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knit together the wealth ofmaterial. Here is a unique volume, rigorous in its scholarship yet delightful reading for medical students, physicians, and physiologists alike. It is both a modern review ofthe circulation and a history ofits great discoveries. John F. Perkins, Jr. University ofChicago Radiation, Isotopes and Bone. By F. C. McLean and A. M. Budy. New York and London: Academic Press, 1964. This monograph is one in a current series developed through the cooperative efforts of the American Institute ofBiological Sciences and the United States Atomic Energy Commission 's Division ofTechnical Information. The goal ofthis series is specifically to direct attention to biologists' increasing utilization ofradiation and radioisotopes and in general to represent "the new, closer association between the physical and biological sciences" (foreworded by John N. Olive of the AIBS). To a biologist like McLean (who is a physician), this association probablyseems neither new nor closer than it has always been: in 1914 he became one ofthe first to measure the concentration ofblood glucose in man; in 1935 he applied the mass-law equation to interpret the results offrog-heart determinations of the state of calcium in serum; he was one of the first in this country to apply ECG; he worked with Van Slyke in 1915 on the mathematics ofkidney clearance; and recently he has applied such cybernetic terms as "feed-back" in his interpretation of calcium homeostasis. In spite ofhis preoccupation for halfa century with the application of exact measurements to biological problems, it seems rather clear from this book that McLean hardly cares to present physics and biology as closely related fields: it is a matter ofdefinition whether physics and biology are different fields (ifso, they are not close) or (whichis more likely) the span from physics to psychiatry and sociology is best described as a continuum where more and more can be measured with increasing accuracy, and more and more remains to be measured at both ends. At any rate, this book should be valuable to physicists and biologists alike. Physicists will find a succinct description oftoday's views on the physiology ofbones and teeth in health and disease, homeostasis in mineral metabolism, and the effects of radiation upon bones. Biologists will find basic definitions on subjects such as atomic and nuclear structure , detection and measurement of radioactivity, and natural radioactivity and radioactive fallout. The broad subject matter ofthis book is presented clearly and is well documented with references to recent literature. The authors have reproduced or compiled a number of tables of such useful information as "radioisotopes of special interest in the skeleton," "maximum permissible maintained body burdens with bone as organ ofreference," and estimates ofannual intake ofcalcium and strontium-90. The book is well illustrated with clear charts, diagrams, and photographs. Some ofthe latter are well chosen to illustrate the relationship between conventional 135 microscopy, microradiography, autoradiography ofbone-seeking radioisotopes, and the localization in bone of certain fluorescent compounds. (However, even though I have taken a rather active interest in radiation, isotopes, bone, abstract art, and symbolic logic, the illustration on the dustcover escapes my interpretation: it is a view from above ofa decapitated skeleton, the right shoulder joint ofwhich harbors a cluster of 13 giant-sized leadshots.) To summarize, then, the authors have been remarkably successful in their attempt to present a readable account ofa number ofsubjects related to radiation, isotopes, and bone and at the same time provide a clue to the specialized literature on these subjects. Goran C. H. Bauer, M.D. The Hospitalfor Special Surgery New York, New York Progress in Brain Research, Vol. I: Brain Mechanisms. Edited by Giuseppe Moruzzi, Alfred Fessard, and Herbert H.Jasper. New York: Elsevier, 1963. Pp. 493. $25.00. Psychology badly needs aparallel scientific discipline with which it can play conceptual leapfrog. Such symbiotic relationship undoubtedly contributes to the cognitive thrust of modern chemistry and physics, and quite probably to some areas in biology. The hypothetico -deductive stratagem of inquiry exposes relationships both within and across such disciplines. The generic syllogism takes the form: Given N facts of Discipline A, what follows in particular for Discipline B, or vice versa? The appearance ofBrain Mechanisms as Volume I in Elsevier's series called...

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