The plethora of current medical publications tends to obscure the fact that there are published occasionally volumes of superlative merit, literally modern medical classics. Such a volume is this extraordinary monograph on renal physiology, in which both the regulatory and excretory functions of the kidney are considered in painstaking detail. It is difficult to imagine any pertinent fact that has been omitted. Only an investigator with a lifetime of research in renal physiology could successfully undertake so monumental a task; no living physiologist is better equipped than is Homer Smith.
This volume is no book for the casual professional reader, nor is it intended for the pragmatic clinician who desires bedside rules of thumb. Indeed, in the preface, the author warns that current methods of study of renal physiology may be too elaborate for general clinical application. It is, rather, a comprehensive dissertation of renal function, as far as current