If the reader sometimes wonders in what direction medicine is going, perhaps he will enjoy a brief departure to see an example of where medicine has been. In this small volume Dr. Aikawa has given a delightful description of the medical discoveries, the philosophic approach, and the scientific advances which led in a surprisingly short period of time to an accurate diagnosis and a satisfactory treatment of myxedema.
To the modern clinical investigator it may come as something of a shock that a clinical committee was able to accurately describe and define a disease state with little other than hospital records, their own experience, and a degree of wisdom which somehow seems lacking in these days of devotion to elegant laboratory procedures.
The author has presented this essay, not as a textbook of myxedema, but as a narrative, which demonstrates the evolution of medical knowledge. It is truly a commendable