One of the significant medical achievements of our times is the abundance of pharmacologic agents effective for specific diseases. In contrast to the relatively few effective drugs once available, today's physician is confronted with a staggering array of medications, many with potent actions and equally potent side effects. Proper use of such drugs demands that the physician be familiar with the biochemical, pathophysiologic, and ecologic manifestations of disease; that he understand the absorption, metabolism, elimination, and mechanisms of action of the drugs; and that he recognize the circumstances under which drug interactions and untoward reactions are likely to occur.
Toward these ends, Kenneth L. Melmon and Howard F. Morrelli, clinical pharmacologists at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, in collaboration with their colleagues, offer a text on principles and applications of clinical pharmacology in the practice of medicine. Their achievement is impressive: a well-organized, rigorous, "state-of-the-art" presentation of