BOOK REVIEWS
Studien am menschliehen. Sperms. Ed. 2. By Dr. mod. et Phil. CHARLES A. JOEL, Leitcr
des Instituts zur Erforschung und Behandlung von Fertilitatsstorungen am stiidtischcn
Krankenhaus Hadassah, Tel-Aviv. 187 pp., 51 figs., 15 plates, 11 tables. Fr. 28. Basel:
Bcnno Schwabe & Co., 1953.
The appearance of the second edition of this volume is certainly to be we'comed, especially since it has been almost entirely re-edited in order to bring it up-to-date.
The volume should not be considered as a guide or textbook of seminology, but it is
an excellent resum6 of many interesting and fundamental experimental studies performed
by the author on human sperm. These data facilitate the diagnosis of fertility and help us
to gain a deeper understanding of the scientific facts upon which this branch of science
is based.
Much helpful information is included concerning testicular biopsies and the histophysiology and pathology of germinal tissue in general. Other topics of special interest
include the author's electronmicroscopic investigations, electrophoretic studies on normal and pathologic ejaculates, as well as data on the effect of heat and light upon sperm
motility, and the role of enzymes (especially hyaluronidase) in sperm physiology.
The pictures are numerous and of excellent quality, several of them in color. The book
can be highly recommended to all who are interested in this rapidly developing field.
Montreal, Canada
HANS SELYE
Tumors of the Thyroid Gland. By SHIELDS WARREN, M.D., Professor of Pathology, Harvard
Medical School; Pathologist, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston; and WILLIAM
A. MEISSNER, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Associate Pathologist, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston. Section IV, Fascicle 14,
Atlas of Tumor Pathology. 97 pp., 82 figs. $1.75. Washington, D. C : Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1953.
This fascicle, awaited by surgical pathologists, fulfills the highest expectations. It has
been prepared by 2 distinguished experts in thyroid disease and is based on a study of the
pathology and the clinicopathologic correlation in more than 600 carcinomas and several
thousand benign thyroid tumors. In the introduction, tumor-like lesions, thyroglossal duct
cyst, adenomatous goiter and thyroiditis are discussed, and the difficulty in making a
clinical distinction between a true neoplasm of the thyroid gland and the hyperplastic
nodule of an endemic goiter is stressed.
The benign tumors arc divided into 2 classes, follicular and papillary; the malignant
tumors into differentiated and undifferentiated carcinomas. For each type, synonyms and
related terms are given. The gross and microscopic characteristics are clearly presented
and the S2 gross and microscopic illustrations are superb. The natural history, prognosis
and treatment for the different forms of cancer are outlined. The use of radioiodine in diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer is briefly discussed, and the radioautographic concentration of I131 in the different types of thyroid carcinoma is given.
One fourth of all thyroid cancers represent a debatable group. They appear benign
grossly but show invasion of vessels or of the capsule microscopically. These tumors are
classified as low-grade localized carcinomas arising in adenoma. With simple lobectomy,
their rate of cure should be over 90 per cent. Most papillary tumors are regarded as malignant from their inception, without passing through a benign phase. The authors distinguish 2 forms of papillary carcinoma, an early cancer in papillary adenoma and papillary
adenocarcinoma with gross evidence of invasion.
Book Reviews in the Journal are under the direction of L. Berman, M.D., Associate
Editor.
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BOOK REVIEWS
1151
Most so-called "lateral aberrant thyroid" tumors are regarded as metastases from a
thyroid tumor to a cervical lymph node.
While about SO per cent of the malignant tumors were differentiated carcinomas, undifferentiated carcinoma was found in 20 per cent. Small-cell carcinoma and giant-cell
carcinoma have an extremely poor prognosis, since most cases are inoperable at the time
of diagnosis and do not concentrate radioiodine.
Under "miscellaneous malignant tumors," epidermoid carcinoma, Hurthle-eell carcinoma, fibrosarcoma and metastatic carcinoma are described and well illustrated. The
authors deserve the gratitude of pathologists for their authentic presentation of a most
difficult subject. This atlas will prove to be an indispensable guide in every department
of pathology.
Halstcad, Kansas
C. A. HELMVIG
Experimental Atherosclerosis. By Louis N. KATZ, M.A., M.D., Director, Cardiovascular
Department, Medical Research Institute, Michael Tteese Hospital, Chicago; and JEREMIAH STAMLER, A.B., M.D., Research Associate, Cardiovascular Department, Medical
Research Institute, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago. 360 pp., 46 illus., 84 tables. $10.50.
Chicago, Illinois: Charles C Thomas, 1953.
Atherosclerosis, not so long ago merely another heading in pathology textbooks, is now
in the forefront of medical research and this is not merely because its effects provide the
leading cause of mortality in America today. The compelling attraction is because of the
accumulation of facts and theories that make sense and hold much promise for the future.
In recent years there have been scores of review papers and symposiums on the subject
but no systematic monograph. In the midst of the hue and cry, the glut of papers and more
than a reasonable quota of premature or exorbitant claims on the subject, this book by
Katz and Stamler will be a godsend to many and will be welcomed by all.
"Experimental Atherosclerosis" will not settle all the dust and, inevitably, will not
satisfy all specialists in the various fields concerned with the problem of atherosclerosis.
It would be easy, and not really fair, to complain of brevity, incomplete coverage and inadequate critical consideration in matters of microscopic anatomy, epidemiology, lipid
chemistry, statistical analysis and clinical studies. The title of the book indicates the
limitations which have, undoubtedly, been exaggerated by the publisher's requirements
of deadlines of time and restrictions of space.
The first third of the book is a useful objective review of the clinicopathology in man
and of recent work on cholesterol and cholesterol-bearing lipoproteins in the blood. Research in the latter field is moving so fast that the material published while the book was
in press is not inconsiderable in amount. Moreover, in the attempt to include everything
available up to the moment of the printer's deadline, critical judgment was sometimes
supplanted by the expedient of extended quotations from controversial papers.
The larger part of the book is given over to a detailed summary and discussion of animal
experiments, mainly those on cholesterol-fed chicks carried out by the authors and their
collaborators. This unified presentation of material scattered through hundreds of papers,
at least 40 or 50 from the Michael Reese laboratory, is impressive and will greatly aid those
who have been appalled at the huge bulk of the literature. Even those workers who believe
the relevance to "natural" human atherosclerosis of experiments on chicks and rabbits
is limited, will be enlightened and grateful. As a further cause for gratitude, there are
over 700 complete references, not in alphabetic order but capable of being unscrambled
with the aid of the author index.
At the end, the authors submit that the "cholesterol concept of atherogenesis"
is proved, and they predict that from this approach research will progress to the eventual
control of the disease. Both propositions will find some dissent, no doubt, but this reviewer agrees with Katz and Stamler. To be sure, in spite of the jacket blurb that "clinical
implications are stressed," neither prevention or cure of atherosclerosis is at hand nor are
these questions actually discussed. But the shape of things to come, particularly in re-