[The century of work].

The new Series of papers on Occupational Hygiene, now that the hygienists have been qualified also as "competent physicians", intends to make a comparison between the present and the past conditions of the human work. The present work is characterized by high specialization, more sophisticated technologies and continuous evolution, although in Italy we have consider a drop of the general occupational rate. According to such a situation, Italy must make alliance with the other countries, because, due to the globalization, the occupational problem has overcome the domestic borders.