Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine

Abstract

Medicine: Essentials of Clinical Practice , edited by Chester S. Keefer and Robert W. Wilkins, 1,120 pp, 103 illus, $18.50, paper $11.50, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1970. The new edition of Harrison's famous Principles of Internal Medicine represents a major occurrence in the medical publishing world. This text, whose first edition appeared in 1950, has been devoted to what the editors have called the clinical method. The book centered around the thinking processes of a physician; for the patient, when he consults a physician, comes with symptoms, not with a diagnosis. The Harrison textbook tries to analyze the symptoms, recognize the groupings (or syndromes) into which they fall, and discuss the various mechanisms at work. The new sixth edition shows many changes over the fifth, published in 1966. Dr. Harrison has retired from the active editorial board but his name is preserved as an intrinsic part of the title. Drs.