The book is profusely illutrated; the great majority of the figures are 

 original. The book is well printed, but the type is very small, which leads 

 to unnecessary fatigue for the reader. The extensive bibliography unfor- 

 tunately gives no titles, while the subject index is very incomplete. The price 

 of the book seems excessive. 



51 ZUR NEUROANATOMIE UND NEUROPATHOLOGIE 



DER FRuHFETALZEIT 



Untersuchungen an Gehirnen menschlicher Keimlinge einer 



Scheitel-Fersen-Lange von 13 bis 38 cm 



1968 



By H. Solcher Springer-Verlag 



79 pp 39 figs., 2 tbs. Berlin - Heidelberg - New York 



(paper-bound) Price: DM 39.—; $ 9.75 



This monograph is concerned with anatomical and pathological findings 

 in the brains of 65 human fetuses of from 13 to 38 cm crown-heel-length 

 (i.e. approximately the fourth to sixth month of pregnancy). This "early 

 fetal" period has been investigated much less intensively than both earlier 

 and later periods. The non-selected material investigated consisted of 56 

 spontaneous abortions, 4 induced abortions, and 2 autopsies. 



On the basis of a comparative morphological study some unsolved problems 

 of normal developmental neuro-anatomy could be cleared up, and some new 

 insight could be obtained. The most important result of the pathological part 

 of the investigation is the unexpectedly high incidence of intracerebral 

 hemorrhages. The aetiology of these hemorrhages appeared to be very 

 difficult. TThe author comes to the conclusion that postnatal cerebral damage 

 is often erroneously ascribed to birth trauma. 



The book is well printed, and illustrated mostly with very good photo- 

 micrographs. It has an appendix summarizing the maternal anamneses and 

 fetal findings, and is concluded by a bibliography and a subject index. The 

 price seems excessive. 



52 THE HUMAN PLACENTA 



Its shape, form, origin, and development 

 1969 

 By R. Torpin Charles C. Thomas 



190 pp., 55 fiqs., 5 tbs. Springfield, 111. 



^^ Price: $ 11.75 



This monograph will be of interest to obstetricians and human embryologists. 

 It is not a compilatory work but rather the exposition of an original hypothesis 

 explaining the variations of gross placental anatomy, a subject that has 

 received little attention from human embryologists so far. The hypothesis is 

 based on two concepts, viz. ( 1 ) that all human placental types bear a definite 

 relationship to each other, and (2) that the variations must stem from the 

 very first week of ovular-decidual relationship (factors involved: implant- 

 ation site and variable depth of ovular embedding). The resulting com- 

 prehensive hypothesis of placentation is applicable to all villous-placental 

 primates. 



The bibliography cites more than 400 papers covering the literature of 

 the past two centuries in all language areas. The book is well produced and 

 illustrated with good photographs and drawings. It has a combined author 

 and subject index. 



335 



