A Bibliography of Internal Medicine: Communicable Diseases by Arthur L. Bloomfield (review)

through many replications. It will be some time before we can predict the anatomy ofa horsejust by observing its egg cells, as Elsasser challenges us to do, but there is no present evidence that any ofthe hereditaryinformation is inaccessible to physical and chemical observations at any stage. He says that his purpose is "not to anticipate the ultimate decision ofbiology" but only to "showtheepigenetic viewcan bejustified" byphysicsand so "to reduce theproblem ofthe mechanistic functioning oforganisms to an operationally verifiable test" (italics his). Well, the test has already been made; the decision is in. Whatever may be the result on easier macrostructures such as those of the nervous system, so far as heredity is concerned, it looks like epigenetics is out, more firmly than ever before. People who do not know this will be quoting the book for years. The author is full ofadmirable insights and gives a good account of information and its transformations, feedback and amplifiers, and logical and purposeful machines and statistical behavior, all aiming to define the limits of his thesis by showing "how far mechanisticprinciples can be pushed" in biology. Ifhe had waited a little longer, he could have told us how far they can really be pushed, by biologists. John Rader Platt University ofChicago A Bibliography ofInternal Medicine: Communicable Diseases. By Arthur L. Bloomfield, M.D. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1958. Pp. vii+560. $10.00. This book will be read with pleasure and profit by anyone—physician, student, or layman —interested in the historical development of our present knowledge of communicable diseases. It was written primarily for the overburdened medical student who lacks time to consult the older literature on the diseases he is studying—"older literature" too often meaning anything published more than a decade ago, as the author remarks in his Preface. Thirty infectious diseases are dealt with separately. The history ofeach is presented by means ofa carefully annotated bibliography ofthe publications which have contributed significantly to our understanding ofit. First come the early accounts ofits recognition as a clinical entity, then the description ofits pathology, the discovery ofits etiologic agent, the important epidemiologic and experimental studies, and, finally, the development of such specific therapy and prophylaxis as we have today. Each publication is critically reviewed, often with extensive quotations and with enough historical and biographical comment to help the reader visualize the investigator at work and follow his observations and conclusions. The material has been handled with such artistry that each sequence ofclinical and scientific reports is a fascinating history of a disease. This book could have been written only by a physician who is both a scientist and a scholar with broad cultural interests. It was actually planned some twenty-five years ago when Dr. Bloomfield assembled a bibliography on typhoid fever for the benefit ofhis 245 students at theJohns Hopkins Medical School, but it was not finished until after his retirement from the Chair ofMedicine at Stanford University. Thedesignand formatofthevolumeenhancethereader'spleasure, andthe supplementary reading lists and good Index make it a valuable reference work. C. Pttillip Miller University ofChicago BiologicalAspectsofCancer. ByJulian Huxley. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1958. Pp. 156. $3.75. This readable and instructive book emphasizes mainly the fact that cancer is not a biological entity but a term used for many distinct diseases. The author considers these diseases biological phenomena and characterizes the relationship ofcancer to a number of fields ofpresent-day biology, which include comparative tumorigenesis, genetics, virology , and development and metabolism (epigenetics). One special value ofthe book lies in the description ofthe neoplastic growths which occur in animals and plants as well as in humans. Many aspects ofthe similarities and differences ofthese tumors are discussed. The author states in the Preface that he became intrigued by the subject while preparing a series oflectures for the Sloan-Kettering Institute. He was invited in order to provide a "fresh and outside approach," even though he admitted to "lacking any detailed knowledge" in this field. The book reflects such an origin. It contains large numbers of facts and hypotheses which provide an interesting and probably quite complete survey ofcurrent ideas on cancer and the problems ofuncontrolled growth processes. However, this assemblage offacts and hypotheses is more that ofa...