LARGE ANIMAL DERMATOLOGY, By Danny W. Scott DVM; Published by W. B. Saunders Company (1988); 520 pages, 354 illustrations with 48 in full-color; $75.00 U.S.

"Large animal dermatology is important!" writes the author. "Animal suffering-- through annoyance, irritability, pruritus, disfigurement, secondary infections, myiasis, and increased susceptibility to other diseases-- is often great. Economic losses-- through decreased food intake, decreased weight gains or weight loss, decreased feed efficiency, de- creased milk production, hide damage, wool loss, difficulties in estrus detection, death, and the financial burdens of diag- nostic, therapeutic, or preventive programs-- can be astro- nomic."

The fast two chapters of the book cover the structure, function, and histopathology of the skin. General descriptions of such conditions as vasculitis, panniculitis, and endocrino- pathy are discussed. The point is made here that"The derma- topathologist has no right to make a diagnosis of nonspecific dermatitis or inflammation. Every biopsy specimen is a sample of some specific process, but the visible changes may be 'noncharacteristic' and may not permit a diagnosis."

The author concludes the chapter on diagnosis with, "'Dermatologists are physicians who can diagnose a rash!' The most common error in dermatologic diagnosis is to regard skin lesions as nonspecific rashes, eczemas, or dermatitides rather than as aggregates or specific, individual lesions. Let's face it: (1) rash is defined as a temporary eruption on the skin, (2) eczema is defined as an inflammatory skin disease charac-

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terized by lesions varying greatly in character, with vesicula- tion, infiltration, watery discharge, and the development of scales and crusts, and (3) dermatitis is defined as inflammation of the skin. What have we really said, and what heady diagnostic coups have we really accomplished when we use these rather meaningless terms?

"Too often, clinicians adopt a speedy, superficial ap- proach to the historical and physical aspects of skin disease, which they would not apply to any other organ system. A careful history and physical examination, particularly noting and recording the morphology, configuration, and distribu- tion of the primary and secondary skin lesions, are the starting point for a comprehensive differential diagnosis, which, in turn, becomes the starting point for unraveling the diagnostic puzzle."

Separate chapters are included on the following: envi- ronmental diseases, viral diseases, bacterial diseases, fungal diseases, protozoal diseases, parasitic diseases, immunologic diseases, congenital and hereditary diseases, nutritional dis- eases, and endocrine diseases. Also included is material on disorder of pigmentation, epidermal appendages, and kerati- nization. The miscellaneous dermatoses of the horse which are covered include eosinophilic granuloma with collagen degeneration, axillary nodular necrosis, unilateral papular dermatosis, calcinosis circumscripta pastern dermatitis, and "bumps." Neoplastic diseases which affect the skin are also covered. WEJ

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