This volume was prepared for medical students and physicians, particularly internists who seek knowledge of the "new" genetic diseases, syndromes, and variants. The book is a storehouse of information for physicians who desire knowledge of the principles of genetics and want guidelines for diagnostic, prognostic, and counseling problems presented by heritable diseases of man.
Four chapters deal with essentials of genetics, principles of cytogenetics, pedigree designing, and the "philosophy" of genetic counseling. Most of the chapters deal with genetic diseases of various organ systems which at present are the subject of subspecialties of internal medicine. There are chapters on disorders of blood, skin, kidney, muscle, connective tissue, cardiovascular, nervous, endocrine systems, and others.
Clearly, mutant genes do not limit their adverse effects to single organ systems; many difficulties are encountered in classification and coordination of medical genetic problems posed by complex entities. Therefore, some of the chapters had to be