Reticular Formation of the Brain: Henry Ford Hospital International Symposium. Edited by Herbert H. Jasper, Lorne D. Proctor, Robert S. Knighton, William C. Noshay, and Russell T. Costello. Boston:  Little, Brown and Company, 1958. pp.  xxv + 766. $16.00.

The Reticular Formation of the Brain can be considered, as the editors themselves suggest, as a successor to the Laurentian Symposium held at St. Marguerite, Quebec, in 1953. The intervening five years have resulted in a massive research effort which is succinctly presented by the 36 reports in this new volume. Supplementing these reports are ample discussion and commentary in which the editors have preserved the spontaneous nature of the meeting. Frequently too, the discussants presented data fresh from their laboratories substantiating the larger body of data contained in the formal presentations.

Although not divided into separate sections, the chapters can be classified into neuroanatomical, neuropharmacological, neurophysiological, and behavioral studies in approximately that order. Yet, since all the reports have the bulbar reticular formation as their focal point, the impression of a well integrated volume has been achieved.

To review adequately each of the contributions in a book of such scope would be unwieldy, although certain highlights should be pointed out. The experiments of Nauta and Kuypers on ascending extralemniscal pathways through the brain stem are a step forward in the search for the neuroanatomical basis of cortical arousal due to the non-specific projection system. Similarly, the presentation of Scheibel and Scheibel compliments the work of Nauta and his associates by illustrating that the reticular formation, rather than being a disorganized conglomerate, is a precisely organized internuncial system. Bradley's paper is an excellent summary of his past work and is the clearest statement available on the possible sites of action of many of the compounds which are attracting so much attention in today's medical literature (e.g. chlorpromazine and LSD-25).

The work of Jasper, Ricci and Doane with chronic microelectrode recordings is a clear illustration of the differential role the reticular system must have in conscious behavior. The study is a fi