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Spezielle neurologische untersuchungsmethoden
600
BOOK REVIEWS
quate. They, as well as practising physicians and neurologists, need a relatively short volume in which the principles of human genetics are clearly laid out in a form comprehensible to those with little fundamental knowledge of the subject and of the higher mathematics which all too often confuses the non-expert reader of some of the more definitive texts. Professor Emery has fulfilled this very real need. In just over 230 pages he has written an eminently clear, logically constructed and readable commentary upon the subject which can be heartily recommended. Beginning with a historical introduction, he goes on to review the chemical basis of inheritance, chromosomes and chromosomal abnormalities in developmental genetics. These introductory chapters are followed by sections on inheritance
in families, genetic factors in some common diseases, pharmaco-genetics, population genetics and natural selection, and a shorter section on radiation and human heredity. In his final chapter on genetics and the physician he gives a valuable, though necessarily brief, survey of those aspects of human genetics which are of current practical value to the practising doctor. Each chapter is concluded with a carefully selected list of leading references to the literature and at the end of the volume there is a glossary of terms in common use, together with a short general bibliography which represents a valuable guide to further reading. This volume can be confidently recommended and will undoubtedly achieve the success it so clearly deserves. JOHN N. WALTON
Spezielle neurologische Untersuchungsmethoden,
full. The section on neuroradiology covers straight X-ray of the skull and spine and the various methods of contrast radiography and is notable for its magnificent photographs. The section on myography includes not only a full account of the electromyogram and estimation of peripheral nerve conduction velocities, but also an interesting account of the use of combined mechano- and electro-myography in the study of the reflexes in spinal cord disease. The basic principles of electroencephalography are well described, again with excellent illustrations. The book concludes with sections on echo-encephalography and radioactive cerebral scanning. This excellently produced book, while it is understandably not cheap, will be most useful to junior staff in medical and surgical neurological units, but the clarity of the writing and of the illustrations recommend its inclusion in any neurological library. J. B. STANTON
by G. SCHALTENBRAND, viii+ 193 pages, 179 illustrations, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 1968, D M 58.--. Special methods of investigation in neurology have become more and more refined and consequently more valuable in diagnosis, so that now they almost constitute sub-specialities of the subject and no one individual can be an expert in all the fields. This book is particularly welcome therefore, since it provides in one volume definitive accounts of techniques and interpretation in analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid, neuroradiology, myography, electroencephalography, echo-encephalography, and radioactive isotope scanning, all written by experts. The section on the cerebrospinal fluid describes in detail the techniques for obtaining the fluid and for the estimation of the various components, solid and biochemical, of the fluid. Variations in these constituents in disease are discussed in
A Neurological Study of Newborn Infants, by DAVID J. BEINTEMA, 178 pages, Spastics International Medical Publications and William Heinemann Medical Books Limited, London, 1968, 37s.6d; $4.80. Sir Francis Walshe is said to have described the field of muscle disease as a wasteland. By contrast the neurology of the newborn might be called a jungle; a largely uncharted area complicated by the rapid but variable development which occurs in the first few days of life; entangled by the widely different responses which may be obtained from a baby in different states of wakefulness, hunger or contentment and made perilous by the severity and suddenness of the dis-
orders which may befall the newborn infant. This book, the author's doctorate thesis, is one of a number of painstaking neurological studies of infants which have come from the department of Dr. Heinz Prechtl at the University of Groningen. Its aim is to answer three questions, "(1) What standardisation procedures should the examiner introduce in order to get reliable information from the neurological examination? (2) What is the developmental course of neurological signs during the first days of life? (3) Do obstetrical and postnatal conditions affect the developmental course and consistency of neurological signs throughout the neonatal period?" The data were collected by repeated examina-
J. neurol. Sci (1969) 8:598-606
BOOK REVIEWS
quate. They, as well as practising physicians and neurologists, need a relatively short volume in which the principles of human genetics are clearly laid out in a form comprehensible to those with little fundamental knowledge of the subject and of the higher mathematics which all too often confuses the non-expert reader of some of the more definitive texts. Professor Emery has fulfilled this very real need. In just over 230 pages he has written an eminently clear, logically constructed and readable commentary upon the subject which can be heartily recommended. Beginning with a historical introduction, he goes on to review the chemical basis of inheritance, chromosomes and chromosomal abnormalities in developmental genetics. These introductory chapters are followed by sections on inheritance
in families, genetic factors in some common diseases, pharmaco-genetics, population genetics and natural selection, and a shorter section on radiation and human heredity. In his final chapter on genetics and the physician he gives a valuable, though necessarily brief, survey of those aspects of human genetics which are of current practical value to the practising doctor. Each chapter is concluded with a carefully selected list of leading references to the literature and at the end of the volume there is a glossary of terms in common use, together with a short general bibliography which represents a valuable guide to further reading. This volume can be confidently recommended and will undoubtedly achieve the success it so clearly deserves. JOHN N. WALTON
Spezielle neurologische Untersuchungsmethoden,
full. The section on neuroradiology covers straight X-ray of the skull and spine and the various methods of contrast radiography and is notable for its magnificent photographs. The section on myography includes not only a full account of the electromyogram and estimation of peripheral nerve conduction velocities, but also an interesting account of the use of combined mechano- and electro-myography in the study of the reflexes in spinal cord disease. The basic principles of electroencephalography are well described, again with excellent illustrations. The book concludes with sections on echo-encephalography and radioactive cerebral scanning. This excellently produced book, while it is understandably not cheap, will be most useful to junior staff in medical and surgical neurological units, but the clarity of the writing and of the illustrations recommend its inclusion in any neurological library. J. B. STANTON
by G. SCHALTENBRAND, viii+ 193 pages, 179 illustrations, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 1968, D M 58.--. Special methods of investigation in neurology have become more and more refined and consequently more valuable in diagnosis, so that now they almost constitute sub-specialities of the subject and no one individual can be an expert in all the fields. This book is particularly welcome therefore, since it provides in one volume definitive accounts of techniques and interpretation in analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid, neuroradiology, myography, electroencephalography, echo-encephalography, and radioactive isotope scanning, all written by experts. The section on the cerebrospinal fluid describes in detail the techniques for obtaining the fluid and for the estimation of the various components, solid and biochemical, of the fluid. Variations in these constituents in disease are discussed in
A Neurological Study of Newborn Infants, by DAVID J. BEINTEMA, 178 pages, Spastics International Medical Publications and William Heinemann Medical Books Limited, London, 1968, 37s.6d; $4.80. Sir Francis Walshe is said to have described the field of muscle disease as a wasteland. By contrast the neurology of the newborn might be called a jungle; a largely uncharted area complicated by the rapid but variable development which occurs in the first few days of life; entangled by the widely different responses which may be obtained from a baby in different states of wakefulness, hunger or contentment and made perilous by the severity and suddenness of the dis-
orders which may befall the newborn infant. This book, the author's doctorate thesis, is one of a number of painstaking neurological studies of infants which have come from the department of Dr. Heinz Prechtl at the University of Groningen. Its aim is to answer three questions, "(1) What standardisation procedures should the examiner introduce in order to get reliable information from the neurological examination? (2) What is the developmental course of neurological signs during the first days of life? (3) Do obstetrical and postnatal conditions affect the developmental course and consistency of neurological signs throughout the neonatal period?" The data were collected by repeated examina-
J. neurol. Sci (1969) 8:598-606