1170

ing its effect on the bronchoconstriction produced bybronchial challenge with specific antigen. Strikinginhibition of the immediate-type asthmatic responsewas produced by single oral doses of 200 mg. Furtherwork is required to demonstrate the value of this com-pound for long-term control of allergic asthma.

Detailed reports of our findings will be published elsewhere.Requests for reprints should be addressed to D. T. D. H.

REFERENCES

1. Cox, J. S. G. Nature, 1967, 216, 1328.2. Benson, M. K., Curry, S. H., Mills, G. G. d’A, Hughes, D. T. D.

Clin. Allergy, 1973, 3, 389.3. Walker, S. R., Evans, M. E., Richards, A. J., Patterson, J. W.

J. Pharm. Pharmac. 1972, 24, 525.4. Assem, E. S. K., Evans, J. A., McAllen, M. Br. med. J. 1974, ii, 93.5. Broughton, B. J., Chaplen, P., Knowles, P., Lunt, E., Pain, D. L.,

Wooldridge, K. R. H., Ford, R., Marshall, S., Walker, J. L.,Maxwell, D. R. Nature, 1974, 251, 650.

6. Goose, J., Blair, A. M. J. N. Immunology, 1969, 16, 749.7. Orr, T. S. C., Blair, A. M. J. N. Life Sci. 1969, 8, 1073.8. Farmer, J. B., Richards, I. M., Sheard, P., Woods, A. M. Naunyn-

Schmeidebergs Arch. exp. Path. Pharmak. 1973, 279, suppl. R35.9. Garland, L. G. Br. J. Pharmac. 1973, 49, 128.

10. Garland, L. G., Mongar, J. L. ibid. 1974, 50, 137.11. Assem, E. S. K., Schild, H. O. Br. med. J. 1968, iii, 272.12. Taylor, W. A., Francis, D. H., Sheldon, D., Roitt, I. M. Int. Archs

Allergy appl. Immun. 1974, 46, 104.13. Roy, A. C., Warren, B. T. Biochem. Pharmac. 1974, 23, 917.14. Konzett, H., Rössler, R. Naunyn-Schmeidebergs Arch. exp. Path.

Pharmak. 1940, 195, 71.15. Dixon, W. E., Brodie, T. G. J. Physiol., Lond. 1903, 29, 97.16. Cox, J. S. G., Beach, J. E., Blair, A. M. J. N., Clarke, A. J., King, J.,

Lee, T. B., Loveday, D. E. E., Moss, G. F., Orr, T. S. C.,Ritchie, J. T., Sheard, P. Adv. Drug Res. 1970, 115.

Reviews of Books

An Introduction to ElectrocardiographyJOHN HAMER, F.R.C.P., St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.London: Pitman Medical. 1975. Pp. 125. 2.75.

THE need for an introductory text providing an under-standing of electrocardiographic principles and of the mainfeatures of tracings is attested by the large number ofslim volumes that have appeared lately. Most of these areunsuitable; their authors fail to distinguish between theimportant and the trivial. It is thus with pleasure thatone welcomes Dr Hamer’s excellent little book. In thishe compresses all the essential information in a readablefashion, with illustrations that are of high quality and wellreproduced. For many, it will be all they need; there isenough in it for any undergraduate and most physicianswith a peripheral interest in the subject, but it is particularlygood for nurses who work in coronary-care units. Thereare sound explanations for all the arrhythmias, and onlyrarely can one cavil at the descriptions, and then only onminor grounds (e.g., in parasystole the ectopic focus doesnot necessarily produce impulses at a slow rate). Com-

mendably, there is mention of the need to use E.C.G.

machines with proper frequency responses and of the

possibility of artefacts; and illustrations of some of thelatter are desirable in future editions. Dr Hamer set

himself an important target which he strikes with com-mendable success: the book answers the need of manydoctors and nurses. With it, a sound professional fulfils theneeds of the amateurs.

Methods in Neurological ExaminationT. 0. DADA, F.R.C.P.E., University of Lagos. Edinburgh:Churchill Livingstone. 1975. Pp. 227. E3.75.

THIS small book is one of a series entitled Medicine inthe Tropics. The author is a British-t::ained neurologistworking in Nigeria. He has written for students and prac-

titioners in developing countries a guide which describes Ithe traditional approaches to history-taking and clinicalexamination in neurology. The text is clear and the advice ’Isound. There are some clinical photographs (not all

satisfactory), radiographs, and many line diagrams (some abit crude, as in fig. 1.2 on the " diagnostic drag-net ").There are some elementary spelling errors. Neurology isincreasing in importance in tropical medicine, and this I’guide should prove useful to students, doctors, and nurses. I.

Going to See the Doctor IGERRY STIMSON and BARBARA WEBB, Medical Sociology IResearch Centre, University College, Swansea. London:Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1975. Pp. 155. E4.95.

THIS little book, which one is tempted to call " the Ieveryday talk of surgery folk ", carries a radical message.

IIts material is based on a series of observations of, and inter- Bviews with, patients around the event of consulting a doctor.None of the anecdotes would startle a general practitioner, Ibut the authors analyse and develop their findings in amost challenging way. It is often difficult to see where Ipremise ends and reasoned argument begins, but the whole

’

makes compelling reading for any health-care professional,being a serious attempt to investigate the patient’s viewof consultations. Stimson and Webb see the consultationas a much more mechanical process than many doctorscare to. From the premise that the patient is a participantin medicine rather than a recipient of medical care, theyview patient behaviour as strategic in nature. Extendingthis to doctors’ behaviour, sacred cows are left, if not dying,looking a little sick. They suggest that the use of empathyamounts merely to the exercise of good manners and charge" amateur psychoanalysts " with seeking to extend thedoctor’s power at the consultation, to the (implied) detri-ment of the patient. The whole idea of a doctor " knowing

"

his patients is seen to support the notion of the patient asweak and vulnerable. For patient read consumer, for

doctor, professional, and the ideas put forward go far

beyond medicine. Clearly the surgery is a rich virginterritory for patient-liberation activities.

Nuclear Medicine

Edited by HENRY N. WAGNER, Jr., M.D., Johns HopkinsMedical Institution, Baltimore. New York : H.P. Publishing.Reading: Freeman. 1975. Pp.255.$21 ; E11.20.

THIS book contains 24 chapters on nuclear medicinewhich were first published in Hospital Practice betweer.1968 and 1974 and are here updated. It is said to be writtenfor " the practising physician as a guide to an importantdiagnostic resource, and for the medical student, the houseofficer, and the basic science student whose work is focusedon medicine ". Detailed overlapping is rare, but manyaspects of nuclear medicine have been left out. The

technology sections tend to be bitty, and the clinicalsections emphasise imaging rather than measurement.

The chapter on the skeleton, for instance, consists of 13pages containing 56 scans (some of animals), while thereis only passing mention of any quantitative uptake studiesand no mention at all of bone-turnover measurements.The list of references is selective. This book is rather

superficial, and its best feature is its copious illustrations,many in colour.

New Editions

Diagnosis of Bleeding Disorders. 2nd ed. By Charles A.

Owen, Jr., E. J. Walter Bowie, and John H. Thompson. Boston,Mass.: Little, Brown. 1975. Pp. 398. S21.50.

Topics in Gastroenterology 2. Edited by S. C. Truelove andJoan Trowell. Oxford: Blackwell. 1974. Pp. 373. £ 10.