The author states in the preface that the purpose of this book is not to give a catalogue of animal diseases from which man can suffer but rather to review human disease in relation to ecology.

In Part I, The evolution of human diseases from animal counterparts is considered. The author surveys the evidence of archeology and speculates on the parasites of prehistoric man. He attributes endemic diseases in the Mesolithic age, which became exaggerated in the late Neolithic age, to the insanitary crowded conditions which have been revealed by excavations in Scandinavia. Host-specific density diseases, e.g. measles, influenza and typhoid fever, are regarded as necessarily " new diseases " of mankind. Measles and rinderpest are thought to have arisen in man and cattle respectively by mutation of distemper virus acquired from dogs which inherited it from wolves. In tracing the development of diseases into historical times the author makes certain assertions which are not generally accepted, e.g. that leprosy and tuberculosis are mutually exclusive and that tuberculosis of the bone is almost limited to infection by the bovine strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The chapters of Part I are headed Man-animal relationships (pp. 3-15), The new diseases of man (pp. 16-29), Pandemic diseases (pp. 30-45) and the Infectious causes of cancer (pp. 46-50). The author, who delves freely into historical records, describes the serious pandemic diseases of the past, plague and influenza, attributing the latter to probable hybridization of a virus adapted to man with one of animal origin. He warns of possible future pandemics. Proved infectious causes of cancer in animals are reviewed and it is concluded that there is strong evidence that exogenous viruses of animal origin may be material factors in the production of at least some malignancies in man.

Part II reviews The major zoonoses of modern society, namely The arbo-viruses (pp. 53-62), Rabies (pp. 63-74), Rickettsioses (pp. 75-86), Bacterial and fungal zoonoses (pp. 104-120) and Zoonoses caused by helminths (pp. 121-136). The author covers a wide field but omits Japanese B encephalitis. He draws attention to the virus of rabies persisting in the " brown fat " of hibernating bats as a reservoir of rabies but notes that the disease is highly endemic in Alaska where bats have not been found to be infected. Epidemic typhus is considered to be a " very new disease " of man and hence a zoonosis, Rickettsia prowazeki being thought to be a modification of R. mooseri, the cause of endemic typhus. The many plasmodia of a simian malaria are tabulated and the author expects possible further adaptations to man.

Part III describes Man-animal relationships in the spread of morbid conditions. Occupational zoonoses and the dangers of keeping animal pets are considered in Man and his animals (pp. 139-153), with a special warning against the keeping of monkeys as pets. The next chapter describes morbid conditions arising from Marine animals (pp. 154-157) and the term zoonosis is stretched to include mercurial poisoning from the eating of fish from contaminated waters. The final chapter is entitled Selected examples of recent zoonotic incidents (pp. 158-185). These have been culled from an American source and are chiefly of interest because they occurred in the U.S.A. There is a good bibliography which enhances the value of this very readable, if somewhat speculative, book. There are a few errors: it is stated that trichiniasis is absent from the whole of Africa; that adult Strongyloides stercoralis are found in the large bowel; that Plasmodium ovale does not give the symptoms of malaria; and Wuchereria bancrofti is�…