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The basic point which struck the author was that the described lesions were characterized by focal necrosis and presumably due to some biochemical change in the myocardium . In 1943 he observed that small amounts of NaCl might cause organ lesions when DOC was administered. Other sodium salts produced necrotization which could be partially inhibited by sodium chloride and even prevented by potassium and magnesium chloride. Not less than 49 steroids were tested for their toxicity in rats sensitized with sodium phosphate. The important result noted was that none ofthem produced cardiac necroses without electrolyte conditioning. Similarly, sodium phosphate had no action ofthis kind when administered alone. Moreover, a number of biologically occurring conditioning compounds have been detected, in addition to drugs and other factors ofvarious kinds. The experimental data presented in this volume give evidence to show that cardiac necroses may develop as a result of co-ordinated effects of defined factors. Particularly interesting in this respect is the role ofstress. Thus, in animals conditioned by corticoids and sensitized by sodium salts, a number ofnon-specific stressing factors were found to precipitate the necrotic changes. The findings reported in this highly readable volume will no doubt open up important new avenues ofresearch, and it is a fair assumption that Selye's concept ofbiochemically induced lesions will greatly help to elucidate many hitherto enigmatic phenomena in this field. The hypotheses brought forward and supported by experimental evidence need not be confined to cardiac necroses but may well form a useful basis for research in cognate areas comprising various vascular disturbances. A fullreference list and an excellent Index add to the value ofthe book. The style is plain and agreeable, which increases the pleasure ofreading the book. U. S. von Euler Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Aggression. ByJoHN Paul Scott. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1958. Pp. xi+149. $375· Scott starts his book, as all authors should, with a definition ofhis subject: "Aggression ," meaning "the act ofinitiating an attack." Aggression usually results in fighting. If we could control aggression, fighting would disappear. Fighting, well-nigh universal among vertebrates, is also found among the invertebrates, especially the arthropods. Aggressiveness and fighting need not be maladaptive; as a matter of fact, they are often adaptive mechanisms, especially among animals below man. Aggression in human beings living in modern society is maladaptive, especially when it results in war. One gets the impression that an important motivation for Scott to write this book is the present warlike atmosphere in which we live, and yet he admits that most of us, with all our knowledge offactors producing aggression, can do little about preventing war. Most of the participants in a war are not themselves stimulated to aggression, but they fight be520 Book Reviews Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Summer 1959 cause "they had been trained to obey orders." War is "a very different phenomenon from the aggressive fighting which takes place between individuals and small groups within a society" and, "as such, its possible causes are extremely complex. . . ." Scott believes that the leaders of war—e.g., Hitler—are subject to the factors which produce individual aggressiveness. While agreeing, I believe that there are other powerful factors: for example, what might be called a "Messiah complex"—the beliefofan individual that he has a mission in the world not shared by other men and that this mission is ofsuch overpowering importance that any means for accomplishing it arejustified. Scott takes the position that an organism learns to be aggressive, and his research with mice indicates that the aggressive behavior is strengthened by reinforcement. Scott leans very heavily on conditioning as the basis oflearning and seems to accept implicitly the reinforcement type of S-R learning theory. Trained fighters "soon become so ferocious that they will even attack females and young, which males ordinarily will not do. The trained fighters show few preliminary emotional reactions and attack quickly, savagely, and efficiently." Just as animals can be trained to fight, so they can be trained not to fight. In the case of human beings, it is almost impossible, if not undesirable, to prevent learning to fight. All that can be done is to minimize conditions producing aggressiveness and to structure situations so...

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