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There is need for a current comprehensive monograph or reference text on diseases of the pericardium and relevant basic structural and functional information. This small book of less than 300 pages fulfills this need. There are 13 chapters contributed by 21 authors, including a terse and informative introduction by T. M. Durant and an excellent chapter on history by F. M. Rogers.
Certain chapters are outstanding for their breadth, thoroughness, and reflection of personal experience by critical comment. These are "Functional Anatomy and Developmental Abnormalities," "Radiological Aspects," "Hemodynamics," and "Tuberculous Pericarditis." The chapters on "History" and "Functional Anatomy" are interesting and comprehensive. The chapters on "Clinical Recognition" and "Graphic Techniques," ie, phonocardiogram and electrocardiogram, are repetitious and reviewed again in the section on clinical descriptions.
Other subjects fall somewhat short of these qualities, as, for example, the lack of emphasis on the large failing heart in constrictive pericarditis. This is