BOOK REVIEWS 553

F. BREYER. SOME PROBLEMS I N NEUROPHYSIOLOGY. Uni- versity of London. The Athlone Press, London. 1953. 79 p. 21 s net.

These are three lectures given at the University of London in May, 1950. The first is on synaptic transmission, inhibition and auto- rhythmicity in the spinal cord, the second deals with the physiological basis of Electroencephalography, the last one is entitled The Audi- tory Area of the Brain, an oscillographic study of its activity.

The first chapter ends with this sentence: “The general conclusion that may surely be drawn from this survey of some spinal cord mechanisms is the increasing importance in neurophysiology of the local non-propagated electrical response of excitable protoplasm, a type of response postulated a long time ago by Keith Lucas and Adrian for the nerve and muscle fiber, by Sherrington and his school for the nerve cell, and ultimately so clearly demonstrated by recent experimental work. ”

We may give in a similar manner, the last sentence of the second chapter : ‘ ( The main physiological significance of the ‘spontaneous’ activity of tlfe cortex cerebri - and more generally of the brain centers of the higher Metazoa-seems to us to be the necessity for the continuous maintenance of a subliminal excitation of subordinate aggregates of neurones, reducing to a minimum their reactional inertia and insuring the coordinative subordination of all parts of the nervous machinery. In no part of the central nervous system, and a t no time, are the nerve centers in a state of complete rest. The unceasing fluctuations in potential of a t least some of their cells is a necessary factor in the responsiveness of the individual, considered as a func- tional unit. ”

The third chapter discusses the response of the auditory area of the cat’s brain to click stimuli, to continuous tones, and the response of other parts of the brain to auditory stimuli. It shows that we can have responses in areas quite far removed from the primary acoustic area, and with latencies which can measure up to 100msec. “But in going forward ‘as far as we can’ (Adrian) we shall be encouraged by the conviction eloquently expressed by our great master, Sir Charles Sherrington, who once said: ‘The how of the working of the nervous system is a t present chiefly traceable to us in steps of its results rather than in comprehension of its intimate reactions. As to its mechanism, perhaps the point of chief import for us here is that those who are closest students of it still regard it as mechanism.’ ”

The book is well written, well printed, and has 9 pages of references. Anybody who is interested in the fields mentioned, should read it, in spite of its high price.

GERHARDT VON BONIN