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Here is a system of medicine in four volumes, comprising 4,131 pages and representing well over a million words of writing. It covers the entire field, medicine, surgery, obstetrics and all the specialties, and is unique in that it is edited and largely written by a single author.
To review a work of such character and dimensions is difficult. Time (77 [Feb. 10] 1947) gave it a two column notice, calling it "The Compleat Practitioner" and saying that it provides the family physician with a meticulously illustrated guide for the diagnosis and treatment of almost every human ill. This is not a bad description.
A study of several different chapters, selected haphazardly for reading, gives the impression that the information presented is sound and up to date. The literary style is clear and readable, the illustrations vary in quality, some being excellent, others fair and certain ones inferior, and the