Abstract
Physicians of a certain age might be forgiven for forgetting what the Addis Count referred to. Was it red cells in the blood or white ones in the urine? After reading this book the doctor would be in no doubt, for it is the story of how a Scottish graduate who had emigrated to California transformed the understanding and treatment of kidney disease just as transplantation was becoming widely available.
Before that Addis was interested in blood and, as a young man still in Europe, he visited many medical centres studying haemophilia. He settled in Edinburgh where his experimental work led to a deeper knowledge of the fundamental faults in the disease long before factors VIII and IX had been discovered.
This book tells not only the story of these achievements but also adds historical background to the medical, social and political controversies of his day. A description of his family life runs through the text.
Frank Boulton, a retired haematologist, admits that he has been obsessed by Addis' career for many years. He has written a text that is full of information which will be of great interest to students of haematology, nephrology and the place of the doctor in American society.