One for the Library, One for the Lab

INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY Sidney Landau, ed. John Wiley .& Sons, New York, 1986. 3 vols., 3,200 pp. $395. SAUNDERS ENCYCLOPEDIA & DICTIONARY OF LABORATORY MEDICINE AND TECHNOLOGY James L Bennington, ed W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1984. 1,674 pp. $65. Quick access to a major medical dictionary is a must for biomedical scientists. Most of us have purchased at least-one in our careers. The two leading Amer ican unabridged medical dictionaries are Sted man’s and Dorland’s; in Britain, Butterworth’s is used a great deal. Two relatively new reference works that are worthy additions to the field are the International Dictionary of Medicine and Biology (IDMB) and Saunders Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Laboratory Medicine and Technology. IDMB, which was 10 years in the making, is an unusual publication. - The three volume dictionary has a three tiered system of editors and consultants headed by a five-member editorial board led by E. Lovell Beckett. The board recruited more, than 80 advisory editors, who in turn enlisted 90 additional contributors. The distribution of these contributors is uneven—there are 23 in gastroenterology, 12 in dermatology and none in endocrinology, neurology, oncology, opthamology, pathology, psychiatry and veterinary medicine. IDMB leans heavily on the four-volume work Dictionnaire Francais de Medecine et de Biologic, published in the 1970s. American spellings are given preference over British. The dictionary covers all of the traditional clinical and basic medical science specialties as well as areas dealing with new technology, delivery of health care, and many overlapping fields of bioscience. All three volumes are of manageable size. The dictionary has a comprehensive listing of more than 150,000 terms, 50 percent more than other unabridged references. The definitions in my specialties of histology, cell biology and biological stains are quite adequate, although not encyclopedic in length. Biographical entries are given. I was disappointed, however, by the cross-referencing features. “Electron micoscope” or “interference microscope,” for example, are listed only under “microscope.” There are no illustrations, tables or organic chemical structures shown in the text. In spite of the minor shortcomings, the publisher is to he congratulated for investing resources to this major new reference work. Likewise, the editor-in-chief, Sidney Landau, and his staff deserve kudos for transforming a 1975 idea into a remarkably new and extensive unabridged medical dictionary. Although the price, $395, will place it out of reach of most individuals, it will be a formidable addition to medical and university library reference holdings. The Saunders Encyclopedia will be useful to students and workers in laboratory medicine and pathology who need more information than that available in the usual unabridged medical dictionary. More than 23,000 entries are defined in great depth, often with illustrations and tables. The encyclopedic descriptions cover all modern aspects of laboratory medicine, emphasizing microbiology, hematology and clinical chemistry. Also included are terms used in pathology, immunology, histology, cytology, radiology, nuclear medicine and subspecialty labs. The book is a storehouse of practical information as well as theoretical, with terms explaining the background behind laboratory tests. Several extensive tables appear in the appendix, listing information about cancer chemotherapy drugs, specimen collection for bacteriological culture, and reference ranges and laboratory values of clinical importance. I like the logical arrangement of definitions and, cross-references. Under “flow; cytometry,” for instance, one is referred to “cytometry,” where a detailed one-page description appears. Bennington and his group of 28 editors and consultants have produced an encyclopedia-dictionary whose price, a mere $65, is right. The reference should find a welcome place in clinical and pathology laboratories. Kasten is a cell biologist, medical historian and professor in the Department of Anatomy at Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, 70119.

One for the Library, One for the Lab

INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY

SAUNDERS ENCYCLOPEDIA & DICTIONARY OF LABORATORY MEDICINE AND TECHNOLOGY

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