Charles D. Forbes and William F. Jackson. 528 pages. St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby-Year Book; 1993. $39.95.

In his annual address before the Society of Internal Medicine, Sir William Osler commented, "We take as our motto the old maxim: ‘The whole art of medicine is in observation.’ The work consists in, first, the training of the senses in the observation of disease".

The authors of Color Atlas and Text of Clinical Medicine take the reader on a wonderful tour of the senses in the observation of human disease. The tour begins with the infectious diseases and continues through all the disease manifestations of clinical medicine, ending with the disorders of nerve and muscle. Each section is succinctly written, starting with details on taking a history, clinical examination, and laboratory investigation. Specific diseases are discussed with current knowledge and pathogenesis and ending with therapy. Clinical findings unique to each condition are beautifully illustrated, from the keratoderma blenorrhagicum in the Reiter syndrome to the emaciated Figure ofa patient with anorexia nervosa. The text is not limited to clinical findings, and is generously filled with photoµgraphs of blood smears, biopsy specimens, radiographs, endoscopic pictures, and nuclear studies.

The few deficiencies in this book are the result of organizational problems and its effort to be a complete atlas on medicine. For example, the Stevens-Johnson syndrome is discussed in the infectious diseases section rather than that on drug reactions in the skin. The reader should also be aware that some therapies discussed are uniquely British and not necessarily the standard of care in the United States. For example, therapy with flucloxacillin combined with fucidic acid for serious Staphylococcus aureus infections would not be available in the United States.

Despite these minor flaws, this text is an elegant example of Osler's observation that "The whole art of medicine is in observation". It will be a valuable aid for the medical student learning about physical medicine, the housestaff in clinical medicine, and the practicing physician in all medical subspecialties.