Blakiston's New Gould Medical Dictionary

The beginning student of histology is frequently confused by the increasing burden of detail that is incorporated into the more encyclopedic texts. For such students the more condensed treatment available in this book will prove useful since it provides, in skeleton form, the essentials of the subject. In this sense the present (third) edition of this work fills a real need in providing the student with a frame of reference. The fact that the scope of this book can provide only a foundation is clearly recognized by the authors who rightly suggest that the superstructure must be added from other sources. The scope of the third edition is little different from that of its predecessors. Most of the illustrations are line drawings which serve admirably to emphasize the salient characteristics of each tissue and organ. The diagnostic tables of previous editions have been retained and are of some value. The absence of bibliographical material, while in keeping with the aim of the book, underlines the necessity, in all but the most abbreviated courses, of recourse, in addition, to more detailed treatments. The present reviewer must note one drawback in the present revision. At several points it fails to reflect fairly recent advances in microscopic anatomy. For example, despite recent advances in histochemistry and electron microscopy, these fields are not mentioned in the text, the latter field being represented by a lone electron micrograph. Again, in the section on liver no use is made of the newer data of Elias and, as a consequence, the figures belie the text. While the preface promises to ". . . borrow material from other disciplines . . . in several instances to correlate structure and function," the text does so to a very limited extent. No matter how brief a textbook is, it should be up to date and should reflect the current status of the field. With this one reservation the third edition of Essentials of Histology will continue to serve well the beginning student in search of orientation.