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The subtitle of this most interesting book is "The Story of American Tropical Medicine," belying somewhat the more catchy phrase "Ambassadors in White." The subtitle, in truth, tells the story more properly than does the main title. The ambassadors in white are Finlay of Cuba, Reed of Virginia, Gorgas of Alabama, Deeks of Canada and Noguchi of Japan, together with the people with whom they were connected and with whom they worked. About half of the book is devoted to short biographic sketches of these five men, the ambassadors in their tropical garb. The rest of the book has to do with life, sickness and disease in the tropics and in Central America. The book is prefaced by a historical review, in which, incidentally, the author brings out many interesting facts. Probably few physicians realize that the first hospital in the Western Hemisphere was opened eleven years after Columbus' epochal