"VACCINATION AGAINST SMALLPOX HAS BEEN BLESSED AND BANNED WITH THEOLOGICAL VEHEMENCE; MORE MODERN APPLICATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLE HAVE BEEN DEFENDED AND ATTACKED WITH EQUAL FURY"
GREENWOOD, Major. Epidemics and Crowd-Diseases. An Introduction to the Study of Epidemiology. London: Williams & Norgate, (1935). Octavo, original dark blue cloth, original dust jacket. $1800.
First edition of this essential treatise on infectious diseases and epidemics, in original dust jacket.
"Greenwood's works—and especially his book, Epidemics and Crowd-Diseases, written more than 50 years ago—are masterpieces of clear thought about the spread of infectious diseases" (Reviews of Infectious Diseases). "The value of a scientific treatise lies not so much in the information which it imparts as in the inspiration which the reader derives from it to inquire further into the matters with which it deals. We have read 'introductions to the study of' subjects, which left the impression that nothing remained worth inquiring into, and even destroyed all desire for such exercises. In his work Epidemics and Crowd-Diseases, which will become a classic, Prof. Greenwood, far from doing this, introduces his readers to the study of epidemiology in such charming fashion that, as the tale unfolds, each chapter seems to end on a note of lively interrogation" (Nature). "This book, by one of the most distinguished English epidemiologists of our day, will be warmly welcomed… The statistical method of treating epidemiologic data is emphasized throughout, but most of the book can be read easily and with pleasure by one not versed in high mathematics. The author is refreshingly outspoken on fundamental epidemiologic problems… There is a particularly fine chapter on the artificial immunization of man, which discusses some of the difficulties encountered in interpreting the results of inoculating large groups of the population… The author's style is clear and readable" (JAMA). Faint pencil owner signature on front panel of dust jacket.
Book with only mild toning to spine, dust jacket with only light rubbing and toning to extremities. A handsome near-fine copy.