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Remembrance of things past
Loving, Green's 1949 novel about the servants in a big country house in neutral Ireland during the Second World War, includes a vivid scene centered on a game called Blindman's Buff, in which you have to feel people in order to tell who they are. “Not being be able to see” was the subject of his first book, Blindness, begun when he was still in school and published before he left university. The romantic plight of the newly sightless central character, a thinly disguised version of the author, enables him to hear those around him better, giving him access to not only their words but also their thoughts. As the southern American writer Eudora Welty was to put it, Henry Green turned what people say “into the fantasy of what they are telling each other, at the same time calling up out of their mouths their vital spirit.” (Jeremy Treglown. Romancing, the life and work of Henry Green. New York: Random House, 2000; 3–4.)
Diuretics: very important in hypertensive treatment
In the past decade a wide range of new drugs to treat hypertension have been developed. As a result, hypertensive patients are placed on β blockers or ACE inhibitors upon initiation of therapy. The standard practice of initiating hypertensive therapy with a diuretic is not always adhered to. A recent study from the state of Washington, USA, suggests the importance of diuretics. In this study hypertensive patients whose drug regimen did not include a thiazide diuretic had an increased risk of …