ReviewUltrasonics in Medicine (Der Ultraschall in der Medizin). Kongressbericht der Erlanger Ultraschall-Tagung, 1949 (S. Hirzel Verlag, Zurich, 1949). 486 pp., with 27 plates.

Abstract

The spectacular advances in the applications of physics in medicine which have resulted from the development of machines for accelerating particles at very high voltages, and from the increasing availability of radioactive isotopes, have overshadowed what may ultimately prove to be very valuable contributions along other lines. The Institute took cognisance of this when it devoted its March 1950 meeting to “Biological Effects of Non-Ionizing Radiations”. The papers read then were concerned with short electro-magnetic waves. The book under review deals with another type of vibration, ultrasonics, or very high frequency sound waves, a subject which has hitherto received most attention from continental workers. It consists of 72 original papers covering technical, biological and clinical aspects, and the discussions which followed each of them, together with tables summarising the clinical results obtained from some thousands of applications of ultrasonics to a wide range of conditions and diseases in about 30 hospitals and institutions. There is also a valuable bibliography which contains 554 references.