Bacteriology Illustrated

Gillies, M.D., D.P.H., M.C.Path. and T. C. Dodds, F.I.M.L.T., F.I.B.P., F.R.P.S. (Pp, 170; figs. 122, 45s.) Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone Ltd., 1965. THIS excellent bacteriological atlas has set a new standard for the visual appreciation of the cultural and microscopic appearances of pathogenic bacteria. The authors have taken advantage of developments in colour photography to overcome the inadequacy of the black and white photographs in most text books on bacteriology. There are numerous high fidelity colour photographs of bacteria on culture plates and high magnification stained films and sections, as well as black and white line drawings and diagrams. The book is divided into three sections-General Introduction, Systematic Bacteriology and Diagnostic Methods. The text accompanying the chapters in each section is succinct, lucid and eminently readable; the print is large and well space. A few practical aids to diagnostic bacteriology which have been omitted are-surfaoe description of colonies, Brewer's thioglycollate medium for anaerobes, Wilson and Blair's bismuth sulphite medium for typhoid and paratyphoid bacilli and Maxted's bacitracin disc test for Group A streptococci. This book is strongly commended for medical students, trainee bacteriologists and laboratory technicians, and merits a place in every medical library and bacteriological laboratory. V. D. A.