This comprehensive treatise on the reticuloendothelial system is a project jointly shared by individual members of the Reticuloendothelial (RE) Society and bio- medical scientists in general who are interested in the intricate system of cells and molecular moieties derived from those cells that constitute the RES. It may now be more fashionable in some quarters to consider these cells as part of what is called the mononuc1ear phagocytic system or the lymphoreticular system. Nevertheless, because of historical developments and current interest in the subject by investigators from many diverse areas, it seems advantageous to present in one comprehensive treatise current information and knowledge con- cerning basic aspects of the RES, such as morphology, biochemistry, phylogeny and ontogeny, physiology, and pharmacology, as well as c1inical areas inc1uding immunopathology, cancer, infectious diseases, allergy, and hypersensitivity.
It is anticipated that, by presenting information concerning these apparently het- erogeneous topics under the unifying umbrella of the RES, attention will be focused on the similarities as well as interactions among the cell types constitut- ing the RES from the viewpoint of various disciplines. The treatise editors and their editorial board, consisting predominantly of the editors of individual vol- umes, are extremely grateful for the enthusiastic cooperation and enormous task undertaken by members of the biomedical community in general and especially by members of the American as well as European and Japanese Reticuloen- dothelial Societies.