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Atlas of human prenatal histology
321
or sharp criticism. There is frequent recourse to examples, with comments, of children in communication with adults and with each other. The authors’ experience has brought them into contact with Spanish-speaking children and the passages on bilingual situations and problems are among the most helpful in the book. The authors are clearly imbued with the utmost sympathy for the children. Yet there is sometimes a weakness in their examples, a lack of that crisp, pithy, epigrammatic quality which makes the device so effective in accounts of child language. The suggestions made for the assessments of children’s language deliberately exclude standardised tests. The informal assessments preferred by the authors rest on observation and documentation by teachers. Amongst the reasons for this is the recognition that children’s linguistic performance differs appreciably in different social contexts. Perhaps also there is a desire to avoid invidious comparisons between children who cannot be held responsible for their advantages or disadvantages. Assessments which are to be made in the ways recommended do have possible drawbacks. Two which spring to mind are the difficulty of transforming observation into critical evaluation and the time-consuming nature of careful documentation. Assessment, to be generally useful and effective, needs to be linked with established criteria. Thorough records of the children’s spoken language would demand more hours than a class teacher could give, especially if, as advocated here, tape recordings and consequent transcriptions were to be made. For a book of this nature the United Kingdom price, doubtless reflecting a strong dollar, is inordinately high. Student teachers may find it a source of useful suggestions but they will need to seek it in the library rather than from their own pockets. H.L. OWRID *
Atlas of Human
*
*
*
*
Prenatal Histologv
H. Nishimura (Ed.) Igaku-Shoin, Tokyo-New 316 pp. $68.00
York, 1983
The stimulus for the production of this atlas is said to have been the current upsurge in enthusiasm for the treatment of the very prematurely born infant together with technical advances in antenatal diagnosis and the possibility of fetal treatment in utero. At a more practical level its compilation would not have been possible without the availability of embryos and fetuses from induced abortions ‘conducted legally for socioeconomic reasons’. Therein lies the book’s greatest weakness, for therapeutic endeavours predominate in late fetal life at a time distinctly later than the peak for induced abortion. Consequently the illustrations, taken as a whole, are more relevant to the academic embryologist than the practising clinical pathologist, neonatologist or obstetrician. Although all the major organs feature in the book the developmental stages
328
illustrated are few and somewhat cursorily described. The photographs are predominantly black and white and with the exception of some taken at low magnification are of good quality. For the perinatal pathologist who has a daily need to be familiar with fetal histology the book is visually quite inadequate. The paradox of the book lies in the fact that it is the only atlas I know which is worth purchasing for what is written in it rather than for its illustrations. The photographic description of each organ is accompanied by a written tabulation of its main developmental stages which will be invaluable to any teratologist or perinatal pathologist and which will not be found easily in any other publication in so complete yet so concise a format. For those requiring a detailed description of fetal organ development each chapter has a brief but well chosen bibliography which will save many hours of search elsewhere. The editor and his contributors deserve praise for these two features and also for the practical guide at the end of the book for the dissection of the small embryo. In their defence it must be said that fetal developmental histology is too complex to be illustrated adequately in a book of this size and cost. The fact that the contributors are anatomists rather than clinicians is evident from the equal amount of space devoted to organs of widely differing clinical interest. The book would have more appeal if information on such organs as the mammary and prostate gland, and the urinary and gallbladder had been sacrificed for fuller descriptions of the histology of the lung, liver, gonads and thymus. It would also enhance the book to have had the formal tabulation of developmental features specifically illustrated in a more comprehensive way. By comparison with the tables the photographs appear idiosyncratic in the events they illustrate, giving the impression the authors have used the material available rather than what was required. Certainly a future edition should have more photographs of last trimester fetuses. Some organs such as lung, thyroid and adrenal would benefit from having the prenatal histology supplemented by immediate postnatal changes even though this is outside the scope of the book’s title. In summary, it is an atlas compiled by embryologists which will be attractive to embryologists, but the wider interests of perinatal pathology are better served by its tables and references than by its illustrations. A.J. BARSON *
*
*
*
*
Advances in Infancy Research, Volume 3 Co-Editors: Lewis P. Lipsitt and Carolyn Rovee-Collier ABLEX Publishing Corporation, New Jersey, 1984 296 pp., US$35.00 Since volume one appeared in 1981, Advances in Infancy Research has become a major source of ideas on the developing psychology of infants. This volume maintains the quality of its predecessors. The Dedication is to Curt Richter, pioneer
or sharp criticism. There is frequent recourse to examples, with comments, of children in communication with adults and with each other. The authors’ experience has brought them into contact with Spanish-speaking children and the passages on bilingual situations and problems are among the most helpful in the book. The authors are clearly imbued with the utmost sympathy for the children. Yet there is sometimes a weakness in their examples, a lack of that crisp, pithy, epigrammatic quality which makes the device so effective in accounts of child language. The suggestions made for the assessments of children’s language deliberately exclude standardised tests. The informal assessments preferred by the authors rest on observation and documentation by teachers. Amongst the reasons for this is the recognition that children’s linguistic performance differs appreciably in different social contexts. Perhaps also there is a desire to avoid invidious comparisons between children who cannot be held responsible for their advantages or disadvantages. Assessments which are to be made in the ways recommended do have possible drawbacks. Two which spring to mind are the difficulty of transforming observation into critical evaluation and the time-consuming nature of careful documentation. Assessment, to be generally useful and effective, needs to be linked with established criteria. Thorough records of the children’s spoken language would demand more hours than a class teacher could give, especially if, as advocated here, tape recordings and consequent transcriptions were to be made. For a book of this nature the United Kingdom price, doubtless reflecting a strong dollar, is inordinately high. Student teachers may find it a source of useful suggestions but they will need to seek it in the library rather than from their own pockets. H.L. OWRID *
Atlas of Human
*
*
*
*
Prenatal Histologv
H. Nishimura (Ed.) Igaku-Shoin, Tokyo-New 316 pp. $68.00
York, 1983
The stimulus for the production of this atlas is said to have been the current upsurge in enthusiasm for the treatment of the very prematurely born infant together with technical advances in antenatal diagnosis and the possibility of fetal treatment in utero. At a more practical level its compilation would not have been possible without the availability of embryos and fetuses from induced abortions ‘conducted legally for socioeconomic reasons’. Therein lies the book’s greatest weakness, for therapeutic endeavours predominate in late fetal life at a time distinctly later than the peak for induced abortion. Consequently the illustrations, taken as a whole, are more relevant to the academic embryologist than the practising clinical pathologist, neonatologist or obstetrician. Although all the major organs feature in the book the developmental stages
328
illustrated are few and somewhat cursorily described. The photographs are predominantly black and white and with the exception of some taken at low magnification are of good quality. For the perinatal pathologist who has a daily need to be familiar with fetal histology the book is visually quite inadequate. The paradox of the book lies in the fact that it is the only atlas I know which is worth purchasing for what is written in it rather than for its illustrations. The photographic description of each organ is accompanied by a written tabulation of its main developmental stages which will be invaluable to any teratologist or perinatal pathologist and which will not be found easily in any other publication in so complete yet so concise a format. For those requiring a detailed description of fetal organ development each chapter has a brief but well chosen bibliography which will save many hours of search elsewhere. The editor and his contributors deserve praise for these two features and also for the practical guide at the end of the book for the dissection of the small embryo. In their defence it must be said that fetal developmental histology is too complex to be illustrated adequately in a book of this size and cost. The fact that the contributors are anatomists rather than clinicians is evident from the equal amount of space devoted to organs of widely differing clinical interest. The book would have more appeal if information on such organs as the mammary and prostate gland, and the urinary and gallbladder had been sacrificed for fuller descriptions of the histology of the lung, liver, gonads and thymus. It would also enhance the book to have had the formal tabulation of developmental features specifically illustrated in a more comprehensive way. By comparison with the tables the photographs appear idiosyncratic in the events they illustrate, giving the impression the authors have used the material available rather than what was required. Certainly a future edition should have more photographs of last trimester fetuses. Some organs such as lung, thyroid and adrenal would benefit from having the prenatal histology supplemented by immediate postnatal changes even though this is outside the scope of the book’s title. In summary, it is an atlas compiled by embryologists which will be attractive to embryologists, but the wider interests of perinatal pathology are better served by its tables and references than by its illustrations. A.J. BARSON *
*
*
*
*
Advances in Infancy Research, Volume 3 Co-Editors: Lewis P. Lipsitt and Carolyn Rovee-Collier ABLEX Publishing Corporation, New Jersey, 1984 296 pp., US$35.00 Since volume one appeared in 1981, Advances in Infancy Research has become a major source of ideas on the developing psychology of infants. This volume maintains the quality of its predecessors. The Dedication is to Curt Richter, pioneer