ATLAS OF BLOOD CELLS

Itstructional Course LeLtures. Volume XVI. 1959. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Editor Fred C. Reynolds, M.D. (Pp. 335; illustrated. £6.) St. Louis, Missouri: C. V. Mosby Company. 1959. This is the sixteenth volume of selected lectures given at the instructional -courses sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery. The publication of these lectures, inaugurated by Dr. J. E. M. Thomson, was assured of success from the beginning of 1943. This volume includes a symposium on injuries to athletes, selected lectures on the hand, foot, and knee, unequal extremities, and the spine, with a section on fractures largely devoted to the use of a prosthesis for the treatment of fresh fractures of the femoral neck. The editor has chosen subjects of contemporary interest, and each lecture is of sutficient importance to be read as an entity, for the volumes are not intended to form a textbook. The treatment of claw hand is described, use being made of various tendon transfers developed by Bunnell, Fowler, and others for paralytic conditions. For Dupuytren's contracture subcutaneous fasciotomy under local analgesia is favoured. The conservative and operative treatment of club foot is discussed. " Medial release" is advised when failure of closed methods is recognized, and this is advocated between the ages of 31 and 5{. The long article on the role of subtalar fusion in the treatment of valgus deformity of the foot is full of information. The author uses bone grafts, holding that this procedure is useful for the growing child to maintain an arch while the foot develops, and he appreciates that triple arthrodesis is required in some feet later. A lecture on electromyography in orthopaedic surgery should be read. The symposium on the treatment of fresh fractures of the neck of the femur reports the experience at eight clinics. with an excellent summary by Dr. J. E. NI. Thomson. Stewart has experience of 300 and Moore of 135 operations for fresh fracture using a prosthesis. The general feeling appears to be that results are encouraging, particularly when Moore's vitallium prosthesis is employed, but that experience is still instilficient to advocate definite indications for the procedure. The 260 excellent illustrations are well chosen from radiographs, photographs, and line drawings. These lectures will be invaluable to the postgraduate student.