Cleft Lip and Palate

THE relative backwardness of the Russians in the biological sciences has been a continual source of surprise to many people in the western world. It contrasts strongly with their brilliant achievements in the physical sciences and in technology. The depressed state of the biological sciences is a new thing since Russian standards in physiology w%ere on a par, if not superior to those in the more advanced European countries until the nineteen-twenties. What has happenedl since that time? Conversation with scientists from eastern European countries would suggest that a number of factors were involved. There was a fall in the status afforded to people working in the medical sciences compared with that afforded to those in the basic sciences. Pavlovian teaching tended to be accepted as physiological dogma. Papers were rarely accepted for publication in Russian physiological journals if they did not contain some reference to Pavlov's work. Finally, the Russian scientists suffered from restriction of travel an(l of free interchange of ideas with scientists of other countries. These mav account partly for the retardedl evolution of physiology in Russia. Grigor'eva's book on vascular innervation has the style and feel of an uninspired monograph written in western Europe in the early nineteen-thirties. The author discusses the innervation of the smooth muscle in a variety of blood vessels. Conflicting conclusions of different authors, using different methods on different tissues, are presented in a sequence, determined largely by date of publication. The evidence presented is largely histological. The book must, therefore, be judged on the quality of the reproductions of the histological preparations. Here again one feels the scientific clock has been put back. What photomicrographs there are are poorly reproduced on poor quality paper. Most of the figures are drawings made from microscopic sections. These are idealized and over simplified and therefore do not carry much scientific weight. There is little excuse for the absence of electron photomicrographs. There can be no excuse for a book of this type not having an index. Who should buy this book? I think it should be bought by libraries. It could be consulted by histologists, physiologists and anatomists who want a guide to the earlier literature in this field. There are almost forty pages of references, including a number to Pavlov. I (lo not know a more complete set of references to xwork oIn the histology of vascular inn1ervation. I. C. R.