Atlas of anatomy of the hand

Atlas of anatomy of the hand

The Hand--June 1976 BOOK REVIEW ATLAS OF ANATOMY OF T H E HAND, by John M. F. Landsmeer, Professor of Anatomy and Embryology, University of Leiden, H...

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The Hand--June 1976

BOOK REVIEW ATLAS OF ANATOMY OF T H E HAND, by John M. F. Landsmeer, Professor of Anatomy and Embryology, University of Leiden, Holland. 28.5 cm x 22 cm. Pp. xiv + 350. 342 Figures. Bibliography. 1976. Edinburgh, London and New York, Churchill Livingstone. ISBN 0 443 01154 0. Price £20. Professor Landsmeer is too well-known and respected as an anatomist with particular interest in the hand, to expect anything but excellence in his new book. This is a superbly produced work at, unfortunately, a necessarily high price. It is essentially a series of well-described photomicrographs taken from the serial sections of foetal hands, which he has built up in Leiden. To this, he has added a number of beautiful, very detailed, drawings of micro-dissections to amplify his foetal sections. Finally, the book is completed with discussion chapters on morphology and on hand function. The author, in his preface, states that the book was "designed for both anatomists and surgeons, for trainees and teachers. It provides a comprehensive anatomical basis for the growing number of postgraduates specialising in hand surgery." Unfortunately, for most people, unless they are familiar with reading serial sections, it will have only limited value. Some of the sections have some labelling but most have not, and the reader is therefore dependant upon the text which is an overall description of the sections. This may not match the reader's requirements. Probably the greatest value in the book will be to stimulate and raise the enthusiasm to go with the book through either the author's serial hand collection in Leiden, or another, such as that collected by the reviewer at the Royal College of Surgeons, in London. One word of warning is always required to anyone working from foetal material and that is that fibrous tissue develops late in foetal growth and that during growth, even into childhood, tendon grows in length relatively much more than its muscle. It must be stated-that this book can hardly be acceptable as "a definitive account of the anatomy of the hand" as the cover states, except within its confines. Rather, it is an excellent presentation of the work of one man, and l~is views on the anatomy of the hand, based on a detailed morphological and analytical approach. This is evident even in the chapter on function and the presentation "of the available literature". The alternative approaches to hand function, such as the excellent work of Flatt or Zancolli, amongst others, go unmentioned. This is sad, for sometimes a too detailed morphology can, like the magnificent vegetation in a jungle, limit the view. K. M. BACKHOUSE.

194

The H a n d - - V o l . 8

No. 2

1976