The 14th edition of this fine text-book has been considerably revised. It manages the remarkable feat of adding new chapters while shortening overall length by some 300 pages. Part of this is accomplished by increasing page size, but it is refreshing to find an editor willing to delete portions of a manuscript.
The new edition carries on the apparent purpose of previous editions: to provide a textbook for medical students and recent graduates. In this it succeeds admirably, but in attempting to cover the entire gamut of physical signs of interest in any surgical patient, it suffers from a brevity of description which omits symptoms—an important aspect of any diagnosis.
Illustrations are plentiful and as noted in the preface, vague ones have been culled. For those students practicing in large charity hospitals, many will be familiar. For those working elsewhere, it may seem a waste of space as they will