For more than 60 years, the Californian Family Hinman has exercised a very considerable influence on the development and practice of the highest grade of urology, not only in the American West but worldwide. The leitmotiv of the Hinman School has been honest and thoughtful consideration of the problems of the genitourinary system gone awry. Character is the quintessence of the Hinmans. This virtue distinguishes the present volume on benign pros tatic hypertrophy assembled and edited by Frank Hinman, Jr. I first came under the spell of Frank Hinman, Sr. via his classic studies of renal counterbalance. In brief, in an experimental animal the ureter of one kidney was ligated and the subsequent renal hypertrophy of its contrala teral mate was studied quantitatively from anatomic and functional stand points. There were two central questions in the Hinman study: How does a normal kidney of an experimental animal recognize that its load has been doubled abruptly? What is the signal for renal hypertrophy? Benign hypertrophy of the prostate is quite different from compensatory hypertrophy of the kidney. It is now known that benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) is not a hypertrophy but a benign tumor consisting of a collection of spheroids of micro- and macrodimensions. In technical terms BPH is an adenofibromyoma. Perusal of the present volume will reveal many fascinating facets of BPH of particular interest to urologists and others with an investigative bent of BPH does not occur in children. BPH occurs as a medical rarity in mind."