When a senior editor of a major textbook that has gained wide recognition through several editions, adds a co-editor (especially a vigorous and progressive one) there is bound to be some radical change. It is reasonable to expect that it will be for the better. This certainly can be said of the seventh edition of Franklin H. Top Sr.'s book, which indeed has been a major and popular text in this field for nearly a third of a century since its first edition in 1931. This new edition is co-edited by Paul H. Wehrle, an energetic, highly qualified pediatrician, teacher, epidemiologist, and one of this country's leading experts in infectious diseases.
In addition to the co-editor, there are 26 new contributors; most of them are young and enthusiastic workers. They are experts well qualified in the subject matter they contributed. Since the new edition contains 68 chapters in 803 pages,