Textbook of Physiology

This 17th edition of what was originally Howell's textbook appears six years after its predecessor. Certain portions have been extensively modified and new chapters have been added, though the overall length remains the same. The general outline and approach are unchanged, and the principal changes only will be considered here. Most sections have been brought carefully up to date. The reviewer missed the opening chapter of the older edition, a historical introduction by Dr. Fulton. The first seven chapters on neuronal mechanism have been slightly expanded, and considerable new material on electrical and metabolic interrelationships has been added. Later in the text is a fresh chapter on acetylcholine and energy transformation in nerve cells. It would seem that these might have been brought together. The section on muscle includes a welcome expansion of information on molecular mechanisms. The treatment of the central nervous system is notable for a new chapter on the limbic system with an excellent and recent bibliography. The section on sensation is little changed except for a new chapter, "Pathophysiology of Pain," and the inclusion of new experimental data on electroencepha-lography. The chapter on blood clotting, felt by the reviewer to have been a weak spot in the previous edition, has been well rewritten by a new author, Dr. Rosemary Biggs. Electrocardiography has been set off in a separate chapter and expanded to include data on body surface equipotentials. Respiratory regulation has been rewritten by Drs. Breckenridge and Hoff, on the basis of their own extensive investigations. Body fluids and the kidney have also received a new treatment under the editorship of Dr. William Blake. The high standard of writing and editing is maintained throughout. The bibliographies are longer and for the most part up to date, though the citations no longer include the titles of papers. The format has undergone only minor changes. The index appeared adequate when searched for topics in the reviewer's particular interests. This small but scholarly volume is dedicated to the integration of histo-pathological and bacteriological knowledge of tuberculosis in man. As is stated in the foreword, Dr. Canetti's approach to the study of pathogenesis is refreshingly simple. The first chapter presents an excellent and readable review of the histopathology of tuberculosis. In the second chapter an attempt is made to correlate the number of tubercle bacilli seen in tissue sections with the various types of histopathology. It is shown that certain …