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The skeleton
THE LANCET
The skeleton We never hear our most primitive music: the stony clatter. Made smooth by bursas, tendons, fascia, and long silky ligaments, soft architecture conceals the hardness
Spooky creature who outlives us, if lucky, forms a relic like the 12000-year-old found
that holds us, won’t bow, or overbowed breaks into green twig fractures
in a glacier, all she is is bone, mummified patches of skin, moccasins, her toys of amber.
or other shatterings. The long bones have a little give, the short ones, just a box of hinges,
Calcium knows how to last, wants to be rock, but blood won’t let it, builds its home
rattle of dominos, the knuckle sandwich laced in kid gloves. Not armored like a turtle
inside the marrow, trabeculae arch into a cathedral ceiling, the stem cells,
whose hard part is outside, we suffer each impact, the soft stuff of us
a mush of red reticulum, percolate in the primal stew of bones’ unopened chamber.
caught between our skeleton’s promontories and the corners of the world.
Walking, we recognize death’s bass note in each vibration from heel to skull of solid beams that frame the house
Gate Tim Ollivier
Alice Jones Oakland, CA, USA
A different approach to organ transplantation Trends in Organ Transplantation Edited by B A H Williams, D M Sandiford-Guttenbeil. New York: Springer. 1996. Pp 247. $49.95. ISBN 0-8261-9150-9.
T
rends in Organ Transplantation is edited by and aimed at nurses who work in transplantation in the USA. Almost all of the book has been written by women. It even contains a section on “women’s issues in transplantation”, As a male doctor I found this to be one of the most interesting sections, since issues such as pregnancy and breastfeeding while receiving cyclosporin A do not receive enough attention, and are certainly important. Most chapters are concise and well written, and issues such as cost containment, organ donation, and new immunosuppressive molecules for control of organ rejection are described in an excellent fashion. It is difficult to generally recommend this book to nurses or doctors outside the USA,
-
Vol349 February 22, 1997
however, because the chapters about financial aspects focus explicitly on the US situation. It is also difficult to understand why Williams and Sandiford-Guttenbeil have chosen to combine chapters about “the human aspects of organ donation” and “economic trends in California Health Care” with several chapters about experimental procedures that are currently of no clinical relevance. Perhaps the publisher should consider adapting the book for use outside the USA. Such an initiative would be worthwhile, since the book is interesting, and of an outstanding quality. F J van der Woude Universitat Heidelberg, Fakultat fur Klinische Medizin Mannheim, 68135 Mannheim, Germany
581
The skeleton We never hear our most primitive music: the stony clatter. Made smooth by bursas, tendons, fascia, and long silky ligaments, soft architecture conceals the hardness
Spooky creature who outlives us, if lucky, forms a relic like the 12000-year-old found
that holds us, won’t bow, or overbowed breaks into green twig fractures
in a glacier, all she is is bone, mummified patches of skin, moccasins, her toys of amber.
or other shatterings. The long bones have a little give, the short ones, just a box of hinges,
Calcium knows how to last, wants to be rock, but blood won’t let it, builds its home
rattle of dominos, the knuckle sandwich laced in kid gloves. Not armored like a turtle
inside the marrow, trabeculae arch into a cathedral ceiling, the stem cells,
whose hard part is outside, we suffer each impact, the soft stuff of us
a mush of red reticulum, percolate in the primal stew of bones’ unopened chamber.
caught between our skeleton’s promontories and the corners of the world.
Walking, we recognize death’s bass note in each vibration from heel to skull of solid beams that frame the house
Gate Tim Ollivier
Alice Jones Oakland, CA, USA
A different approach to organ transplantation Trends in Organ Transplantation Edited by B A H Williams, D M Sandiford-Guttenbeil. New York: Springer. 1996. Pp 247. $49.95. ISBN 0-8261-9150-9.
T
rends in Organ Transplantation is edited by and aimed at nurses who work in transplantation in the USA. Almost all of the book has been written by women. It even contains a section on “women’s issues in transplantation”, As a male doctor I found this to be one of the most interesting sections, since issues such as pregnancy and breastfeeding while receiving cyclosporin A do not receive enough attention, and are certainly important. Most chapters are concise and well written, and issues such as cost containment, organ donation, and new immunosuppressive molecules for control of organ rejection are described in an excellent fashion. It is difficult to generally recommend this book to nurses or doctors outside the USA,
-
Vol349 February 22, 1997
however, because the chapters about financial aspects focus explicitly on the US situation. It is also difficult to understand why Williams and Sandiford-Guttenbeil have chosen to combine chapters about “the human aspects of organ donation” and “economic trends in California Health Care” with several chapters about experimental procedures that are currently of no clinical relevance. Perhaps the publisher should consider adapting the book for use outside the USA. Such an initiative would be worthwhile, since the book is interesting, and of an outstanding quality. F J van der Woude Universitat Heidelberg, Fakultat fur Klinische Medizin Mannheim, 68135 Mannheim, Germany
581