Group Processes. Transactions of the Second Conference, 1955: Edited by Bertram Schaffner, M.D. (Josiah Macy Jnr. Foundation. 1956. $3.50.)

This is the record of the papers and discussions

at the second in a series of five conferences which are among the most interesting and important to psycho-analysts of all those arranged by the Josiah Macy Jnr. Foundation. Especially does this apply to the papers and discussions concerned with infant development and how it is governed by parental and social behaviour. To all those who feel that ethological studies contribute to our own science this book and its predecessor are essential.

Transcripts of lively discussion are often difficult to read and almost impossible to review adequately. They must be intensely stimulating to the participants; a stimulation which cannot altogether be shared by the reader, especially as films were used in the original presentation. There is a brief section entitled 'Kinesic Analysis of Filmed Behaviour in Children' by Ray Birdwhistell, but in the absence of the film much of the impact of this communication is lost.

The three papers which are discussed in the volume are 'Social Structure among Penguins' by William Sladen; 'Neonate-Mother Relationship in Goat and Man' by Helen Blauvelt; and 'The Message "This is Play"' by Gregory Bateson.

They are all important. Briefly, Sladen presents the fascinating results of living alongside and observing the behaviour of penguins over a long period. Blauvelt presents a valuable observation of the development of mother and child in goats. More briefly she discusses her observation of the first day and the establishment of feeding in the human infant—a subject which must be of enormous importance in the validation of our psycho-analytic views of object relationships and fantasy. Bateson's paper (much more a discussion from the start) is the most speculative. He is concerned with the real meaning and purpose of play and with that something which he believes always distinguishes play from not-play.