Medical lives and scientific medicine at Michigan, 1891-1969

The second volume, containing only the illustrations and legends, is a thing of beauty, because of the superb histologic techniques developed in Klatskin's laboratory and the splendid color reproductions by the publishers. The work was worth waiting for. It will not go out of date. Hepatic histopathology as revealed by the light microscope will not change. Of course new concepts, new techniques, even new diseases, (for example Conn's added chapters on liver transplant and AIDS) will come, and some revisions will be called for. But the basic treasury, product of lifelong study, has lasting value. Why was I, neither pathologist nor liver disease expert, invited to review this publication? Probably because I was in a position to observe the project while it was in full swing. From 1952 to 1965 my office was across a corridor from Klatskin's. He frequently stopped me in passing to tell me about an interesting case, and I was always glad when he did. I was aware of his steady flow of visitors, and the way he would spend hours with them, examining their slides and showing them his own. (Incidentally, this atlas contains a few photomicrographs contributed by others). I worked with Conn, too, from the period of his residency through the time he moved nearby to establish another liver disease study unit. When a co-author was needed he was the right choice. Paul B. Beeson University of Washington School of Medicine