Emotions and Bodily Changes. Fourth Edition with Supplementary Material and Additional Bibliography: By Flanders Dunbar, M.D. New York: Colubmia University Press, 1954. 1192 pp.

'Psychodynamic definition of the picture of the patient as a whole remains a challenge. Hence, it seems as appropriate in 1954 as it was in 1935 to write here Prolegomena instead of Finis.' Thus concludes this fourth edition. Although he agrees with this statement as it pertains to our knowledge of health and disease, this reviewer wonders if a Finis is not in order for this book as it is now constituted.

By her own admission, Dr. Dunbar found the preparation of this

edition 'a more difficult task … because so much has happened since 1946' and because 'the perspective has changed'. The acromegalic growth of our knowledge and of the literature in this field is reflected in the size of this edition, a single chapter being expanded fifteenfold; the total number of pages is now nearly twelve hundred. Quantity is gained by the sacrifice of quality. This is not to say that the original value of this book has been lost; but it has suffered because proportionately less consideration has been given to developments since 1935. Dr. Dunbar has elected to leave essentially intact the subject matter of the first edition (which by now should be chiefly of historical interest) and merely expand the book with a review of the progress made since 1935.

The author's aim to make this book suitable for continuous reading, rather than only for reference, although creditable, is unsuccessful; indeed it is hardly possible, so rapid is the change in our concepts of health and disease. Moreover Dr. Dunbar can hardly hope to prevent the use of the book chiefly for reference for she chooses to abstract every available contribution whether or not it is in agreement with her own convictions. Her lengthy abstracts of opinions of earlier writers, opinions long since accepted, leave the impression that the author is uncertain of her own convictions. This impression is enhanced by the title of the concluding section, Predictions Have Been Substantiated, which includes twenty-five prediction