Quantitative Clinical Chemistry Interpretations I. [antikvár]

il ^ cPREFACE^vtjiIn the preface to the first edition the origin and purpose of'Gcj^titative -Clinicai. Chemistry were described. It seems well to quote thes^ Djffestaphs-since the authors have attempted to adhere to the same principles in"~aration of this second edition."The present volume as well as its companion on methods was begun by one of the authors (P.) some six years ago because of the publishers' suggestion that a handbook which dealt with the subject of quantitative clinical chemistry in a comprehensive manner was needed. At that time only a modest volume describing various analytical procedures and discussing their application to clinical problems was contemplated. Hardly had the work begun, however, before it became apparent that a fragmentary or arbitrary discussion of clinical interpretations would often indicate only a fraction of the causes which can produce a given abnormality, and would fail to provide a logical basis for deducing the actual cause in a given case. It appeared that intelligent interpretation could be best aided by first presenting the physiological conditions, for example, the normal blood content of a given substance, and by then discussing disease effects on such content as the results of quantitative abnormalities in normal processes. The appreciation that such an aim could be better realized by collaboration between chemist and clinician led to the dual authorship."It was intended to discuss those substances which are of importance in clinical medicine and for the determination of which suitable quantitative methods are available. Each chapter was to contain a brief account of the physiological rőle of the substance followed by a more extensive discussion of its significance in diagnosis and therapy and a description of analytical methods for its determination. The general plan has been followed; but the physiological sections have filled more space than the clinical applications. This resulted from two reasons: first, because the disease processes are only special examples of extreme functional disturbances and second because so little is known of the changes in disease of some of the substances considered. Finally adequate presentation of physiological and pathological conditions required so much space that the material became uncomfortably bulky for a single volume. It therefore seemed best to consign the methods, which had also outgrown all exceptations, to a second volume, thus providing separately a handbook for the laboratory and a reference book for the study."Only in a few outstanding instances has more than passing attention been given to history, although an attempt has been made throughout to cite original work, giving credit for priority where it seemed to be due. The bibliographies are, in most cases, generous, but contain few references that are not mentioned in the text. The compilation of the important literature of a subject which has grown so rapidly seemed to the authors in itself a useful thing. All the articles