A Disappointment

organic chemist concerned with the synthesis of potentially more cffective drugs and also to the practical pharmacologist or toxicologist who is concerned with the effects and mode of action of many structurally related drugs. A great deal of the work a t the molecular level of action of drugs has been directed to elucidating the mechanisms involved in the action of monoamine oxidase inhibitors and the synthetic and naturally occurring catecholamines. Because the expansion in these fields 11as.been almost explosive, the published work tends to be scattered throughout the literature and for those not directly involved, many of the papers are overlooked or are not readily accessible. Then, too, the fact that much of the work is of a highly specialised nature, adds to the difficulties of the non-specialist who wishes to keep up with the general trends in a useful but rather unfamiliar field. The collection of edited papers on a common theme in one volume is, therefore, of value to those workers who are interested, but not engaged, in a particular field of work. There are five chapters, each by different authors in this second volume of Advances in Drug Research. The first is an account of the inhibition of noradrenaline uptake by drugs with a discussion of the sites of action of noradrenaline in the adrenergic neurones. The second chapter contains a survey of the substrates and inhibitors of Dopamine-P-hydroxylase, the enzyme concerned in the conversion of dopamine to noradrenaline. The remaining four papers are collected from those represented a t the Symposium on the Interaction of Drugs with Receptors which was held in London in April, 1965, a t the School of Pharmacy, Chelsea College of Science and Technology. These papers cover "Conformational Perturbation in relation to the Regulation of Enzyme and Receptor Behaviour" which treats in detail the physico-chemical properties of proteins and enzymes as an explanation of drug-receptor mechanisms. "The Structure and Activity a t Adrenergic Receptors of Catecholamines and certain Related Compounds", "Muscarinic Receptors in the Peripheral and Central Nervous Systems" and "2-Halogenoethylamines and Receptor Analysis" complete the book. This book is probably of too specialised a nature to be an essential to those not directly concerned in the study of drug activity mechanisms. Nevertheless it should be read by all whose work demands a knowledge of the action of drugs, particularly when drug interactions must be considered and it should be in the library of any establishment engaged in work of this kind. Henry Leach. A DISAPPOINTMENT

The Investigation of Murder F. E. Camps and Richard Barber (London, Michael Joseph, 1966, pp. 143, 251-) The text of this book has been divided into two parts by the authors and this also is a convenient way to divide it for purposes of review. Part One recounts the stories of seven murderers, some of whom committed more than one murder. Of those selected, Jack the Ripper was never caught, the man charged with the murder of Pamela Coventry, in 1939, was acquitted, but in the other five cases the murderers were convicted. In the accounts of the investigations following these murders there are critical comments on the actions of police, lawyers and pathologists. These are doubtless well-merited, but a score of five convictions out of seven cases hardly implies that murder can be a "risk well worth taking", which is the point the authors use to link together the two parts of the book. Before turning to the second part, however, one comment on the Maybrick case can be made. The authors suggest that the arsenic might have come from the zinc used in Marsh's test. But as a latter-day Macauley would have said, 'Every (0-level) schoolboy knows that control or blank determinations are always made in chemical analysis'. They knew it1 1889, too, as reference to contemporary textbooks of analytical chcmistry shows. If the authors have

specific evidence that the analyses of this case were carried out with complete disregard for this point, they do not say so. The second part of the book is perhaps of greater interest to members of this Society since in it the present organisation of Forensic Science is discussed. There are five short chapters. The first deals with the integration of the work of various groups of people engaged in a murder investigation, and the exclusion of Pathologists from Forensic Science laboratories is deplored, as are the appalling conditions in some mortuaries used for post mortems. The second chapter deals with the organisation of the investigations. The authors clearly have strong feelings that something is wrong, but it is sometimes difficult to pin down exactly what. For example, what does this quotation from p. 104 mean? "On the other hand although these factors play a part, the results (for example, mortuaries) would appear to be mainly due to a mixture of lethargy and a blindeye approach. Be that as it may, it still remains a somewhat terrifying example of how attitude can perpetuate inefficiency, providing that nothing arises which can become a political issue". I t is made clear, however, that most police surgeons learn their job by doing it, and that, as might be expected, uncomplicated cases get less attention from all quarters than complicated ones. The very important point is made that the interpretation of scientific evidence is frequently made difficult by the absence of any information about the normal distribution of toxic and other materials. Suppose, for example, it is stated that hair from the deceased's head contains a certain amount of arsenic. Our reaction to this will be very different if we are also told that random samples from the local barbers' shops were found to range in arsenical content from half to twice that amount, from what it will be if we are in ignorance of this fact. The final three chapters are entitled The Future, Education, Training, Research; The Resources of Forensic Science and their Proper Deployment; and An Overall Conception of the Future. The chapter on The Future is concerned with the undergraduate training of medical students in their medicolegal responsibilities and calls for the establishment of a medico-legal service to which a general practitioner could turn for a second opinion in cases where, for one reason or another, he was unhappy about signing a Death Certificate. This seems a valuable suggestion, and as is pointed out, might well lead to more investigations now missed because the ordinary doctor is "afraid of making a 'fuss' by calling in the police or the Coroner". There can surely be few objections to anyone calling for a better training and higher standards in their chosen profession. Where there is ground for serious dispute is in the contents of the last two short chapters. Two examples of unreliable testing are quoted. The first relates to the conversion factor to be used for changing urine alcohol contents to blood alcohol values, where views on the figure to be used have changed. The authors argue that because of this, blood alcohol values based on urine alcohol analyses have been incorrectly stated in court, and this is undeniable. But does this discredit Science? What was really at issue was not an analytical figure, but whether a person's driving ability was impaired by alcohol and the analysis was merely evidence tending to show that it was. The muddled thinking and comment about blood alcohol levels which has arisen because of the more or less imprecise correspondence between these levels and their physiological consequences, as reflected in the ability to drive a vehicle, will be cleared up when the new proposals in the White Paper on Road Safety Legislation 1965-6 become law. The question on driving ability will then be separated from blood alcohol content. The offence will be to have over a given level of alcohol in the blood. In such circumstances the numerical value of the analysis will have an extra importance which it does not yet have. The authors are protesting too early.

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The other example of unreliable testing concerns the benzidine test for blood. The position surely is that no one would now suggest that a positive result from such a test proves the presence of human blood. Once again, however, poor writing prevents one finding out exactly what the writers mean-the second and third paragraphs on p. 133 are prime examples of obscure writing. The same faults of expression mar the suggestions put forward for the future organisation of Forensic Science and Forensic Medicine. We are told "it is essential to remove the principle of compartmentation". This presumably means that there should be more co-operation between those of different specialities, which is wholly admirable. But it is difficult to find many precise proposals, even in the diagram showing complex interrelationships of a department or institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Science in a University framework. The department is shown as "either divided or integrated". The book then is a disappointment, particularly in view of its authorship, but does point out many problems to which members of the Forensic Science Society should be applying their minds. Perhaps it will stimulate them to formulate more cogent and reasoned solutions to them. David Patterson. THE VALLEY OF DEATH

The Death Factory Ota Kraus amd Erich K u l k a Translated from the Czech by Stephen Jolly (Oxford. Pergamon Press, 1966, 284 pp., 301-) Auschwitz differed from the other Nazi Concentration Camps by the fact that it was built for and run primarily as an extermination centre. Although executions and extermination by gassing occurred in other camps the numbers were never on a scale approaching Auschwitz, where some four million men, women and children were killed and cremated to further the Nazi genocide programme. The Death Factory traces the history of the Auschwitz group of camps from their start in 1941 to their closure and evacuation at the beginning of 1945. All aspects of the camp life and administration are covered, including the ill-treatment and tortures suffered by inmates; the selection of prisoners for the gas chambers; the method of gassing and the subsequent disposal of the bodies by cremation or by burning when the crematoria were unable to deal with the numbers. There are short biographies by some of the staff. The material which forms the basis of this book has been collected not only from official sources and trial transcipts but also from the personal experiences of the authors and other camp inmates. Much of the material is derived from Czech sources and thus deals with the fate of Czech prisoners. Of the 44,929 deportees from the Terezin Ghetto sent to the camp between 1942 and 1944, only 2,868 returned. I t will be no easy matter for anyone reading this book without prior knowledge of Nazi Concentration Camps, to digest the facts detailed by the authors. The Death Factory, although adding little if anything to previous publications concerning the Concentration Camps, a t least fulfills the important function of reminding its readers that less than a quarter of a century ago the German Government was undulging in practices which may well have appalled their barbaric ancestors of the Dark Ages. A. Keith Mant. PLUS CA CHANGE

Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology (12th Ed.) John Glaister and Edgar Rentoul (Edinburgh and London. E. & S . Livingstone Ltd., 1966, 724 pp., 801-) The twelfth edition of Glaister's Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology has appeared only four years after its predecessor, and this fact alone is the best 113