Single-volume Work Research Articles

A Review of Modern Legal Medicine, Psychiatry, and Forensic Science

Abstract “Where does a 3050-g, 7.5-cm-thick textbook come to rest? Anywhere it wants to,” to paraphrase the old joke—but preferably, for this book, on the ready reference shelf of every pathologist who does forensic science cases, and certainly in the library of every forensic pathology training program. The authors of this weighty compendium state that it is “the first comprehensive single volume work covering the entire field of legal medicine and the allied forensic sciences.” Although it may not live up to that claim of universality, it does appear to be the first major single-volume textbook on forensic pathology and forensic science in this country since the classic 1954 edition of Gonzales et al (not counting Professor Camps' updates of Gradwohl [1968 and 1976], which are British in orientation, nor the recent multivolume work of Tedeschi et al [1977]).

Swenson's Pediatric Surgery

The fourth edition ofSwenson's Pediatric Surgeryhas just been published. It differs significantly from previous editions and from other major textbooks of pediatric surgery. The fourth edition is a single-volume work rather than the previous two-volume set. The price is a bargain in today's book market. The editor, who wrote most of the book, departed from the style used so often in medical textbooks. This is a problem-oriented volume, written for the surgical house officer and the practicing general surgeon who sees an occasional pediatric patient. Common pediatric surgical problems are clearly and concisely defined, and their treatment described. The author inserts his own preference for methods of treatment and the reasons for his preferences, but not at the expense of alternative methods of therapy. This book gains in readability from close editing and attention to the style and content. Absent from this text are sections on pediatric cardiac

Modern Legal Medicine, Psychiatry, and Forensic Science

This is a large book, ambitious in its aim to be first comprehensive, single-volume work covering the entire field of legal medicine and the allied forensic sciences. Fifty-six contributors, several with national reputations, have collaborated to cover an unusually wide range of subjects, even for this type of text—so wide, in fact, that despite its length (1,300 pages), the book is less than comprehensive. Frequently anecdotal, several chapters seem aimed at entertaining the lay reader rather than professionals and lack depth, detail, and documentation. A limited number of black-and-white photographs, including portraits of the authors (a welcome but repetitive personal touch), have been included but lack the clarity of the original slides. The captions often presuppose expertise for proper interpretation. Occasional diagrams, offered as elementary examples of forms or isolated illustrations of various tests are included, although it is not clear for whom. It is doubtful that anyone would

Anatomischer Atlas des menschlichen Körpers. Band I: Knochenlehre, Gelenk- und Bänderlehre, Muskellehre. Band II: Eingeweidelehre, innersekretorische Drüsen, Herz. Band III: Nervensystem, Angiologie, Sinnesorgane.

This anatomic atlas, in three volumes, is the thirteenth edition of a work that has, since the publication of its first volume in Hungarian in 1946, subsequently had editions in German, Russian-Bulgarian, Chinese, English, and Spanish. The work is arranged systematically as follows: volume I— Osteology, Syndesmology, and Myology; volume II—Splanchnology, Endocrine Glands, and Heart; volume III—Nervous System, Angiology, and Sense Organs. For the student in the dissection room, a three-volume work is rather unwieldy. A single volume work, such as the Grant atlas, which treats the material regionally, or the Wolf-Heidegger atlas, which treats it systematically, is preferable. There are a total of 803 figures, most of them in color, which are attractively produced on a good grade of paper. Many of these illustrations have been made from special dissections of original preparations. The color reproductions are superior to those found in the Spalteholz atlas, but they lack the

Labor in IndiaLabor Problems in the Industrialization of India. Charles Myers

This is a fine book, sensible in its suggestions, extensive in its coverage, and deceptively simple in its organization. It is neither a polemic nor a primer, but the best single volume work on labor in India which has yet appeared, and it will no doubt remain a standard work for some years to come. Having said that, I shall take the reviewer's prerogative and tell the author in public how he should have written the book if he wanted to please this one unreasonable reader. But first, let us sketch in briefly some of the major points covered in the volume.