Masturbation: From Infancy to Senescence. Ed. by Irwin M. Marcus and John J. Francis. New York:  International Universities Press, 1975.  502 pp.

Irwin M. Marcus is a supervising and training analyst of the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Institute, and John J. Francis is a supervising and training analyst at the Baltimore-District of Columbia Psychoanalytic Institute. They have collaborated as editors of a book on a universal aspect of human sexuality-namely, masturbation. Marcus was responsible for the definition of mastur-bation in a Glossary of Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts, published by the American Psychoanalytic Association , and it is this definition that is reflected in the volume. The book contains nineteen articles. A majority of the twenty-one contributors are classical medical psychoanalysts who come from all parts of the United States.

The many contributions in this volume

are organized in such a way so as to relate masturbation to many aspects of human development and experience-the development of personality, the formation of psychic structures, the unfolding of object relations, and the casual connection to mental and emotional disorders and their treatment. In addition, special emphasis has been given to the contribution the study of masturbation can make to an understanding of current and social problems, especially the extensive use of drugs. (p. 1)