BOOKS RECEIVED

Muscle biopsy: a modern approach (major problems in neurology-11)

By V. DUBOWITZ and M. BROOKE. 1973. Saunders & Co.

The pathology of skeletal muscle is a field in which little interest has been taken in the past, and it is rarely taken at routine autopsy. There are a number of reasons for this, one of which is that standard paraffin processing produces a great deal of distortion and artefact and often makes useful comment difficult. The authors of this book have taken an entirely new approach to the study of muscle using only fresh frozen material and looking at it from a histochemical point of view as well as a histological. Muscle is a field in which enzyme histochemistry has a great deal to contribute both to theory and practical diagnosis. Using these techniques, they have built up a picture of muscle disease far more impressive and useful than has been done previously. The pathological changes are described in close relation to the clinical picture and in some cases sequential biopsies and clinical photographs illustrate very well the progress of the disease. There is a good short chapter on electron microscopy by Dr Hans Neville which will undoubtedly be expanded in future editions. All the photographs are excellent.

These authors have done for muscle what is needed in other fields of morbid anatomy. They have broken away from the standard 5p H and E paraffin section which now yields little further basic information and worked out a new method of looking at tissues altogether. The results have been extremely valuable.

This book, however, cannot be used as a reference volume by the practising pathologist unless their methods, which are rather time-consuming, are followed carefully. The appear- ances in paraffin sections are rather different. Not everyone would agree that “ the amount of additional information one can obtain from the study of the nerve terminals and neuro- muscular junctions is limited.”

Interest in muscle, so long the Cinderella of both clinical medicine and pathology is growing. This book provides the necessary guide and stimulus.

BARBARA SMITH

The physiology and pathophysiology of the skin

Edited by A. JARRETT. 1973. London and New York: Academic Press. Vo1. I-The epidermis. Pp xvii and 343. Illustrated. E7.50. Vol. 2-The nerves and blood vessels. Pp. xvii and 459. Illustrated. f9.80.

Academic Press have published a number of monographs relating to the skin and they have been characterised by a very high standard of production and content. These new volumes, the first two in a series, will be received enthusiastically by dermatologists and pathologists with particular interest in the skin. The importance of understanding the basic anatomy and physiology in relationship to the pathology of skin will be appreciated especially by pure scientists working in tissues of the skin, which because of their ready accessability, lend themselves to experimental work.

The whole of the first volume is written by Jarrett and contains many clear illustrations and diagrams which add to an easily read text. Much of the contents has previously been published in scientific papers, but this monograph reviews well the work reported during the last decade. The format of the references quoted varies from one paper to the next. Some give the first author only, others the authors and titles, and this inconsistency detracts from the value of the monograph as a reference work.

1. PATH.-VOL. 11 3 (1974) I37

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The second volume is written in a less easily read style, but as a comprehensive review of recent work on skin, blood vessels and nerves, is unequalled in the quality of the text and illustrations. The references lack the papers’ titles and this simple addition would have improved the work.

The high standard of the first two volumes in the series suggests that important reference works are to become available in a relatively neglected part of the dermatological scientific literature.

D. P. MUNRO

Tumours of the fowl

By J. G. CAMPBELL. 1969. London: Wm. Heinemann Medical Books Ltd. Pp. viii and 292; 215 figs. and 5 colour plates. E3.50.

Most pathologists will know about some of the neoplastic conditions that occur in Gallus domesticus, and, at the least, will find that the name of “ Rous ” is indissolubly linked in their minds with “ Sarcoma No. 1 ”. Most too will realise the important advances in knowledge that have resulted from studies of virus-induced neoplastic and tumour-like conditions in poultry, such as the avian leukosis complex. However, perhaps because Rous’s original observations were not immediately and successfully translatable to mammalian tumours, there grew up, between the wars, a notion that tumours of poultry were not particularly relevant to human cancer research. Indeed, apart from the study of viral tumours, the subject of avian neoplasia is still inadequately explored. The present monograph is therefore very welcome, and is recommended for perusal by experimental cancer research workers, as well as by those using poultry for experimental studies of all kinds, and by those concerned with the practical diagnosis of poultry tumours. In it, Dr Campbell, who has distinguished himself by work on poultry pathology, has given a concise, readable, well-documented, illustrated and indexed, and altogether fascinating survey of the various types of tumours that occur, in some instances with considerable frequency, in poultry. He has included in his descriptions sufficient detail of avian embryology, anatomy and histology to help the mammalian pathologist over one or two tricky hurdles, such as the tumours of the urogenital system, and he has at the same time given attention to relevant epidemiological aspects. A valuable feature of the monograph is that the illustrations bear a TRC number, allowing reference to the histological material deposited for study in the Tumour Reference Collection of the Tmperial Cancer Research Fund.

Allowing for differences in age at death, one of the fundamental facts about neoplasms in the various species of animal is that different types of tumour occur with differing frequency in the different species, so that each species of animal (and this also applies with particular force to man) has its own characteristic spectrum of tumours. To account for such species differences will not always be easy, but a useful animal to study in greater depth in this respect would be the fowl. Much is known of the response of this species to viruses, and something too about its response to carcinogenic chemicals; but, as this monograph shows so well, there is still much opportunity for productive work to be done with spontaneous and experimental tumours of poultry.

E. COTCHIN

Fundamental principles of bacteriology

By A. J. SALLE. 1973. Seventh edition. E7.85. This is basically a book designed for the first year student in microbiology and although

the title suggests that bacteriology is the only subject dealt with, the book also deals with aspects of fungi, yeasts and viruses. It does not deal with protozoa and algae.

The treatments of the various subjects are maintained at a simple level, thus causing a number of errors of omission. Neither toxins nor serology are at all dealt with and cannot

BOOKS RECEIVED 139

even be found in the index, although when discussing, e.g., Clostridium botulinum, a toxin is mentioned and serology is dismissed in a few sentences in the section on the Salmonella group. The nomenclature used for this group is very out of date, although recent references are quoted.

Perhaps the strangest chapter from the point of view of arrangement is the one entitled " Associations of Bacteria ", in which the three first pages deal with symbiosis, commensalism and synergism, followed by 14 pages dealing with antibiotics. This important section is rather like a long extended list and even at this level could have been dealt with more adequately.

The taxonomic and biochemical sections give the student a reasonable understanding of the subject, although again a great deal of controversy on the current states of knowledge is omitted. I t is perhaps a good idea to deal with bacterial enzymes, respiration, etc., as separate sections considering bacteria as a whole rather than the separate groups as is often done. There are some good sections on ecology in which the various eco-systems are reason- ably dealt with, but obviously none can be treated comprehensively.

With suitable guidance, a student could find this book a very useful introduction to the subject.

K. A. BETTELHEIM

Vol. 113, No, 1, May 1974, was issued on 16.8.74.