In a mammoth survey of physiology this is the second of three volumes in the section on circulation, edited by a physiologist of considerable renown. It was preceded by a section on neurophysiology and hopefully will be followed by sections on excretory, respiratory, and endocrine physiology.
Here one can survey a topic in 30 or 40 pages and see in suitable perspective how knowledge develops as instrumentation improves and methods become refined. Ten of the chapters deal with the circulatory aspects of specific organs or organ systems. Some of the remaining ones give detailed coverage of such problems as pulsatile blood flow, structure and function of the vascular wall, and atherosclerosis and lipid metabolism. Of more general interest are expertly organized chapters on methods of measuring blood flow, vascular resistance and capacitance, and vascular dynamics.
As might be expected with multiple authors, in some chapters the development of concepts flows