The past five years have witnessed great clarification in the mysteries surrounding the various problems relating to blood clotting. In this period a number of seemingly unrelated investigations have converged: newer knowledge regarding prothrombin and methods for its detection, discovery of the antihemorrhagic vitamin K, purification and therapeutic use of heparin, and discovery in sweet clover disease of cattle of the hemorrhagic factor dicumarol. In these investigations the name of Quick has constantly loomed large and it is therefore fitting that the first authoritative monograph on the physiology and clinical manifestations of normal and abnormal hemostasis should have been written by this Marquette University investigator.
The book is distinguished by its thoroughness and clarity, and above all by its wisdom. Well and simply written, it fulfils a long felt need in grouping together in separate chapters the many accumulated bits of knowledge regarding thrombin, prothrombin, thromboplastin, fibrinogen, platelets and anticoagulants.