Alan Norton: Drugs, Science, and Society. Book review by Rerevisionist.

Review of Alan Norton: Drugs, Science, and Society (1973 revision)

MISLEADING TITLE! Much more wide-ranging than the title suggests. Author was DM, FRC Psych and his book might be entitled '20th century medicine and Society'. He presumably preferred medicine to psychiatry

Snapshot of Medical Practices around 1975 Britain
I'm putting up this review because Norton gives a snapshot, which may be helpful in dispassionate assessment.
There's far too much to explain in detail; I hope these notes and the index entries might prove helpful for general concerned people.

Norton must have been somewhat aware of the limitations in biological research, which Harold Hillman did his best to highlight. The bottom line was/is that empirical research went ahead, but degenerative diseases remained untreatable.
Biochemistry and trace elements were not well researched then, and, while better now, remain uncertain because of the enormous experimental difficulties.
Norton was unaware of race issues, for example problems with mixed races, and the injection of sickle cell anaemia. And he had no idea about selective rates of reproduction, in effect pushed by Jew lobbyists.
Norton was aware of the health effects of clean water, good food. He didn't appreciate salt, however. On vaccination, he was well aware that previously common diseases had dropped enormously, and provides detailed graphs. His results are useful in countering the huge, Jewish-based push for vaccinations.
The dangerous addictive drugs, familiar in the USA, were not common in Britain at the time.
The anti-fluoride 'lobby' used arguments such as 'it's unethical to force it on people; children's teeth improve if people discuss it; sells illusion that sweets can be eaten with impunity between meals'. Science education was a feeble force against pressure groups, BBC and TV lies.
It's important to try to be objective: a note says 'Polly Toynbee [journalist, probably undeclared Jew] Dec 1993 on medical treatment earlier this century: describes diphtheria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, polio etc in horrific but probably exaggerated terms.
Norton assumes wars are acts of god. Nothing much on effects. For example, at the time he wrote, medical records of women infected by US troops in Britain were being burnt.

CONTENTS:
PREFACES
1 THE CHANGING WORLD OF MEDICINE
2 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE
3 DRUGS
4 PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
5 POPULATION PROBLEMS I: GROWTH
6 POPULATION PROBLEMS II: AGEING
7 THE RISE OF PSYCHIATRY
8 GENERAL THEORIES OF DISEASE
9 FRONTIER MEDICINE
10 NEW DISEASES
11 THE NEED FOR A CHANGE IN MEDICAL EDUCATION
12 THE FRAMEWORK FOR PRACTICE
EPILOGUE, NOTES, REFERENCES
INDEX

CONTENTS IN MORE DETAIL:
PREFACES
1 THE CHANGING WORLD OF MEDICINE [13/ 16: THE PLAN OF THE BOOK]

2 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE [17: THE INVASION BY SCIENCE/ 27: THE ASCENDANCY OF THE LABORATORY/ 27: AUTOMATION AND COMPUTERS/ 29: INTENSIVE CARE/ 30: HAEMODIALYSIS AN KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION/ 34: HEART TRANSPLANTATION/ 35: EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE/ 39: PLACEBOS, DOUBLE-BLIND TRIALS AND ETHICS]

3 DRUGS [44; 45: THE CREDIT SIDE/ 51 WHERE DRUGS COME FROM/ 56: CRITICISMS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY/ 61: CONTROL OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY/ 64: SIDE-EFFECTS AND TOXICITY/ 71: THE EFFECT ON MEDICINE]

4 PREVENTIVE MEDICINE [76/ 78: INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS/ 83: MIGRATION/ 85: SCREENING (PRESYMPTOMATIC DIAGNOSIS)/ 92: PRESENT PROBLEMS]

5 POPULATION PROBLEMS I: GROWTH [97: EXPLODING POPULATIONS/ 99: BIRTH CONTROL/ 101: ABORTION/ 105: STERILISATION/ 106: CONTRACEPTION/ 111: POPULATION QUALITY/ 112: EUGENICS, POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE/ 115: REMEDIES/ 116: BIOLOGICAL DISCOVERY]

6 POPULATION PROBLEMS II: AGEING [119: FALL OF MORTALITY OF THE YOUNG/ 123: AN AGEING POPULATION/ 124: GERIATRIC MEDICINE/ 128: GERONTOLOGY/ 128: EUTHANASIA]

7 THE RISE OF PSYCHIATRY [132; 134: THE INFLUENCE OF TWO WARS/ 139: US Army 'always rejected a far higher proportion of recruits..'/ 140: THE STUDY OF SOCIAL SETTING/ 145: THE INFLUENCE OF FREUD/ 147: THE SUCCESS OF PHYSICAL TREATMENT AND DRUGS. 147: Eysenck says about two thirds spontaneously recover/ 151: THE TREND TO COMMUNITY CARE/ 154: A CURE FOR ALL ILLS/ 158: THE LIMITS]

8 GENERAL THEORIES OF DISEASE [7: Omits oncology. 163: DIVISION AND UNITY IN MEDICINE/ 165: THE PSYCHOSOMATIC HYPOTHESIS/ 168: THE STRESS HYPOTHESIS 168: Hans Selye, 169 Selye's hormone theories/ 171: THE HYPOTHESIS OF AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASE i.e. fault in immune system/ 175: AETIOLOGICAL THEORY 175: rheumatoid arthritis most baffling 177: 'two hypotheses and rheumatoid arthritis, corticosteroids, ulcerative colitis, hyperthyroidism, and the vast kidney-hypertension-arterial degeneration complex. ... the two theories seem to be so irreconcilable that their adherents.. ignore each other..']

9 FRONTIER MEDICINE [179; 180: HEAT/ 182: COLD/ 184 COMPRESSION AND DECOMPRESSION/ ACCELERATION AND DECELERATION/ 191: WEIGHTLESSNESS/ 193: THE VERTICAL FRONTIER/ 195: SENSORY DEPRIVATION/ 201: CONCENTRATION CAMPS 206: Long-term psychiatric effects]

10 NEW DISEASES [208: FROM DEARTH TO PLENTY/ 209: Personality development cliches/ 209: Lady Wootton's 12 causes of delinquency which she dissected/ 210: ARTERIAL DISEASE 213: Morris' Blood pressure and cholesterol indicators/ 214: CANCER OF THE LUNG 215: tuberculosis/ 216: DENTAL CARIES/ 217: ADDICTION 217: Drinking control 219: 1964 use of 'dependence' 225: hallucinogenic drugs all Mexican? 225: LSD/ ATTEMPTED SUICIDE/ 230: ACCIDENTS now the commonest cause of death below 40; 231 table of causes of death [up to 34]; 232 deaths from motor vehicle accidents [by 1969, all between 14 - 30 deaths per 100,000] 234: motorcycle deaths in young people in Britain]

11 THE NEED FOR A CHANGE IN MEDICAL EDUCATION [236: 'no country.. wiser reports.. no country has done less..'/ ; 238 SEVEN QUESTIONS. 1 Has medical education adapted itself to the vast increase in scientific knowledge? 2 Has medical education kept pace with the scientific techniques of clinical medicine and with the drug revolution? 3. Has medical education come to terms with specialisation and the centrifugal forces in medicine? 4. Has.. taken accounts of developments in preventive and social medicine? 5. What response.. to the growth of psychiatry? 6. Have teaching hospitals adapted themselves to an ageing population?/ 7 Is the need for postgraduate pre-registration medical education being satisfied?/ 243: British-trained doctors to Canada and USA]

12 THE FRAMEWORK FOR PRACTICE [245: a mobile of five pieces - disease, patient, doctor, relationship, context in which medicine is practised 246: THE EFFECT OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW; 246: 1845, 1911 Acts; Clough: 'Thou shalt not kill..'; 247: 1867 investigations into the condition of the sick in workhouses.. 248: Boer War and condition of army recruits; 249: old age pensions 1908/ 250: THE LLOYD GEORGE SCHEME 251: [NOTE: CONFLICT] 'Put simply, he had a battle to fight on three fronts and he chose his tactics accordingly.. 1 friendly societies.. 2 industrial insurance companies.. 3 the medical profession; 251: AMA opposition to the 'general good'/ 253: MEDICAL PLANNING BETWEEN THE WARS 253: Dawson Report (also 271); 254: 1926 Royal Commission; 255: 1936 Cathcart Committee/ 258: FROM BEVERIDGE TO BEVAN 1942 Beveridge Report; 1937: 'means tests have become odious'/ 263: ADVANTAGES OF BRITAIN'S HEALTH SERVICE Ministry of Health in 1939; 266: Nye Bevan and National Health Service Act of 1946/ 267: DISADVANTAGES OF BRITAIN'S HEALTH SERVICE 'the provision of any form of medical care always makes the situation more overt'; 268: table of % of GNP on health compiled by WHO/ 273: EXPERIENCE OF OTHER COUNTRIES 273: 'USSR.. integrated service.. fully specialised hospitals at the centre, with polyclinics.., and in rural areas, clinics and heath centres at the periphery..; 274: Treaty of Rome (EEC); 274-6: Medicare legislation in USA; 276: NOTE: CONFLICT: '.. from c mid 19th century British GPs battled with the staffs of the voluntary hospitals, especially.. specialising in particular diseases, whom they accused of treating, free, patients rich enough to pay GPs. From this struggle was evolved, around the turn of the century, the referral system, by which specialists agreed not normally to see patients unless they were referred by a GP...'; 278: [More on American medicine] '.. not enough doctors to meet demand.. suggests virtually no limit to the number of doctors wanted. .. Medicine as an international currency is hoarded in America like gold in Fort Knox. ..'; 279: 'clash between medicine as luxury and necessity best seen in mental illness.. profitable psychoanalysis.. [but] state mental hospitals.. in 1964 29 of 279 had no psychiatrists on their staff at all. ..']

EPILOGUE [282: Quotes Tertius Lydgate, Dr in George Eliot's Middlemarch]/ 283: THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE: 283-4: Polio, diabetes, schizophrenia, clinics, obesity, alcoholism, renal dialysis, transplantation, intensive and coronary care.. science-based medicine 285: Tom Paine, Rights of Man etc/ 287: New Ethical Problems: abortion; advertisement; contraception; euthanasia; experimental medicine; dialysis; transplants 289: THE FUTURE]

NOTES, REFERENCES [Numbered notes to the chapters; might as well have been footnotes]

INDEX [GOOD; ABOUT 18 COLUMNS: Inc: abortion, accidents, Afghanistan, aggression, AMA, amphetamines, anaesthetics, anti-depressants, arterial disease, Australia, auto-immunity, Baird, Banting, Bateson, barbiturates, BCG, Belgium, Bettelheim, Bevan, Beveridge, brainwashing, BMA, Canada, cancer, Ceylon, chloramphenicol, chronic bronchitis, Churchill, community care, concentration camps and survivors, congenital malformation, contraception, cost of medicine, Cousteau, criminal responsibility, Czechoslovakia, death rates, dental caries, diabetes, diphtheria, DNA, doctor-patient, Doll, double-blind trials, drugs, Dunlop Committee, eczema, education, ECT, ECG, EEG, EMG, ethics, Eysenck, Finland, Fisher R A, Fleming, FDA, France, Freud, fringe medicine, Galton, gas gangrene, GMC, general practitioner, geriatrics, Germany, germ theory, Ghana, Grafenberg ring, Greece, haemodialysis, health insurance, heat, hospitals, Human Tissue Act, Huxley Aldous, hypertension, iatrogenic disease, immunisation/ ology, India, industrial health, influenza, insecticides, intelligence, IUD = IUCD, Israel, Italy, Japan, Java, Jung, Kennedy J F, Keynes J M, Kraepelin, Laing R D, League of Nations, leprosy, Lloyd George David, Local authority, Lubeck disaster, LSD, malaria, manic-depressive psychosis, Margulies spiral, marijuana, Marx, mass media, mass radiography, Mauritius, Dr Thomas McKeown [who seems to have been the first to state that hygiene etc had more effect that medicine; see SPES tapes], Medawar, Medicare, Metropolitan Asylums Board 1867, molluscicides, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, mongolism, Moran, morphine-like dependence, motorcycle accidents, NHS, National Insurance Act, Netherlands, neuroses, Norway, obesity, orthopaedics, overeating, oxygen, paediatrics, Pakistan, Pavlov, patent law, patent medicines, penicillin, Penrose Lionel, peptic ulcer, personality disorders, Peru, pharmaceutical industry, phenothiazine drugs, phenylketonuria, Pickering George, 'Pill', Pincus, pink disease, placebos, plastics and polymers, Poland, poliomyelitis, Political and Economic Planning [PEP], population, Poor Law (English), postgraduates, preventive medicine, prisons, prostaglandins, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, quarantine, quinine, rabies, radiation, Red Army, religion, Rhesus incompatibility, rheumatoid arthritis, Road Safety Act, Roman Catholic Church, Rowntree, rubella, Russia, Sabin A, Samaritans, schizophrenia, scientific revolution, screening, scurvy, Selye Hans, sensory deprivation, Shaw G B, Shell shock, Sickle-cell, Simon Sir John, social change, statistical methods, Stopes Marie, subnormality, suicide, Sweden, Switzerland, syphilis, Tavistock clinic, Taylor Rattray, tetanus, tetracyclines, transplantation, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, ulcer, U.N., U.S, vaccination, Van Allen belts, Vietnam, war, Watson-Crick, Webbs, W.H.O., yellow fever, Yugoslavia

Top of Page