VETERINARSKI ARHIV 69 (4), 190, 1999

ISSN 1331-8055
Published in Croatia

BOOK REVIEW

FREWEIN, JOSEF, HAGEN GASSE, RUDOLF LEISER, HEIDE ROOS, HARALD THOMÉ, BERND VOLLMERHAUS, HELMUT WAIBL (Eds.): Richard Nickel, August Schummer, Eugen Seiferle - Textbook of the anatomy of domestic animals, Volume II, The viscera, 8^th revised edition with 573 illustrations, 95 in colour. (German language) Original title: Frewein, Josef, Hagen Gasse, Rudolf Leiser, Heide Roos, Harald Thomé, Bernd Vollmerhaus, Helmut Waibl (Hrsg.): Richard Nickel, August Schummer, Eugen Seiferle - Lehrbuch der Anatomie der Haustiere, Band II, Eingeweide, 8., vollständig neubearbeitete Auflage. Mit 573 Abbildungen, davon 95 mehrfarbig. Parey Buchverlag. Berlin, 1999. 482+18 pages. 27×19 cm. Hard cover. ISBN 3-8263-3179-6. Prices: DM 228.-/ ÖS 1664.-/ SFr 210.-

This eighth edition of an excellent anatomy of the viscera of domestic animals was edited by the well known European veterinary anatomists, Prof. Vollmerhaus, DVM (Munich), Prof. Frewein, DVM (Zürich), Prof. Leiser, DVM (Giessen), Prof. Waibl, DVM (Hanover), Prof. Heide Roos, DVM (Munich), Prof. Gasse, DVM (Hanover), and Dr. Thomé, DVM (Giessen).

This textbook comprises the following chapters: 1. Viscera and Body Cavities (pages 1-14); 2.-3. Digestive System (pages 15-213); 4. Spleen (pages 215-222); 5. Respiratory System (pages 223-307); 6.-8. Urogenital System (pages 308-439); Bibliography (pages 441-467), and Subject Index (pages 469-482). Each chapter is edited or written by one or two of the authors named above. Every chapter is illustrated with high quality illustrations from earlier editions, which possess significant educative values. Additionally, there are some new illustrations which enhance the quality of this excellent textbook of anatomy. The book is written in concise and clear German language, with numerous Latin terms and is therefore understandable to readers with little or no knowledge of the German language. At the beginning of every chapter there are general and comparative descriptions of organic systems, followed by a description of organic systems in dog, cat, pig, bovine, sheep, goat, and horse. All descriptions are very exact and detailed and readers are therefore able to understand everything about the anatomy of viscera of domestic animals.

In some chapters, beside the Latin terms one can find eponyms, as well as basic data on particular authors, as well as in footnotes (for example: cavum mediastini serosum, Sussdorfsche Raum - page 4; glandulae duodenales, Brunnersche Drüsen - page 128; plexus myentericus Auerbach - page 129; capsula hepatis, Glissonsche Kapsel - page 133; ductus mesonephricus, Wolffscher Gang, etc.) In some instances there are only eponyms without Latin terms and without footnotes  about the author (for example: Sertolizellen - page 344, epitheliocytus sustentans; Leydigzellen - page 344, endocrinocytus interstitialis testis).

Although I highly commend this book with regard to textual professionalism, illustrations and printing quality, I also have some reservations:

This new edition is not as systematically written as were previous editions containing contributions written by much fewer authors.

Unfortunately, even this edition contains no unambiguous explanation of the development of mesenteries (Fig. 1.2 and page 3). That is to say, the gut (intestine) (i.e. in Fig. 1.2) is not situated retroperitoneally, that is, between the abdominal wall and the peritoneum, when in reality, two paired coelomic cavities, from which the unpaired peritonial cavity develops later, develop around the gut.

There are also a number of errors, normally quite uncharacteristic of German books. For instance, in Fig. 7.8 on page 344, number 6 for spermatozoa is missing. The subject index (page 469) is also not error free. Terms such as thorax (page 3), cavum thoracis (page 4), cavum abdominis (page 4) are absent. In the list of abbreviations, in the text, and on the figures, the editors or authors sometimes used Ln.=lymphonodus, and sometimes Nl.=nodus lymphaticus, which is in accordance with Nomina anatomica veterinaria (1992), but I do not consider it correct to use two different terms for one subject in the same book.

In conclusion, however, I can recommend this otherwise excellent textbook to all students and doctors of veterinary medicine, as well as to all those who are interested in the anatomy of domestic animal viscera but who have some knowledge of the German language. I would also like to see an English translation as soon as possible.

Hrvoje Gomercic