Abstract
THE insecticidal property of D.D.T. was undoubtedly a great discovery, and its application during the War, at a time when the supplies of other insecticides were inadequate after the capture by the Japanese of the derris-producing areas and the cutting off of supplies of pyrethrum, was an important contribution to Allied victory. D.D.T. will have many uses in peace-time, and it is therefore important that its properties should be widely known so that it may be used to the best advantage. In Britainthe book “D.D.T. : the Synthetic Insecticide”(reviewed in Nature, 158, 359 ; 1946), by West and Campbell, was generally welcomed ; the authors have been themselves engaged in insecticide research, and have made important contributions to knowledge concerning D.D.T. Now a book onapparently similar lines comes from the United States. Its authors are not research workers ; one is a medicallyqualified epidemiologist, but from internal evidence onejudges that the book was mainly written by his colleagues, who are both journalists. Although the book looks at first sight as if it were a scientific compilation, it is in fact popularized journalism with some scientific data thrown in rather uncritically for effect.
D.D.T. and the Insect Problem
James C. Leary Dr. William I. Fishbein Lawrence C. Salter. Pp. vii+176. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1946.) 12s. 6d.
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MELLANBY, K. DDT and the Insect Problem. Nature 159, 488 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159488b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159488b0