Comparative veterinary pharmacology, toxicology & therapy

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BRITISH VETERINARY JOURNAL, 143, 5

chapters on, for example, the nutritional disorders, haematology and surgery of birds . As in the first edition, there are large sections on waterfowl, raptors and gallinaceous birds, all of which are comprehensive . Useful additions are the extended sections on cranes, flamingoes, aquatic birds, psittacines and some of the smaller species, such as hummingbirds . About half the volume is taken up with mammals. Although the same high general quality is maintained throughout, some sections, for example that on marsupials, are much more comprehensive and up-to-date than others, for example that on perissodactyl ungulates . As in the first volume there are extensive sections on the marine mammals and the primates . Welcome new sections or new emphases include an excellent chapter on dentistry, another on basic nutrition and a third on the care of hooves, nails and claws . There is much more on bats than in the first edition, reflecting the increased interest over the last few years in this group and there are noble efforts to up-date the sections on small mammals . The comprehensive section on neonatal physiology and handrearing will be particularly welcome to all animal managers and the excellent chapter on reproduction in captive carnivores has been repeated with updating in this edition . At the end of the book comes a welcome and very timely introductory section on the care of invertebrates and no doubt there will be much more on this subject in any future edition . Thumbing through the volume, I particularly liked the facility of being able to identify quickly a particular section by the clear headings at the tops of the pages, both right and left, a very important facility when suddenly presented with an unfamiliar case . This book will appeal to many biologists even outside the sphere of the zoo veterinarian . It contains a wealth of basic information not only on animal husbandry, but also on basic physiology and comparative medicine . At £85 the book sounds expensive but it is not for what it is and everyone who is interested in the broader fields of biology should have access to it .

Comparative Veterinary Pharmacology, Toxicology Therapy A . S . J . P. A. M . Van Miert, M . G . Bogaert & M . Debackere Lancaster : MTP Press Ltd . 1986 . 537 pp . £59 .95 This book contains fifty contributions from invited lecturers at the meeting of the European Association for Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, held in Ghent in 1985 . These make an interesting and stimulating collection of reviews, reports and viewpoints . There are thirteen sections including Anaesthesia, Neuroleptanalgesia and Sedation, Teaching Veterinary PharmaSystems and cology, Drug Delivery Bioavailability and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology, and in each section there are two to four pages which often reflect the views and work of the authors. The presentation is particularly successful in some areas, for example, the section entitled Diarrhoea contains excellent reviews on modulation of secretion by enterotoxins (de Jonge and Vaandrager) and on antidiarrhoeal therapy (Ooms and Degryse) . Inevitably, the selection of topics leads to wide gaps and the coverage is not consistent with the ambitious title . The book is printed in `camera ready' style which gives it a utilitarian and somewhat impermanent appearance . This is presumably to reduce the cost, although the UK price of £59 .95 remains substantial, and will exclude not only casual buyers who wish to extend their knowledge, but also students of veterinary pharmacology who will find the breadth of coverage frustratingly inadequate . As a source of occasional reference to specific authors, as a valuable update on some subjects and as a compilation of many interesting presentations, this book serves a useful purpose and deserves a place in appropriate institutional libraries. However, this reviewer would like to make a plea to potential editors of compilations such as this to consider qualifying the titles of the volumes with `Aspects of . . .' or some other indication that what is being presented is an arbitrary (if fascinating) collection of papers, and not a comprehensive text .

D . M . JONES

R . J . BYWALER