Thrombophlebitis; Current Problems and Some Factors Which Retard Their Solution

Dr. Morrell, a resident in medicine, is to be commended for attempting the formidable task of bringing up to date the subject of thrombophlebitis, a truly enigmatic disease. On the positive side, the subject matter is in most respects well referenced. The author no doubt devoted considerable energy to his review of the literature. Yet in the menagerie of words the author seems to have lost sight of the forest for the trees. The reader bogs down in a quagmire of references (over 900) and minutiae of detail, a perhaps unavoidable situation when this particular subject is reviewed; yet many important references are omitted. A significant defect is a lack of proportion. It is puzzling to find 47 pages on etiology, 16 pages on diagnosis, 19 pages on treatment (including only 3 pages on surgical treatment), 27 pages on "new horizons," 51 pages of references—yet no section on prophylaxis. Admittedly,