Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male: By Alfred C. Kinsey, W. B. Pomeroy and S. E. Martin. (W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia and London, 1948. Pp. 804.)

This book, usually referred to as the 'Kinsey Report', is a first progress report in a long series to be published in the next twenty years and has aroused enormous public interest. The popular appeal of the book is increased by the fact that it is based on interviews with people in all walks of life. In the avalanche of reviews in the lay press, and scientific journals—some critics hailed it as a milestone in science and others were quick to exploit it as a basis to revise legislation covering divorce and sexual crimes. Rigid enforcement of the present laws, according to Kinsey, could put 95 per cent. of the people in jail. On the other hand, some reviewers attacked it as a dangerous assault on family life and morals, for they feared sensational and distorted interpretations of the facts.

Kinsey's aim was 'an attempt to accumulate an objectively determined body of fact about sex which strictly avoids social or moral interpretations of the fact'. He wished to learn 'what people do sexually, what factors account for differences in sexual behaviour among individuals and among various segments of the population'. The broad scope of the investigation involving thousands of individuals—the first attempt on such a large scale—make an exhaustive review unfeasive. In a sense, this review takes on the character of a review of reviews because the writer is influenced by the large number of criticisms he has read.

The Kinsey project is based on the taxonomic approach, which studies groups of individuals which stand as representatives of a species to discover identities and differences between and among the various groups. In the taxonomic approach great care must be observed in choosing and delimiting the sample studied and in the Kinsey study of the sex habits of the human male it was determined that about 300 cases were desirable for a sample in a group homogeneous for sex, age, educational level and other significant factors.

The senior author based his technique on a