THE FIGHT FOR FLUORIDATION
some gaps and an unavoidable lack of continuit,y. The second is a very well orgnnized and readable technical rvark. Dr. Casey's book is the first place s. student or technical man in the industry turns nhen a new problem faces him; it is not, however, written a t the level of highschool senior or college freshman. The lafit is a valuable but exceedingly detailed work w,hich has heen aptly chametorised as "exhaustive and exhausting." One may see that there is a real place for a readable, descriptive work for the general reader. "Modern Pulp and Paper Making" fits very well in this place. EDW.4RD F. THODE THEIYSWTUTEO P PAPERC n ~ x m r n s APPLETOY.Wrscoh.mx
Donald R. McNeil, Associate Director of the Wisconsin State Historioal Society. Oxford University Press, New York, 1957. xi 241 pp. 13 X 2 0 cm. $5.
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THIS hook is a well-documented, historical account of the events t h a t led to thc cstahlishment of the relation~hiphetween fluoride ion content of drinking water and dental decay. I t nlso recites the attempts of various individuals and public health organizations t,o establish the practice of fluoridating public water supplies. Like those who first attempted t o induce t,he public to adopt vaccination, ehlorinstion, and pasteurization, advocates of fluoridation met with growing resistance from laymen inHoenced by a wide variety of opponents. These included men who
oppose public health measures on religious grounds, as well as chiropractorfi who see in the situstion sn opportunity to embsrass the medical profession, and those who setoslly believe that Hnoridation is n plot of the "communists to take over this country." The reader is impressed hy a seeming conflict in our democracy which delegates to our elected representatives the power to make decisions that require greator knowlcdgc than the public nt large possesses, yct which in many ~ t a t e sprovides machinery to put such questions as fluoridation I d o r e the public for approval or disnpprovnl in the form of referenda. T o a wientiat this might be eqoivalent to determining the validity oi the law of g r a v i t ~ by means of z popular vote. IJnder t,he rieht conditions and with the same type of opposition that now opposes fluoridation, the law of gravity could be repealed by the general public. MoKeil's account stresses the role played by a number of Wisconsin dentists in promot,ing fluoridation in that stat?. The activities of Dr. J . G. Frisch and Dr. F. A. Boll in particular are given promincnee because through their efiorts more cities in Wisconsin fluoridate their public water supplie~than in any state in the Union. I t carries thestoriesof the fight in Seat,tle and Cincinnati where fluoridation was defeated a t the polls. It nlso tells how some of our largest cities like Philadelphia, Milwsukce, San Francisco, and Baltimore adopted this health measure. The book cnds with an accorlnt of the struggle now in progress to fluoridate the wstw of our largest city, New York, and of the formation of t,he "Committee to Protect Our Children's Teeth" headed by the eminent pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spack, a committee which is now in the midst of the New 1'ot.k battle. The latter is nt a standstill hecauso of the opposition by the h a d of the Yew York City water works despite the repeated recommenrlstion hy the New York City Department of Health that the water supply be Huoridated. The hook gives no solace to the opposition hecause the scientific facts of fluoridation are set forth with historical accuracy and clarity. Nor does it fail to asscsa the eompetencc(?) of many of the lcadcrs oi the opposition. l l a t a are tmsod on verified documentary evidcnee. T o the proponents of fluoridation this book relates in a sobering mnnncr the difficulties, t,he pitfalls, and the hard work required to hring about the adoption of this Latest pul~liehealth measure. I t is recommended rendine for overr chemist, and rhomistry teacher.
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5. F. DARLING
INSTRUMENTAL ANALYSIS Paul Delohoy, Professor of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Macmillan Co., 384 pp. 137 New York, 1957. xi figs. 2 4 tables. 16 X 2 4 cm. $7.90
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THEreviewer must confess to heing preiudired against the term, instrumental analysis. This prejudice is based on the fact that to many chemist6 the term, (Continued on page A.598)
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
