400

I My thanks are due to Dr. B. J. E. Ihre for permission toexamine his unpublished data.

REFERENCES

Fisher, R. B., Hunt, J. N. (1950) J. Physiol. 111, 138.Hollander, F. (1938) J. biol. Chem. 125, 161.Hunt, J. N. (1949) Gastroenterology 13, 336,

— (1950) Ibid (in the press).Ihre, B. (1938) Acta med. scand. suppl. no. 95.James, A. H., Pickering, G. W. (1949) Clin. Sci. 8, 181.Oberhelman, H. A. jun., Dragstedt, L. R. (1948) Proc. Soc. exp.

Biol., N.Y. 67, 336.

Reviews of Books

ElectroencephalographyA symposium on its various aspects. Editors : DErrIsHILL, M.B., F.R.C.P. ; GEOFFREY PARR, M.I.E.E. LondonMacdonald. 1950. Pp. 438. E3 18s.

IN the 15 years since-it has been applied to clinicalproblems, electro-encephalography has accumulated anextensive literature: From time to time critical reviewsof different aspects have been made by such authoritiesas Walter, Jasper, and Lindsley ; and Dr. and Mrs. Gibbshave produced their admirable atlas of records andtheir interpretation. But there has been no authori-tative presentation of the subject in which the basis ofrecording, interpretation, and clinical application isexplained for the technician and the clinician. Toproduce such a work calls for an understanding of suchdiverse matters as the physics of electronics and ofwave form, of electronic construction, of the physiologyof the neurone and the cerebral hemispheres, of experi-mental method, and also of the fundamentals of clinicalneurology and psychiatry. Because of this complex ofneeds, a group of workers including electronic engineers,physiologists, and biochemists have joined with Dr. Hillin writing the eleven sections of this book. These coverequipment, technique and interpretation, physiology,and biochemistry and pharmacology, and the basicmaterial is integrated with the problems of epilepsy,intracranial tumours, injury, and mental disorder. Thetext is large and full of technical language, and is clearlyintended only for those who are going to take the subjectseriously. As is so often the case in technical books,the basic ideas have to be dug out of the overcast detail,and the going is slow ; but to compensate for this thereare abundant illustrations and the book has been wellsubedited and indexed. The bibliography is completeto the end of the war, but includes little after that.Though each of the contributors has bravely attemptedto be comprehensive in his survey, there is a good dealof uncritical acceptance of minor papers by medicalauthors, which may have added to fact but not toknowledge. This is least evident in those chapterswritten by a specialist on his subject, but it spoils thosedealing with the investigation of gross cerebral lesions,which are the weakest part of the book.Everyone working in a department of clinical electro-

physiology will use this as an authoritative work ofreference. Readers less closely engaged may acquire anawful respect for the subject which its achievements donot yet deserve.

Children with Mental and Physical HandicapsJ. E. WALLACE WALLIN, PH.D., visiting professor ofclinical psychology, Upsala College. London : StaplesPress. 1949. Pp. 549. 42s.

THERE are so few up-to-date books on mental defici-ency and its associated physical abnormalities thatthis volume should be welcomed with open arms by theeducationists, social workers, psychiatrists, and pmdia-tricians for whom it was written. When authors aimat such varied objectives, they often miss the targetaltogether and produce a book which is too simple forone section of their readers and too involved for others.Professor Wallin’s lucid style, however, enables him topresent the many aspects of his subject with a simplicitywhich greatly helps the less informed reader and yetdoes not alienate the more erudite. Moreover, hisbreadth of vision, wide experience, and understandingapproach to the human problems of the mentally andphysically handicapped will encourage the reader toorient himself afresh to the educational and social

difficulties that these children present. After surveyingcritically the various concepts of mental deficiency andits classification, Professor Wallin discusses the associatedphysical lesions, such as endocrine and metabolic dis-turbances, encephalitis, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy.Numerous modern references are given in each section,mainly to American sources, and the 34 illustrations arewell chosen.A second volume will deal with the education of

mentally handicapped children who do not belong toany special clinical type.Chirurgie Arterielle

G. ARNULF, professeur agrege a la Faculte de Medecinede Nancy. Paris : Masson. 1950. Pp. 248. Fr. 1200.

THIS work is written with Gallic clarity, and with thedidactic authority to be expected from a pupil of Leriche,who contributes a foreword. Each aspect of the subjectis exhaustively dealt with in turn-ligature, suture,anastomosis, arterial grafts and intubation, arterectomy,and embolectomy-and each section is illustrated byhistorical references and by the results obtained by theauthor and other surgeons. The chapter on endarterec-tomy is of particular interest just now, when the Frenchschool are showing us how effective this procedure canbe in selected cases ; and it is also evident that ProfessorArnulf still has a soft spot for periarterial sympathec-tomy used in a surprisingly diverse range of conditions.The final chapter, on the anticoagulants, is perhaps alittle sketchy, but the bibliography is magnificent. Thisbook should not be regarded as specialised reading, butone for every general surgeon ; for, as the author says,arterial surgery is often a matter of urgent decision andtreatment, and these depend on knowledge of what canand what cannot be expected from conservative arterialsurgery.

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Analytical Psychology and the English Mind (London:Methuen. 1950. Pp. 242. 18s.).-Included in Dr. H. G.Baynes’s posthumous collection of eleven papers is one

entitled " Freud versus Jung " elaborated from a publicdebate in which he took part, 23 years ago, with Dr. JohnRickman. His main criticism was of the mechanistic formalismof Freudian doctrine, which has so little in common with thedelicately cultured, faintly poetic, visions of Jung; and thehigh-light of the paper is a comparison of Freudian andJungian interpretations of the same dream : the patientsummarily abandoned her Freudian analyst and transferredto Jung because she was disappointed with the Freudianreading. Perhaps in 1970 psychiatrists will look back on suchdebates as we do on the disputations of the medieval school-men. It is hard to believe that Dr. Baynes’s essays, severalof them on psychical research, all of them imbued with

mysticism, and all hovering tentatively around the fringe ofscientific thought, will have much impact except on thosewith a flair for chiaroscuro, and, of course, on the converted;but his style is scholarly, and his essays, written at varioustimes and for various purposes, have charm.

Maladies et syndromes rares ou peu connus (2nd ed.Paris : Masson. 1950. Pp. 335. Fr. 920).-This compendiumof rare or little-known diseases and syndromes, written

by Prof. A. Aimes, of Montpellier, must be of greatinterest to physicians interested in the nature, nomen-

clature, differential diagnosis, and classification of diseasesand syndromes-especially those which are still relativelylittle known. It includes probably the largest up-to-datecollection of eponymous names and illustrates the unavoidableabundance of synonyms. Names and synonyms are perpetuallyincreasing in number and no work on the subject can beregarded as final. As knowledge increases, many old nameswill be weeded out, except for their historical interest. Onthe other hand newly recognised diseases and syndromes willbe added and named.A feature of this book is the great number of printed

university medical theses referred to in the bibliographies-of course, mostly French-many of them up-to-date mono-graphs on rare or little-known diseases and syndromes. Weneed not mention all these universities. By far the majorityare theses of Paris, and, fortunately, they can mostly beconsulted at the library of the British Medical Associationin London. Exhibitors of puzzling cases at medical societieswould often do well to glance at this book before bringingthem forward.