Annual Review of Pharmacology

ANNUAL REVIEW OF PHARMACOLOGY. Vol. 4. Edited by Windsor C. Cutting. Palo Alto, Californoia, Annual Reviews, Inc., 1964. xxxii, 453 pp. $8.50. There is a tendency amongst writers of reviews to quote their own work extensively, to pontificate pompously, to cluck cliches, to commit catachresis in order to achieve alliteration and to build up long sentences with too many clauses. It is therefore a pleasure to find that this fourth annual collection of review articles is highly readable, without an excess of these faults. Nineteen authors range over the frontiers of pharmacology from allergy to venoms, with a strong emphasis upon mechanisms-biochemical, receptor, absorption and excretion, structure-action, and metabolic. In addition, the book starts with an autobiographical outline of the career of E. Rothlin and ends with a "must" for those wishing to gain a quick entree into specialized literature-a "Review of reviews" by C. D. Leake. Criticisms of this volume are mainly related to the mechanics of review production. Some authors completed their survey in March, 1963 while others took until September. Thus, those who presumably met the deadline suffer by having reviews published which are more than a year outof-date before they reach the reader. This time lapse could surely be cut by several months. Signs of sloppy editing are shown in the number of typographical errors and in the lack of standardization of the format and of abbreviations for journal names in the references and in mistakes in the author index. In the subject matter of the individual reviews, there is a considerable degree of overlapping, especially in the field of the autonomic nervous system. Thus, there are six chapters dealing in some part with the storage, release and action of catecholamines. These chapters also serve to illustrate what is perhaps the only major criticsm of the volume, and that is the apparant patriotism of some of the authors in their reading habits. J. R. Cooper (Yale) in his chapter on the biochemical mechanisms of drug action relies on American authors or journals for 80%o of his references and D. Aviado (Pennsylvania) gives the impression that 85%o of cardiovascular pharmacology is prosecuted in the United States. On the heart, B. H. Marks (Ohio) is 63%o American, whereas on smooth muscle, E. E. Daniel (Alberta) is only 42%o, on structure-action relationships, F. N. Fastier (Otago) is only 46%o and on the autonomic nervous system, E. Zaimis (London, England) is only 40%o. In view of these geographical tendencies, it is perhaps fortunate that the subject matter does overlap. There is one other statistic of note. J. Axelrod (Bethesda) has the honor of being quoted most often by the reviewers (23 citations in six separate chapters), more often even than they quote themselves. On this basis alone, he has my vote for "pharmacologist of the year."