Concepts of Disease: A Textbook of Human Pathology.

The innumerable pathologists who have known Ed Gall as a goldenpenned semasiologist for many years eagerly have awaited this Gall and Brunson pathology textbook. With the renowned ability of these two gentlemen, anything less than a literary and scientific masterpiece would have been most surprising. No surprise! These authors have put together a glittering cast of 38 contributors who collaborate individually or in pairs on 28 incisive and authoritative chapters. The humble reviewer is inclined to write no more, musing that "when the nightingale has sung, all the sparrows lie silent."

The traditional orientation of pathology textbook chapters into "general pathology" and "organ systems" is largely ignored. Instead, there is a deliberate interweaving of general, experimental, and systemic pathology resulting in a happy blend of understandable interrelated phenomena in most areas. Alas. This principal strength of the book is at once its principal weakness. The disadvantage of this approach is