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This volume represents the latest, and not the least, attempt to write a textbook assessing our knowledge of the physiology of the central nervous system. Professor Gellhorn has been for a long time an active researcher in this field. The work and data in this field are truly enormous. The aim of this book is modestly confined. “By no means all, but only some, physiological foundations of neuropsychiatry are treated, those with which the writer is familiar through his own experimental work.” None the less, no really significant topics have been neglected. The final chapter gives us a report of as yet unpublished work of the author. The whole volume has been carefully integrated with the work done elsewhere, as is indicated by the rich and extensive bibliography.
The book is divided into six parts: intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulating neuronal activity; contributions to the physiology and pathology of movements; physiological basis of consciousness; some aspects of autonomic physiology; integrations; and, finally, applications to schizophrenia, physiology of carbon dioxide therapy, physiological principles for the therapy of the psychoneuroses and functional psychoses. An important aspect of the work concerns the author's own field of activity—the altered reactivity of the autonomic centers in psychotic conditions. Gellhorn lays great significance on these tests for orienting therapy. Clinicians and psychotherapists have generally not been too impressed with either the importance or the practicality of these finds.
This large, handsome, and well-printed volume presents us with another excellent text book in a field not overly rich with good texts. Fulton, Brock, and a few others do not cover the field so broadly from the reflex to the cortex. The total impression is that of a vast field carefully surveyed and integrated. The bibliography lists 1263 pieces of literature. The author and the University Press have a right to be proud of this volume. It is a valuable