As appears to be the case for British medical texts, this short textbook of hematology provides well-written discussions of the basic physiology and pathology of the bloodforming organs. Well distributed and balanced throughout is a practical clinical emphasis.
Following discussion of formation of the formed elements is a fine presentation of normal and abnormal hemoglobin, the porphyrins, and the blood groups. Anemias characterized and covered are hemolytic, iron deficiency, megaloblastic, metabolic, and aplastic. The function and disorders of the spleen lead into several chapters on Hodgkin's disease, lymphomas, leukemias, and nonlymphomatous causes of lymphadenopathy as well as polycythemia and myelofibrosis. Coverage of the lymphocyte serves as a springboard into the immunoglobulinemias, and the final chapters are concerned with coagulation and platelet aspects of the hemorrhagic disorders.
Illustrations are numerous; some of the roentgenograms suffer from the reproduction, while cost prevented some of the splendid photographs and photomicrographs from being presented