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This is a readable, well-printed compendium of presentations made at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, in December, 1958. The dust cover advertises the contents as "wide in scope," "devoted... to practical aspects," and bringing "together current knowledge." Wide in scope the contents are indeed, for various and often unrelated aspects of diarrhea, constipation, and biliary dysfunction are discussed. In view of the size of the book, however, the coverage is necessarily spotty, and some of the clinical articles, in particular, express isolated personal opinion rather than provide broad interpretation.
An article strikes me as "practical" if it is well-organized, meaty with factual in- formation, and thought provoking. The quality of currency is also necessary. Judged by these criteria, the volume contains excellent articles by Hightower and Farrar on methods of measuring gastrointestinal motility, by Berk on the diagnosis of biliary tract disorders, and by Albronda, who