- Email: [email protected]
1953 Medical Progress
BOOK REVIEWS cinnati agencies in its preparation reflects the best type of physician cooperation in community problems and responsibilities. Copies may be obtained from the S a f e t y Council, 1203 Federal Reserve Bldg., Fourth and Race Sts., Cincinnati 2. r a n c o a i and W a l l g r e n ' s Textbook o f Paediattics. E d i t e d by W. R. F. Coltis, New York, 1952, Grune & Stratton, 1104 pages, 441 illustrations. This is an English translation of the Lehrbuch der t"i~diatrie by Fanconi of Zurich and Wallgren of Stockholm published within the year. Collis of Dublin has edited an excellent translation of the text by Kawerau. The various chapters have been written by pediatricians from a number of European clinics. In all, there are nineteen contributors, representing nine different countries, to the t h i r t y - t h r e e chapters into which the t e x t is divided. The text follows the usual order of discussion into growth and development, heredity, examination of the child, followed by nutrition and the newborn infant, and t h e n t a k i n g up the various systems as blood and skeletal. A few diseases as tuberculosis and syphilis are given special chapters. Among the contributors are Salmi of Finland on growth and developn~ent, Gtanzmann of Berne on heredity, van Creveld of Amsterdam on disorders of metabolism, F r e u d e n b e r g of Basle on nutrition, and Salomonsen of Oslo on the blood and anemias. Fanconi contributes a number of chapters including the nervous, skeletal, and genitourinary systems, and Wallgren a number including tuberculosis and juvenile rheumatism. The chapters on the acute infectious diseases and the heart and circulatory system were w r i t t e n by the late Dr. A. Liehtenstein. An unusual chapter on the Diseases of Childhood Peculiar to Hot Climates is contributed by Eckstein of Ankara and formerly of ]=[amburg. The above summary indicates the general character of the textbook. As a whole it is by f a r the best European t e x t on pediatrics that has appeared in many years. I t is not an exhaustive system filled with references but rather is similar in scope and content with such s t a n d a r d American texts as l~it-
641
chell-Nelson and Holt-McIntosh. There are a number of differences in classification and nomenclature than is in use in the United States, and, as might naturally be expected, the stress or importance placed on certain diseases is at times different. These are not faults but geographical differences. I t is a good presentation of present-day pediatrics by European authorities. The reviewer has found the many charts and diagrams of unusual interest. They give a b e t t e r graphic presentation of some subjects than are found in the American texts and these should be of particular value to the teacher and student. While the text in all probability will not supersede the recommeded texts in our medical schools, the textbook is of decided complementary value, and should be a valuable addition to the medical school library as well as to the library of the hospital and pediatric clinics. 1953 Medical Progress. Edited by Morris Fishbein, M.D., New York, 1953, The Blakiston Co., 300 pages. Price $5.00. This is the first volume of a proposed yearbook discussing the advances of the past year t h a t have been made in various fields of medicine. There are sixteen separate fields discussed by competent authorities, and the E d i t o r adds a final chapter, summing up what he considers the most important advances made in medicine during 1952. A few examples of the snbjects and authors are: New and I m p o r t a n t Drugs and Medications by Paul L. Wermer of the Council on P h a r m a c y and Chemistry of the A.M.A. Among these he discusses Benemid, Isoniazid, and Primaquin. Dr. Perrin H. Long discusses the Infectious Diseases; Paul D. White, C a r d i o l o g y - - H e a r t Disease; Ir vine H. Page and A. C. Coreoran, Arterial Hypertension. These indicate the general character of the book. The discussions are all brief, direct, and to the point. There is not much of specific interest to the pediatri clan. While medicine is constantly chang ing and developing, it will be i n t e r e s t i n g to see if enough progress is made in any one year in a large enough number of fields to make it worth while to continue " a d v a n c e s " as a yearbook.
641
chell-Nelson and Holt-McIntosh. There are a number of differences in classification and nomenclature than is in use in the United States, and, as might naturally be expected, the stress or importance placed on certain diseases is at times different. These are not faults but geographical differences. I t is a good presentation of present-day pediatrics by European authorities. The reviewer has found the many charts and diagrams of unusual interest. They give a b e t t e r graphic presentation of some subjects than are found in the American texts and these should be of particular value to the teacher and student. While the text in all probability will not supersede the recommeded texts in our medical schools, the textbook is of decided complementary value, and should be a valuable addition to the medical school library as well as to the library of the hospital and pediatric clinics. 1953 Medical Progress. Edited by Morris Fishbein, M.D., New York, 1953, The Blakiston Co., 300 pages. Price $5.00. This is the first volume of a proposed yearbook discussing the advances of the past year t h a t have been made in various fields of medicine. There are sixteen separate fields discussed by competent authorities, and the E d i t o r adds a final chapter, summing up what he considers the most important advances made in medicine during 1952. A few examples of the snbjects and authors are: New and I m p o r t a n t Drugs and Medications by Paul L. Wermer of the Council on P h a r m a c y and Chemistry of the A.M.A. Among these he discusses Benemid, Isoniazid, and Primaquin. Dr. Perrin H. Long discusses the Infectious Diseases; Paul D. White, C a r d i o l o g y - - H e a r t Disease; Ir vine H. Page and A. C. Coreoran, Arterial Hypertension. These indicate the general character of the book. The discussions are all brief, direct, and to the point. There is not much of specific interest to the pediatri clan. While medicine is constantly chang ing and developing, it will be i n t e r e s t i n g to see if enough progress is made in any one year in a large enough number of fields to make it worth while to continue " a d v a n c e s " as a yearbook.