It is easy for the modern practitioner of medicine to take for granted the rigorous standards of hygienic practice that prevail today. Washing one's hands, the use of alcohol and heat to sterilise tools and the appropriate level of quarantine to be applied in case of various disease or infections.<br><br>The more historically aware reader will know that our present traditions have developed gradually over centuries and evolved with every scientific discovery. In 1920 Thomas A Storey grasped the challenge forcefully and encouraged the young men of the College of the City of New York to do the same. <br><br>The effort to codify hygienic practices for the medical practitioner either in training or seeking to develop was an enormous step forward in the medical world. Thomas Storey began this task and produced a book which is as comprehensive as it is engaging. The insight into medical tradition and the way in which medical discoveries percolated through health professionals in the early 20th century. <br><br>It is invigorating to this day to read Storey’s exhortation in General Hygiene to seize health as a resource for oneself, and for the doctor to seize on behalf of their patients. He shows a forward thinking outlook in these pages, in an age where the effects of tobacco addiction and alcoholism were barely considered, Dr. Storey has a nuanced and fascinating approach to the protection of health. Prepare to be told to run, to swim, to read but also to see progressive opposition to the careless use of lead and arsenic. To avoid taking for granted, what might now be considered common sense or practice, immerse yourself in a work written by a creative professional, in an era where our truths were utterly contested.