  Anomalous negative heat capacities have been claimed as indicators of first
order phase transitions in finite systems in general, and fornuclear systems in
particular. A thermodynamic approach allowing for all Q value terms is used to
evaluate heat capacities in finitevan der Waals fluids and finite lattice
systems in the coexistence region. Fictitious large effects and negative heat
capacities are observed in lattice systems when periodic boundary conditions
are introduced. Small anomalous effects are predicted for small drops and for
finite lattice systems. A straightforward application of the analysis to nuclei
shows that negative heat capacities cannot be observed for A>60.
