This is an almost encyclopedic book on clinical cytogenetics. Its approach is historical. Unfortunately, it is marred by deficiencies ranging from pushing the approach too far (and still not being inclusive), to omission of many modern approaches to cytogenetics. The most serious drawback in this regard to the morphology of chromosomes is that of banding patterns obtained by the ultraviolet or special Giemsa staining methods. Undoubtedly this omission was not an oversight, but an accident of timing. Nevertheless, the taxonomic considerations of chromosomes are rendered obsolete.
Other types of deficiencies develop toward particular audiences. For example, to the uninitiated, the description of meiosis in chapter 2 is without reference to the timing of DNA synthesis. The formation of bivalents seems entirely spontaneous and without a logical mechanism. The evolutionary significance of crossing-over and chiasmata is omitted. True, these are not clinical considerations as such, but they can be described in