I 6 8 REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Sarcoidosis. ByJ. G. SCADDING. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1967. Pp. 542. £7 7 s" This will be the last great book on sarcoidosis in a generation which has also been delighted by the splendid monographs of Snapper, Longcope and Freiman, Turiaf and Brun, Wurm, Ingrid Gilg, Lofgren, Refvem, Nitter and others. This is the end of the era in which sarcoidosis has evolved from its dermatological chrysalis to its full realization as a multisystem disorder. The clinical jig-saw is complete for we know that it affects the lungs in the majority of patients, the lympho-reticular system in two-fifths, the eyes and skin in one- quarter and the nervous system, parotid glands or bone in about 5 per cent of patients. Nor do we any longer need a book with an extensive bibliography , for this Herculean task was shouldered quite magnificently by the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, when it produced an exhaustive bibliography on sarcoidosis spanning 1878 to 1963, a task no doubt inspired and guided t o the light of day by its sarcoidosis-loving Director, Martin Cummings. Here then is the end of the conventional road, and Professor Scadding has summed it up with clear thinking, elegant authorship and good taste.

We must now proceed without delay to a fuller understanding of those granulomatous pitfalls which people mistake for sarcoidosis. Sarcoid tissue in the penis or in the gallbladder does not mean sarcoidosis, although this would seem the easiest way out of a diagnostic dilemma; instead it represents im- munological bankruptcy which needs considerable further unravelling. From now on more may be accomplished in this respect with lymphocytes in test tubes rather than patients in wards. We can but applaud the humility with which Professor Scadding has compressed a rich thirty years' experience into one manual, which must surely take its rightful Olympic place in the world's libraries. D. GERAINT JAMES

Vascular Diseases of the Lung. Edited by HAROLD A. LYONS. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 1967. Pp. 195. $I2.75. This is a beautifully produced and well indexed publication of a one-day symposium on Vascular Diseases of the Lung sponsored by the Brooklyn T.B. and Health Association and held in November 1965 .

The anatomical features of the pulmonary circulation, the physiology of the pulmonary and bronchial vascular systems and the pathology of the pulmonary circulation are dealt with in highly individual contributions by authors quoting very much from their own work.

The clinical aspects and treatment of pulmonary hypertension are dealt with by Noble Fowler and John Reeves, and Arthur Sasahara and his col- leagues present a detailed clinical and laboratory study of 44 patients with acute pulmonary embolism, all diagnosed by early angiography. Pulmonary angiography occupies a large space in this symposium, almost half of the volume being devoted to a chapter on angiography of vascular disease of the lungs by Israel Steinberg. This contribution is illustrated by 63 figures and accompanied by 42 references, 3 ° of them being papers in which the author collaborated.

This book cannot be regarded as a comprehensive review of vascular diseases of the lung. It is rather a valuable collection of highly individual con- tributions to this subject by some outstanding American workers.

DAVID SHORT