The book is written not just for a mechanical engineer but also for the layman who would learn of the mechanical contrivances that contribute to his material welfare. The author has avoided the use of technical terms, as far as possible, and where inescapable, the technical words have been explained and defined. The book covers topics from "Tool Making Animals" to "Engines of Destruction". Through this work, the author has aimed to give a detailed and thorough view of the whole story of human progress in all things mechanical. It's the entire story of machinery, from primitive man's first tries to expand his physical powers with mechanical aids down to that era of early 1900s where massive, steel-muscled machinery and marvelously complex mechanisms, is the story of human advancement.

Obstetric fistula is as old as mankind. While the incidence has diminished progressively with better health care in Western societies, the situation has changed little in many developing countries. Fistulae of pelvic organs, often monstrous defects, still are a major complication of child-birth causing misery to uncounted young women, and if they cannot find help in one of the very few hospitals with trained specialists, they became urological cripples losing everything: family, home and job. The magnitude of the problem is illustrated by some figures given by Reginald and Catherine Hamlin-about 700 fistula patients treated each year-a total of over 10,000 cases operated upon in their fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethio pia. Most of these injuries could be prevented by better health care at the village level as some studies have shown conclusively. The incidence of fistula is an indicator of the standard of health and obstetrical care. The author of this book-Obstetric Fistula-is an internationally known Australian gynaecologist who for many years has been interested in all aspects of gynaecological urology, especially urinary stress inconti nence, other forms of involuntary loss of urine, and associated gynaeco logical conditions. He has devised a number of new operations to treat pelvic defects. Robert Zacharin's interest in obstetric fistula was a con sequence of his surgical activity in developing countries.

The Porphyrins, Volume III: Physical Chemistry, Part A deals with the physical chemistry of porphyrins, their precursors, catabolic derivatives, and related systems. The book covers electronic structure and spectroscopy including circular dichroism and magnetic circular dichroism as well as electronic, infrared, resonance Raman, and Zeeman spectroscopy. Porphyrin stereochemistry, X-ray crystallography, and mass spectroscopy are also included. This volume is organized into 12 chapters and begins with an overview of the optical absorption and emission spectra of porphyrins and the theory by which these facts are understood. The discussion then shifts to the electronic states of the iron porphyrin complex in various heme proteins as displayed by the light absorption properties in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The reader is methodically introduced to the electronic absorption spectra and molecular orbital theory of chlorophylls, the magnetic optical activity of porphyrins and hemoproteins, and circular dichroism studies of hemoproteins. The book also examines the mass spectra and infrared spectroscopy of porphyrins, resonance Raman scattering from metalloporphyrins and hemoproteins, and photographic essay of porphyrins and related macrocycles. It then concludes with a chapter on high-resolution Zeeman spectroscopy of metalloporphyrins. This book should be useful to inorganic, organic, physical, and biochemists interested in the physical chemistry of porphyrins.