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Readings in Neurophysiology
Rook Reviews
t
“experience” in connection with the task of science would have been more easily grasped had the amhor derotod more attention to an exposition of what he thinks human experience is. The importance of modern information theory is recognized in a few references, but the amhor scarcely cloes just’ice to the role it is beginning t,o play. The discursive st,yle demands closer attention t’han some impatient readers may be willing to devote to a study of Professor Bunge’s book. However, it deserves careful scrutiny and should be of value to scientist,s and philosophers alike. R. BRUCE LINDSEY Physics Department Brown Wniversity Providence, Rhode Island HYD~~~ENATI~N OVER PLATINU~~Z METALS, by I?. N. Rylander. 550 pa,ges, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, Academic Press, 1967. Price, <$%2.50.
CATALYTIC
Platinum metal catalysbs are probably the most efficient and certainly the most widely used agents for the cont,rolled hydrogenations of organic compounds. In this well-organized and comprehensive treatise, Dr. Rylander presents a wealth of experimental data on heterogeneous catalysis by the six platinum metals. The book is divided into six sections : part one deals with t,he preparation and use of the catalysts, the equipment and reaction conditions required; the other five parts deal with the hydrogenation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (acetylenes and oleflns); nitrogen compounds (imines, azines, hydrazones, oximes, and nitroso, nitro, and nitrile compounds) ; carbonyl compounds (acids, esters, a,ldehydes, and ketones) ; aromatics and heterocyclics ; and t,he final section deals with hydrogenolysis, consisting of a discussion of the Rosenmund reaction, catalytic dehalogenation, and miscellaneous hydrogenolysis reactions. Surprisingly, the rapidly developing and increasingly important field of homogeneous catalysis is not covered, an omission which may well become more serious with the passing of time.
80
The approach to this vast subject is that of the experiment,alist. Dr. Rylander is not concerned here with the mechanism of catalysis or of the theoretical principles involved, believing as he does that “practical problems in catalysis are solved most easily by an empirical approach coupled with a thorough knowledge of the literature”, and he follows this eminently sensible prescription throughout his book. !Ihe result is a large, handsomely produced and rather expensive volume. There are some minor criticisms. The index for the most part lists only substrates (and does so in great det,ail) but not the reaction products or even the catalyst materials. One feels that there might have been advantages in a more ext-ensive use of tabulated material. Nevertheless we should be grateful t’o t,he author for bringing order to an unruly field, and for having achieved t’his in an elegant,, scholarly, and persuasive way. W. P. GRIBFUX Depwrtment of Chemistry Imperial College Lolldon, &gland
READINGS 14 NEUROPHYSIOLOGY, by C. D. Barnes and C. Kircher. 482 pages, diagrams, illustr., 6 x 9 in. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1968. Price, $9.50. In evaluating the merit of a book it is perhaps useful to bear in mind a paraphrase of a popular admonition. Namely, one should not judge a book by its cover . . or by its title. Indeed, the title under review is misleading because of its implied generality. Instead of encountering an amorphous conglomeration of topics, the reader is pleasantly surprised to discover that the “readings” consist of eighteen research papers which are reIevant to the understanding of the myotatic or stretch reflex. These contributions are arranged in an anatomical sequence to parallel the components of the reflex arc. Near the beginning of the book are papers dealing with the sensory receptors and nerve fibers while the last papers deal with t.he myoneural junction.
Journal
of The Franklin
Institute
Book Reviews
_ Aside from papers devoted to the function of the myoneural junction there is no other consideration of the effector organ. Thus the contractile process, a significant portion of the reflex arc, is ignored. As a compensation, Barnes and Kircher present concise, lucid introductions preceding each set of articles; these prefaces indicate what specific problems were solved by the ensuing papers, and thereby provide the book with vivacit,y not usually associated with anthologies. All of the research papers in this collection are germane to the comprehension of modern neurophysiology despite the fact that none of them are hot off the scientific griddle. Hodgkin, Katz, and Lloyd, luminaries in modern neurophysiology, account for over half of the contributions. These scientific works, representing some of the best research efforts in physiology, would not be especially meaningful to anyone without some preliminary background in the subject. Thus the book would have little practical value for the undergraduate or the medical student except as-a reference source. On the other hand, the book would serve as an ideal and unique basis for a graduate or seminar course. In particular, the collection of papers should make excellent reading for advanced biomedical engineering students who would be in a position to appreciate the transducer and servo mechanisms associated with the simplest of reflex arcs. EUGENE ASERINSEY Department of Physiology Jefferson Medical College Philadelphia, Pennsylvania HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS AND NUCLEAR STRUCTURE, edited by G. Alexander. 490 pages, diagrams, illustr., 6 x 9 in. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1967. $23.00. These are the Proceedings of the Second International Conference on High Energy Physics and Nuclear Structure held at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel from February 27 to Ma.rch 3, 1967. Included in full are all the invited papers and the following
vol. 287, No. 1, January1969
discussions together with the abstracts of contributed papers. The theme of the conference was the use of the techniques and particles normally associated with high energy physics for investigations of the structure of the nucleus. The enormous scope and variety of these experiments is shown in the first few pages in a talk by B. P. Gregory on Nuclear Structure Research at C.E.R.N. On one page we have a description of nucleon-nucleus scattering experiments, but using 20 BeV protons, immediately followed by a description of investigations of the charge distribution in nuclei using very low energy rr and p mesons. We also see later how the many experiments which are opened up by the use of these various new particles for the study of nuclei may be of interest and benefit to both low and high energy physicists. For example, the study of hypernuclei not only gives information on the properties of nuclei for t’he nuclear structure physicist but also supplies valuable details of the basic A-nucleon interaction for the elementary particle physicist. As one reads on through this excellent summary of the “state of the art” you are reminded of the great potentialities for future development and work in this relatively new and unexplored field. At the end we have a glimpse into the future with a description of the “meson factory” being built at Los Alamos and of some of the experiments which may be carried out when this machine is operational. It is perhaps the first of the high energy machines to be built with nuclear structure experiments specifically in mind. As well as discussing the application of high energy physics to nuclear structure investigations, one session of the conference was devoted to nuclear astrophysics. Here was described the application of our basic knowledge of nuclear physics and nuclear reactions to theories of nucleosynthesis in stars and of the measurements and theories of the neutrino fluxes from the sun. To summarize, this was an excellent conference on a relatively new and developing field which overlaps high energy and nuclear structure physics.
81
t
“experience” in connection with the task of science would have been more easily grasped had the amhor derotod more attention to an exposition of what he thinks human experience is. The importance of modern information theory is recognized in a few references, but the amhor scarcely cloes just’ice to the role it is beginning t,o play. The discursive st,yle demands closer attention t’han some impatient readers may be willing to devote to a study of Professor Bunge’s book. However, it deserves careful scrutiny and should be of value to scientist,s and philosophers alike. R. BRUCE LINDSEY Physics Department Brown Wniversity Providence, Rhode Island HYD~~~ENATI~N OVER PLATINU~~Z METALS, by I?. N. Rylander. 550 pa,ges, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, Academic Press, 1967. Price, <$%2.50.
CATALYTIC
Platinum metal catalysbs are probably the most efficient and certainly the most widely used agents for the cont,rolled hydrogenations of organic compounds. In this well-organized and comprehensive treatise, Dr. Rylander presents a wealth of experimental data on heterogeneous catalysis by the six platinum metals. The book is divided into six sections : part one deals with t,he preparation and use of the catalysts, the equipment and reaction conditions required; the other five parts deal with the hydrogenation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (acetylenes and oleflns); nitrogen compounds (imines, azines, hydrazones, oximes, and nitroso, nitro, and nitrile compounds) ; carbonyl compounds (acids, esters, a,ldehydes, and ketones) ; aromatics and heterocyclics ; and t,he final section deals with hydrogenolysis, consisting of a discussion of the Rosenmund reaction, catalytic dehalogenation, and miscellaneous hydrogenolysis reactions. Surprisingly, the rapidly developing and increasingly important field of homogeneous catalysis is not covered, an omission which may well become more serious with the passing of time.
80
The approach to this vast subject is that of the experiment,alist. Dr. Rylander is not concerned here with the mechanism of catalysis or of the theoretical principles involved, believing as he does that “practical problems in catalysis are solved most easily by an empirical approach coupled with a thorough knowledge of the literature”, and he follows this eminently sensible prescription throughout his book. !Ihe result is a large, handsomely produced and rather expensive volume. There are some minor criticisms. The index for the most part lists only substrates (and does so in great det,ail) but not the reaction products or even the catalyst materials. One feels that there might have been advantages in a more ext-ensive use of tabulated material. Nevertheless we should be grateful t’o t,he author for bringing order to an unruly field, and for having achieved t’his in an elegant,, scholarly, and persuasive way. W. P. GRIBFUX Depwrtment of Chemistry Imperial College Lolldon, &gland
READINGS 14 NEUROPHYSIOLOGY, by C. D. Barnes and C. Kircher. 482 pages, diagrams, illustr., 6 x 9 in. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1968. Price, $9.50. In evaluating the merit of a book it is perhaps useful to bear in mind a paraphrase of a popular admonition. Namely, one should not judge a book by its cover . . or by its title. Indeed, the title under review is misleading because of its implied generality. Instead of encountering an amorphous conglomeration of topics, the reader is pleasantly surprised to discover that the “readings” consist of eighteen research papers which are reIevant to the understanding of the myotatic or stretch reflex. These contributions are arranged in an anatomical sequence to parallel the components of the reflex arc. Near the beginning of the book are papers dealing with the sensory receptors and nerve fibers while the last papers deal with t.he myoneural junction.
Journal
of The Franklin
Institute
Book Reviews
_ Aside from papers devoted to the function of the myoneural junction there is no other consideration of the effector organ. Thus the contractile process, a significant portion of the reflex arc, is ignored. As a compensation, Barnes and Kircher present concise, lucid introductions preceding each set of articles; these prefaces indicate what specific problems were solved by the ensuing papers, and thereby provide the book with vivacit,y not usually associated with anthologies. All of the research papers in this collection are germane to the comprehension of modern neurophysiology despite the fact that none of them are hot off the scientific griddle. Hodgkin, Katz, and Lloyd, luminaries in modern neurophysiology, account for over half of the contributions. These scientific works, representing some of the best research efforts in physiology, would not be especially meaningful to anyone without some preliminary background in the subject. Thus the book would have little practical value for the undergraduate or the medical student except as-a reference source. On the other hand, the book would serve as an ideal and unique basis for a graduate or seminar course. In particular, the collection of papers should make excellent reading for advanced biomedical engineering students who would be in a position to appreciate the transducer and servo mechanisms associated with the simplest of reflex arcs. EUGENE ASERINSEY Department of Physiology Jefferson Medical College Philadelphia, Pennsylvania HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS AND NUCLEAR STRUCTURE, edited by G. Alexander. 490 pages, diagrams, illustr., 6 x 9 in. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1967. $23.00. These are the Proceedings of the Second International Conference on High Energy Physics and Nuclear Structure held at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel from February 27 to Ma.rch 3, 1967. Included in full are all the invited papers and the following
vol. 287, No. 1, January1969
discussions together with the abstracts of contributed papers. The theme of the conference was the use of the techniques and particles normally associated with high energy physics for investigations of the structure of the nucleus. The enormous scope and variety of these experiments is shown in the first few pages in a talk by B. P. Gregory on Nuclear Structure Research at C.E.R.N. On one page we have a description of nucleon-nucleus scattering experiments, but using 20 BeV protons, immediately followed by a description of investigations of the charge distribution in nuclei using very low energy rr and p mesons. We also see later how the many experiments which are opened up by the use of these various new particles for the study of nuclei may be of interest and benefit to both low and high energy physicists. For example, the study of hypernuclei not only gives information on the properties of nuclei for t’he nuclear structure physicist but also supplies valuable details of the basic A-nucleon interaction for the elementary particle physicist. As one reads on through this excellent summary of the “state of the art” you are reminded of the great potentialities for future development and work in this relatively new and unexplored field. At the end we have a glimpse into the future with a description of the “meson factory” being built at Los Alamos and of some of the experiments which may be carried out when this machine is operational. It is perhaps the first of the high energy machines to be built with nuclear structure experiments specifically in mind. As well as discussing the application of high energy physics to nuclear structure investigations, one session of the conference was devoted to nuclear astrophysics. Here was described the application of our basic knowledge of nuclear physics and nuclear reactions to theories of nucleosynthesis in stars and of the measurements and theories of the neutrino fluxes from the sun. To summarize, this was an excellent conference on a relatively new and developing field which overlaps high energy and nuclear structure physics.
81