Tuberculosis in Animals and Man: A Study in Comparative Pathology

THE experimentalor clinical approachto tuberculosisby medical, veterinaryor sciencegraduatestendsto be coloured by their specializededucationaldiscipline. Consequently,the importance of the comparativeapproachmay not be fulJy appreciatedby some, even after years of experiencein the field. Undoubtedly, many of the problems encounteredby the specialized worker will find a solution in the over-all host-diseasepattern. To give only one example,the correlation between allergy, caseation and bacillary numbers in the lesions of different speciesbecomesclear only when the reaction of all susceptiblespecies is considered. In this excellentand readablebook, ProfessorFrancishas incorporateda wealth of information concerningthe hostparasiterelationshipsof the tubercle bacillus, available only after years of careful analysis of the very extensiveliterature in many languages. From this, he has drawn his own conclusions, based on wide personal researchin the field. Naturally enough, the work shows a bias towards his own major interest, the animal host, but there is adequatecomparison with the human host for workers interested primarilY in that field. Inevitably there are experimental results cited and conclusions drawn, especially in those sections relating to allergy, that will not pass unchallenged,and one or two significant publications have not been taken into consideration in reaching the conclusions. This, however, fails to detract significantly from the undoubtedover-all value of the work, which meetsa long-felt need for readily available data on tuberculosis. This work, togetherwith "The Pathogenesisof Tuberculosis" (A. R. Rich, BlackwelJ), merits a prominent place in the library of all who are interestedin tuberculosis,whether from the medical or veterinary viewpoint, at the clinical, researchor diagnostic levels. It is consideredto be a "must" for beginners.