This huge volume on the differential diagnosis of diseases in the pediatric age group affecting organs of the thorax and abdomen is an amazing accomplishment when one considers the fact that it is written primarily by two physicians, Dr. W. Catel and Dr. P. Heintzen.
The chapters concerning heart disease written by Dr. Heintzen are in excellent form, have superb illustrations and schematic diagrams, and are well documented by an extensive bibliography.
The chapters written by Dr. Catel are in many ways not quite up to date. I am disturbed also because diseases that occur only rarely in the pediatric age group such as gastric carcinoma, carcinoma of the pancreas, cholecystitis, and gastritis due to excessive smoking are considered prominently in the differential diagnosis of various abdominal symptoms in this age group. In addition frequency distributions of more or less likely disease processes causing certain symptoms are not presented. This