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Book I - Sen era l Vole 7 - Xedical Prop an 1.. Tnis volune i s i n Senera1 exce'lent and snous evidence of having been prepared with great care. 2. There are some faults in general arrangement of subject,but none of then seem of sufficient importarice t o warraut any considerable amount of , mbin body of' t h e volume, efter tile hazards anu all t h e procedures, etc.,in coutiection with then neve been coverea, does not seem t o be alto get ii er logical an5 causes SO iM repetition an\; dup lica - tion.Tkis is not serious, however, and this fab t, coupled with the partial explanation that the research work is still continuing, makes it unnecessary t o recommend any change on this account. (section S), a large ? art of the organization is actually covered i n soparat_e paragraphs and subparagraphs distributed tp ough the to bring aJ.1 the material on organization together in one place does not appear t o be worth whileTnis also can be left unchanged; there - writing necessary b.. Although there is a 'tihole section devated t o "3rcanization" divided and subdivided to an extent that has become extremsly unare extended t o cover more t h a n 10 peges each -- paragraph 3-12 alone covers na a rly 22 ?a es, end its subheadings intne Table o f Conteats cover about 1 1B3 pages. The result is that it i s extre m ly difficult to find any sub-paragraph by its designation, and, particularly because references to sub-paragraphs are fair - ly frequent throughout the volume, some corrective action is justified. There are various methods of overcoming the difficulty itwithoutany extensive rearrangement; the shc ple st would be t o insert an instruction in the Foreword, for the reader to look up the paragraph references in the Table o f Contents (the avsrage reader would normally not think 02 doing this)but this has the disadvantage of calling attention to a fault.A better method mignt be to type inthe upper right hand corner of each page, in parentheses, the pra graph and sub-paragraph desicntitions necessary to identify the sub-paraZra2hs ilhich appar on tht page. Some of the main paragraphs are unduly long and have been This is especially true of section3,in 7,-hich paragraphs
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3. Attention is invited to the fact that this volume contains,in section 3, " Industrial Kedicine", R certain amount of dup lica tim from other vol*mcs, ,in the descriptions of the various nenufacturing and plant processes. Tnis duplication is in a different category from the t nbich was criticized as showing lack of coordination,in Book 11, 101. 3 and Book 11, Vol. 4, however. In order to explain the riedioal hazards properly, it is just about imperative t o i a clude atleast an outline of each process ; the descriptions have in gan era l been vary successfully summariLed and are very brief ; and the inclusion of these bris f descriptions makes the volune more independent and more useful. Except for some fui - the r reduction,in length,of some of these descriptions, curious fact that the description here tells more about the "cold traps " than has. yet been found i n Book 11). 4. Certain missing information should be included inappropriate places inthe volume, including: a. The medical program - or lack of a medical program - with respect to the manufacture o f P-9, is mentioned nowhere. It is assumed that no medical problem was involved in this manufacturing process, but, if so, this should be stated somewhere inthe volume. b. All the statistics,etc., seem t o be deficient in measures of the numbers of cases in the various classifications -- inthe nunbers of cases of overexposure or injury, and their seriousness ; in the numbers of claims, etc.,etc. Even though it would be unwise torun any risk,of prejudice to the Government's position in connection with any claim, o r any potential claim, it is believed nevertheless that the general statistics could be made nuch more useful and informative. (See, especially, pp. 3.33 - 3.37, 3.49) C. The use, o r purpose, of the production of polonium is not stated, and the description of the process of its production i s very meager (p.. 3.62). It i s presumed (as stated in the volume) that complete explanation of this process vi ill be found i n e. volume of theY project,but for consistency and uni for n it ya very brier' sumnary should be given nere. d. Occasional statements raise questions in the mind of the ' reader which are left unanswered. . samples : (1). Uranium "has been used frequently to prociuce a Fmt isthe purpose o f such ex per in ants ? Especially because
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of the current resurgence sf anti - vivisection is in, :ne iii sert ioc of a snort sentence nfc xp lam tion could be (2). tt...existing i x ' or m tion 31; the causes and prevention of poisoiiing io them nu fact ure of beryllium p. 5.14, & ich refers merely to hne iF eri xen ta1 proaram (4). liow does the "stanirard Chem: cal rlarfare Phosgene Detector" work? (p. 2.18). A very brief in diz t it ion would (5). "...the well-known hazards o f work with chloroform The layman may guess anesthetic effects, end carbon tetrachloride are present." (p. 3.14). but he will not be sure. carbon tetrachloride with the work should be stated someIf such tsrms & r e used they should be (briefly) explained. (7). t'It ai)pears noTv that either the cost of the increased or the bene fic s correspondingly reduced" (p. 4.10). on page 4.33 indicate, i'or June 1945, an avcrti;e load, per dect is t, of 406 cases per month, or n we then 13 cases per day for 30 days. Is anything being done to lighter,this load ? 5. 2;ecilanical errors are very few and comparatively un in port ant. 3ne such the incorrect division of a word error justifies specific mention as it nas been rere in other volumes but re.curs fairly frequently in some parts of this volume: is to syllables men it i s brokon at the end of aline. 1;ormaIly such errors are innaterial and pass unnoticed by the average reader,especially as mny of them m y be a ej a table,out &lien they becone frequent (as in section2) or when they
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13 such errors, v.hile sections3 cind 4, with 100 pages conbined, heve disclosed not a single one. This is FresumaSly caused by a difference ics temp ip her s ; find it may be vvell to point out, in tnis connaction, that,unless a stenographer is first - class, it is unbii;e t o rjlace too much ezphusis on a aemand for uniform msrgins -- the pe ahl ty is apt to be arm l tip li city of' mrd - dividing errors which are far more undesirable than uneven margins. It my be useful t o note t mt section2, u.ith 1 9 Fages, had disclosed 6. In various places in tile valume et tent ionis arcrm, by pencilled notes i n the margins, to it as which have not been mentioned in other volurnes i n which they mul d be pertinent. tiley should. be incorI;orated inthe volumes thlrs designated. These item bhould be checked and if tney are correct