Natural Childbirth

proceedings, and the present volume comprises such a report of the first conference, which was held in November 1949, under the chairmanship of C. N. H. Long. Each of five sessions was opened by a concise presentation of one topic in the field, as follows: Relation of Chemical Structure of Adrenal Cortical Hormones to Biological Activity, by Edward C. Kendall; Regulation of Adrenal Cortical Secretion, by Gregory Pincus; Clinical Studies with Cortisone and ACTH, by Robert F. Loeb; Steroid Metabolism in the Adrenal Cortex, by Konrad Block; and Relation of Vitamins to Adrenal Cortical Function, by Elaine P. Ralli. A lively and extended discussion followed, by no means narrowly confined to the topics introduced. (The additional participants were Walter Bauer, J. W. Conn, E. Gellhorn, Dwight J. Ingle, Robert F. Pitts, George Sayers, Hans Selye, George W. Thorn, Abraham White, and Frank Fremont-Smith, Medical Director of the Foundation.) Undoubtedly the discussants had an opportunity to edit the original transcript, but fortunately for the reader the informal atmosphere of the meeting was not lost in so doing. In most instances the questions considered were clarified. Where information was inadequate to dispel confusion, at least the differing points of view represented at the conference were elaborated, by challenge and rebuttal, beyond that found in more formal publication. Although many of the opinions expressed, and there were not a few, may otherwise never have reached the printed page, a fair share of the factual material presented has since been published elsewhere in grater detail, and it is regrettable that the report was not published until nine months after the meeting. That, even so, care in proof-reading was slighted in favor of relative promptness of publication is suggested by the occurrence of a rather large number of typographical errors, for example, "desoxycorticosterone" for "17-hydroxydesoxycorticosterone" (pp. 27 and 110), "45pregnenolone" for "A5-pregnenolone" (p. 43), "formaldogenic" for "formaldehydogenic" (p. 135), and "androsterone" for "adrenosterone" (p. 148). Earlier Macy reports, reproduced by a photo-offset process and bound in paper, appeared more promptly, and the modesty of the format did not seriously limit their usefulness. Despite intensive research on the adrenal cortex now in progress in many laboratories and clinics, the basic questions discussed so incisively at the First Macy Conference still await adequate answers one year later. The discussions which took place at the conference are in almost every instance as pertinent now as they were then, and a careful reading of the report should not be neglected by students of the adrenal cortex. Those less intimately concerned with the subject will find the book instructive, unburdened by preoccupation with technical details, and certainly enjoyable reading.