The author seeks to provide the clinician with a practical pathophysiologic inter pretation of the subject for bedside use. Unfortunately, the organization is poor, and there is a great deal of repetition. Too much space is given to defining objectives and not enough to a clear explanation of the steps leading to those objectives. There are a series of illustrations depicting various body spaces with trap doors, faucets, ladders, and treadmills, plus many little ionic men making entrances, exits, climbing stairs, swimming, etc. There are other diagrams depicting a wide variety of conditions in which specific numerical values are given for all of the ions in plasma, interstitial water, and intracellular water. At another point, forty-two types of intravenous fluids are diagrammed. Not only has the author made the subject more complex than it needs to be, but frequent erroneous statements are made. For example, he states that Ringer's solution,