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This work is an encyclopedia of antibiotics and chemotherapy rather than a primer (Fibel). The first main section presents general considerations of the pharmacology of antibiotic drugs, their efficacy singly and in combinations, toxic and hypersensitivity reactions, and microbial resistance. It is an excellent primer of 92 pages.
In the second section (529 pages), individual drugs are considered. The structure, principal pharmacologic data, comparisons with related drugs, clinical indications, untoward effects, commercial preparations, trade names, and references are given for each drug or group of drugs. The chapter on tetracyclines, for instance, has 151 references, including some from 1968. I believe that all antimicrobial and antiparasitic drugs that are now clinically available in the United States are included, as well as some which have not been marketed here eg, pyrrolidinylmethyltetracycline (rolitetracycline), and some which have been withdrawn, eg, carbomycin.
The third section (313 pages) is devoted to the chemotherapy of