolia- tion of the last species is not necessarily abnormal, as it happens during severe drought periods. I ts association with the stations where fall-out was relatively heavy and without other evidence of drought makes it of interest."

The writer concludes: "It is not suggested tha t these observations are positive indication of cumulative effects of fall-out. There may be other un- suspected causes. However, the correlation between intensity of observed symptoms and intensity of recorded fall-out is at least suggestive, and would seem to justify further investigation. The extreme diversity in the reactions of different species growing under the same conditions to whatever caused these effects is of great interest. I t suggests the advisability of using a wide var iety of plants in any set of experiments designed to investigate the effects of radio- activity, as well as those of other environmental factors. I t becomes harder and harder to generalize on the influence of any factor on plants."