Abstract: The thirteen essays in this book were presented at the annual conference of the Association of Social Anthropologists in 1972, and are now extensively revised.The authors are mainly professional anthropologists, some including the editor, with medical qualifications, and two with only the latter.These professional backgrounds have helped to make this an important book in primitive medicine as well as in social anthropology.The main theme is concerned with concepts of health and illness, and the varied handling of it is mainly due to editorial skill.Each local belief needs individual interpretation in the light of religious and magical practices, and an understanding of it will elucidate the preferred remedy.A great deal of information is provided, often from field studies, although no new or striking insights are forthcoming.Nevertheless the book is a significant contribution to ethno-and, therefore, paleo-medicine.Of equal importance is the appearance ofthe medically qualified social anthropologist, who, although not unknown in the past, has certainly been rare.Dr. Loudon's "Introduction" discusses medicine in general and the association of the two disciplines