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It seems that one can hardly go to the post office any more without encountering some new monograph or repeating series of compendia which attempt to encapsulate progress in some field of medical science. This particular book is a British example of this phenomenon; it is the fifth in a series which dates back to a 1947 beginning. It is divided into five sections: "Microbiology," "Chemical Pathology," "Haematology," "Histology," and "Immunology." Each section spans from 50 to 140 pages and is comprised of from three to seven chapters. The quality of presentation by the 37 authors is uniformly of high caliber. Charts, graphs, and photographs are abundantly scattered through the book and are appropriate. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on "Platelet Function," "Rubella," and "Muscle Biopsy in the Diagnosis of Neurological and Muscle Disease."

The most important thoughts presented, however, probably lie in the three-page preface which succinctly summarizes the