Understanding Surgery

This monograph discusses a method of producing surgical anesthesia to which the eponym "Shane-Ashman" or, more briefly, "S-A" has been applied by the authors. This technique is unequivocally recommended by the authors for all patients, there being no contraindications either of age or concurrent disease. Since no statistical information regarding clinical results is presented, clinical impression must form the basis for the statement that no difficulty has been encountered in over 20,000 cases. No physiological studies are mentioned which have been performed either experimentally or on patients which would tend to support, or perhaps abnegate, certain unusual claims made for the technique. Polypharmacy plays a large r6le in this type of anesthesia, on the theory that by multiple administrations of small amounts of many drugs only the salutary effects of each drug are obtained, thereby eliminating all adverse effects. The discussion of the pharmacology of anesthetic agents is characterized by categorical statements, often misleading, that are at variance with established fact. The bibliography is scanty and weighted with "personal communications." There is no index. The book is well printed and carefully edited, but it is recommended to few.