Drs. Ariel and Kazarian of the New York Medical College state that the purpose of this book "is to provide a useful approach to the diagnosis and treatment of abdominal abscesses and to provide a guide to the important advances... that have occurred..." They feel that the material should be useful for medical students, interns, surgical residents, and practicing surgeons. Dr. O. H. Wangensteen, in an interesting foreword, points out that this is a very timely monograph since subphrenic abscess has long been a bête noire of the surgeon.
The title is somewhat misleading, however, since much more than diagnosis and treatment is included. Anatomy, etiology, and pathogenesis of abdominal suppuration are also well covered so that to entitle the book simply "Abdominal Abscesses" might be more appropriate.
In 1908, H. L. Barnard published a scholarly but anatomically incorrect classification of subphrenic abscesses. Ochsner, despite outstanding contributions to the surgical