Blood Clotting and Allied Problems

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. By John Farquhar Fulton. New York, Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1949. 667 pp. $10.00. It would be presumptuous to review this third edition of Fulton's Physiology of the Nervous System if it were not for the fact that this is not only a superior book, but also an exceedingly useful one. The form of the book and the exposition of the material are so excellent that re-affirmation of its value needs doing. It comes very near to being a bible for students of the nervous system. It should be read and reread by psychiatrists, neurologists, neurophysiologists, and neuro-anatomists. It is one of the best expositions available on the structure and function of the nervous system and has sufficient clinical material to give significance to the factual information. Of the twenty-six chapters in the book, a good half have been largely rewritten and brought up to date. To call attention in detail to the more recent developments included would be a work of supererogation. The book must be read, not epitomized. It might be well to call attention, however, to the enlarged section on synaptic transmission and to the added information which has been accumulated through study of cortical mechanisms and their relation to subcortical structures. The chapters on the frontal cortex have been largely rewritten, with particular reference to the relation of this part of the nervous system to human behavior as determined by experimental studies and the clinical results of lobotomy. These chapters are particularly valuable because they present a sane evaluation of the great mass of clinical data resulting from interference of frontal lobe structures and their relationship to other parts of the nervous system. This new departure in the study of the relationship between the nervous system and human behavior is one of the most exciting developments in modern medicine. It is well to note that great impetus was given this procedure as a result of work carried out by Jacobsen in Dr. Fulton's laboratory. No better evaluation of the results so far obtained is available. It provides an excellent foundation for all future investigators in this field. Valuable as is the text, not the least of its many virtues is the 74-page bibliography. In it are to be found most of the references to major work in the nervous system, thus enabling the student to penetrate the maze of references with assurance. The illustrations are uniformly excellent, particularly because of their clarity. This third edition is not just a reprint, but a thoroughgoing and up-to-date revision of one of the best books in its field. H. S. BURR.