This is a short, concise and practical manual for the general practitioner. There are three parts, dealing with history and physical examination, laboratory tests and miscellaneous tests. In general, no attempt is made to provide a physiologic background or to enter into detailed or theoretic discussions. The subject matter has been reduced to its simplest form.
The first section is especially well done. The author has managed to condense most of the meat of much larger volumes into only 156 pages. Several good charts regarding the distribution and function of various parts of the nervous system are included. The second section describes the ordinary laboratory procedures and their significance. Alternative methods are not given for the most part. This section is relatively complete, including, for example, procedures for typing of pneumococci, examination of spinal fluid (with an excellent chart of findings in different conditions), simple blood chemistry and skin tests,