The Geography of Intellect (review)

Contemplation ofthe career ofProfessor Best, as reflected in thb volume's prolific collection ofreports, makes one realize how far hb influence has reached. The early hbtory of insulin b fascinating, but almost as much so to thb reviewer b the large number of students and associates trained and inspired by precept and example to carry on in similar fashion. In an epilogue, the author comments courteously on the large number ofpositions in Canadian schools now occupied by former students and colleagues. Following Banting, Macleod, Dale, Hill, Hoet, and others close to him in hb early years, die names ofHabt, Hartcroft, Ridout, Campbell, Sirek, Lucas, Wrenshall, Salter, Logothotopoulos, Chute, and Fraser might be mentioned here. Thb b not presented as a select list, by any means, but only to illustrate how many colleagues, associates, and investigators helped to build and maintain an incredibly fine and strong department in Toronto under Best's benevolent guidance, many ofthem subsequently building strong departments oftheir own. Thb book b an eloquent testimonial to an inspired investigator and an inspiring teacher and leader. Arthur R. Colwell, Sr., M.D. Northwestern University Medical School The Geography ofIntellect. By Nathanibl Wbyl and Stefan Possony. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1963. Pp. xiii+299. $7.95. The subject ofthb book b the distribution ofhuman intellectual ability in space and time. The purpose ofthe authors extends beyond description and compilation ofreferences ; they are concerned with the importance ofunequal endowment with mental resources among races, peoples, and classes. Since I distrust the claims ofboth the egalitarians and the racists, I was especially interested indie documentation ofthe authors' views. Faultydocumentationb the principal weakness ofthe book. When social scientbts attempt to deal with intellect, which b imperfectly measurable, and with events ofthe past, which cannot be made to recur as experimental models, they are in trouble. Some social scientists do hold fast to rigorous tests ofevidence and logic, but these authors are not among them. As examples offaulty evidence , there b first a discussion ofrickets and hbtory; the authors accept reports ofhbtological evidence ofrickets in children as representing whole populations. The incidence ofdisease in children who come to autopsy incharitablehospitalsoflarge citiesrepresents no population other than highly selected children brought to death by disease. Second, the evidence on brain size ofmodern races b drawn from cadaver material. The authors speak highly ofVint's studies on the brains ofBantu who had died in the native hospitals ofNairobi; Vint had no control group ofwhite brains but referred to the published data ofother authors. The reader cannot rely on the validity ofthe authors'judgments on evidence without going to the literature and critically examining the data for himself. Thb beautifullywrittenbook b worth reading ifone examines it as a source ofheuristic ideas rattier than established facts. It exposes many ofthe weaknesses in the claims ofthe egalitarian without becoming racist in tone. The authors areat their best when they review 370 Book Reviews Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Spring 1964 the origins and principles ofdemocracy and the importance offree and rigorous competition in its function. Their generalization that mental capacity tends to be adequate among peoples and races adjusted to cold and temperate climates but inadequate among those adjusted to hot climates b much less convincing than their appeal that education be structured to facilitate the growdi ofthe creative minority. DwightJ. Ingle University ofChicago Emotions and Emotional Disorders. By Ernst Gellhorn and G. N. Loofbourrow. New York: Hoeber Medical Divbion, Harper & Row, 1963. Pp. xü+496. $12.00. Thb book will be important to students as well as psychologists, neurophysiologbts, clinical neurologbts, and psychiatrists and to any biologist or physician interested in the physiological basb ofemotion. The first part ofthe book deals with the physiological basb and integrative mechanisms ofemotion, then hypothalamic tests, the physiological approachtopsychologicalphenomena, theexperimentalapproachtotheproblemofemotional disorders, the neurological and emotional basis of some somatic disorders, die autonomic nervous system in mental dborders, and finally theories ofemotion and suggested research. Throughout the book the authors emphasize that feeling and acting are but different aspects ofthe same complex ofprocesses whichcomprisestheindividual.Theauthorsemphasize similarities between the effect ofactivation ofthe hypothalamus and the reticular formation, believing that the former b concerned with the largerexcitatory and inhibitory systems as well as regulation ofautonomic functions. Although...