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Selected papers on language and the brain
BOOK REVIEWS angiograms will wish to have these books at his elbow to consult in case of difficulty or uncertainty! This seems to me to be a case where superlatives
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are really justified. JOHN N. WALTON
Selected Papers on Language and the Brain (Boston Studies in the Philosophy, of Science, Vol. 16, edited by R. S. COHENAND M. W . WARTOFSKY), by N. GESCHWIND, xii + 549 pages, Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1974, Dfl 45.00 Probably most neurologists, like myself, will be unfamiliar with the series of volumes entitled "Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science", edited by R. S. Cohen and M. W. Wartofsky, of which this is Volume 16. And indeed relatively few scientists, whatever their discipline, ever achieve the distinction of seeing reprints of their published papers collected together in a single volume except perhaps as a Festschrift, published at the behest of their colleagues towards the end of a distinguished career. Nevertheless I am confident that many neurologists will welcome this volume as enthusiastically as I do, for Norman Geschwind's contributions to the study of normal and disordered language and to other aspects of cerebral function, published over the last ten years, have brought clarity and order to a field which many of us have found confusing and imprecise. In his studies of aphasia and related disorders of higher cerebral function he has manfully tackled the problem of attempting to introduce objective methods of assessment and
measurement, and while it is clear that some of his views remain controversial, he has helped many of us towards a greater understanding of these important but often ill-defined problems. He has the knack of marshalling hard fact and of integrating objective evidence with more fundamentally philosophical commentaries in a meaningful way. It is therefore a pleasure to be able to read again many of his well known papers, to find collected here others which have appeared in what are, to many of us, unfamiliar journals, and to observe that some editing has been done here and there to make the interrelationship of many of the contributions reproduced somewhat clearer. The stimulating ideas and common sense of these contributions and their overall lucidity will undoubtedly make this a popular and successful work of reference. JOHN N. WALTON
The Neurology of Gastrointestinal Disease (Major Problems in Neurology, Vol. 3), by C. A. PALLISAND P. D. LEWIS, xi--I-271 pages, 2 illustrations, 21 tables, Saunders Company, Ltd., London, 1974, £5.50. This book is the third volume in the series "Modern problems in neurology", produced by Saunders and Company Limited under the consulting editorship of Professor J. N. Walton. Dr. Christopher Pallis and Dr. Paul Lewis are to be congratulated on producing an erudite and at times amusing work dealing with the interface between neurology and gastroenterology. Most of the monograph is devoted to the neurological effects of gastrointestinal disease. However, two chapters at the end of the book deal with concomitant involvement of the nervous system and alimentary tract in systemic diseases, and the involvement of the gastrointestinal tract in neurological disease. This probably reflects the true amount of information which is available on these topics, but perhaps more attention could have been given to the various
causes of autonomic neuropathy and their effects. The authors have provided an interesting review of the history of each of the conditions, and a critical analysis of the literature dealing with each topic. As they frequently emphasize, previous assertions which have been handed down in the literature are often not justified by a careful reading of the original papers. Two possible approaches might have been adopted by the authors in their approach to their task. They might have considered each gastrointestinal disease and discussed its neurological effects, or they might have considered each part of the central nervous system and discussed gastrointestinal diseases affecting that structure. In fact Pallis and Lewis have adopted, for the most part, a third approach, looking at each deficiency in turn,
639
are really justified. JOHN N. WALTON
Selected Papers on Language and the Brain (Boston Studies in the Philosophy, of Science, Vol. 16, edited by R. S. COHENAND M. W . WARTOFSKY), by N. GESCHWIND, xii + 549 pages, Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1974, Dfl 45.00 Probably most neurologists, like myself, will be unfamiliar with the series of volumes entitled "Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science", edited by R. S. Cohen and M. W. Wartofsky, of which this is Volume 16. And indeed relatively few scientists, whatever their discipline, ever achieve the distinction of seeing reprints of their published papers collected together in a single volume except perhaps as a Festschrift, published at the behest of their colleagues towards the end of a distinguished career. Nevertheless I am confident that many neurologists will welcome this volume as enthusiastically as I do, for Norman Geschwind's contributions to the study of normal and disordered language and to other aspects of cerebral function, published over the last ten years, have brought clarity and order to a field which many of us have found confusing and imprecise. In his studies of aphasia and related disorders of higher cerebral function he has manfully tackled the problem of attempting to introduce objective methods of assessment and
measurement, and while it is clear that some of his views remain controversial, he has helped many of us towards a greater understanding of these important but often ill-defined problems. He has the knack of marshalling hard fact and of integrating objective evidence with more fundamentally philosophical commentaries in a meaningful way. It is therefore a pleasure to be able to read again many of his well known papers, to find collected here others which have appeared in what are, to many of us, unfamiliar journals, and to observe that some editing has been done here and there to make the interrelationship of many of the contributions reproduced somewhat clearer. The stimulating ideas and common sense of these contributions and their overall lucidity will undoubtedly make this a popular and successful work of reference. JOHN N. WALTON
The Neurology of Gastrointestinal Disease (Major Problems in Neurology, Vol. 3), by C. A. PALLISAND P. D. LEWIS, xi--I-271 pages, 2 illustrations, 21 tables, Saunders Company, Ltd., London, 1974, £5.50. This book is the third volume in the series "Modern problems in neurology", produced by Saunders and Company Limited under the consulting editorship of Professor J. N. Walton. Dr. Christopher Pallis and Dr. Paul Lewis are to be congratulated on producing an erudite and at times amusing work dealing with the interface between neurology and gastroenterology. Most of the monograph is devoted to the neurological effects of gastrointestinal disease. However, two chapters at the end of the book deal with concomitant involvement of the nervous system and alimentary tract in systemic diseases, and the involvement of the gastrointestinal tract in neurological disease. This probably reflects the true amount of information which is available on these topics, but perhaps more attention could have been given to the various
causes of autonomic neuropathy and their effects. The authors have provided an interesting review of the history of each of the conditions, and a critical analysis of the literature dealing with each topic. As they frequently emphasize, previous assertions which have been handed down in the literature are often not justified by a careful reading of the original papers. Two possible approaches might have been adopted by the authors in their approach to their task. They might have considered each gastrointestinal disease and discussed its neurological effects, or they might have considered each part of the central nervous system and discussed gastrointestinal diseases affecting that structure. In fact Pallis and Lewis have adopted, for the most part, a third approach, looking at each deficiency in turn,