Psychoanalysis and Current Biological Thought: Edited by Norman S. Greenfield and William C. Lewis. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1965. 380 pp.

Scientific disciplines require innumerable facts. When a discipline is young, these heuristic needs are supplied by co-workers, but as the discipline matures, such monotonous fare stifles growth. To prosper, other pertinent and allied disciplines must arise to question, doubt, and even contradict concepts previously formulated. Freud's reconstructions of early development stimulated nonanalytic observations and techniques which altered and enriched his initial psychoanalytic speculations. The salubrious effects of interdisciplinary commingling are apparent, but progress is stayed because too few are trained in interdisciplinary communication.

This report of the proceedings of a conference (1963) attempts to correct these deficiencies. It is the statement of a group of biologists and psychoanalysts of their past collaboration and of their future endeavors. It reveals both the advantages and the inherent limitations of such coöperation.

Donald Oken provides a schema for fruitful relationships among the various disciplines. Concepts, he says, must be couched in commonly understandable terms to be usefully applied to experiment, and to be capable of precise measurement. As knowledge is gained, the concepts become refined. This does not deter propounding new theories. The concept of measurement is liberal and does not exclude associations to dreams as experimental data if used objectively. Oken selected experiments by analysts and psychologists on 'rapid eye movements' to illustrate his thesis. The evolution of