Lead and lead poisoning in antiquity

The symposium papers edited by Simpson will be a valued source for students of Black. The eight papers offer a number of insights on various aspects of Black's career. Robert Anderson provides a handy outline biography; Christopher Lawrence analyses Black's personal and intellectual links with Hume and Adam Smith, as well as contemporary natural philosophers; Henry Guerlac presents a stimulating evaluation of Black's work on latent heat; Andrew Doig examines Black's abilities asa physician. The institutional context of Black's work is explored by two papers: one on Glasgow by Peter Swinbank, and one on Edinburgh by W.P.Doyle. W.A.Cole provides an invaluable reference tool for locating manuscripts of Black's lectures, while John Christie queries the authenticity of Robison's edition of the lectures. He argues convincingly that it is Robison's view of what Black ought to have said, rather than what Black himself said. It is to be hoped that both books will be rather more readily available than museum publications sometimes are. Gerrylynn K. Roberts Open University