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Book reviews 395

Advances in Stereoencephalotomy, Vol. 6. Edited by E. A. SPIEGEL,T. RIECHERTand H. T. WYCIS.


S. Karger, Basel, 1972, p. 298.

NONE of us can afford to overlook the remarkable advances in stereotactic neuro-surgery which are
taking place in many different parts of the world. These papers were given at the 5th Symposium of
the International Society for Research in Stereoencephelotomy-they deal mainly with the surgery
of involuntary movements and of the dyskinesias.
DENIS LEIGH

YOSHIOMANAKAand IAN A. URQUHART:The Laymans Guide to Acupuncture. Weatherhill Books,


New York (distributed by Phaidon Press), 1972. pp. 143, Price f2.75.

IT IS difficult to understand to which layman this book is addressed as most of us in the West
whether or not clinically qualified are unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine. As far as one can
judge, it presents a clear outline of the theory and practice of acupuncture in relation to the relief
of pain and the treatment of various diseases-a place it has held honourably in Chinese culture for
some millennia. There is no mention of its use in inducing anaesthesia for operative procedures, which
is of much more recent origin. To the Western reader it is rather like reading pre-Harvean medicine,
a pretty, even elegant, internally consistent system bearing no relationship to known physiological
phenomena. This is not to say that acupuncture may not be an effective form of therapy: the authors
would however have done us a greater service had they made some attempt towards a critical evalua-
tion of the basis of the apparent success of the procedure. In the absence of any such assessment, the
book has little to offer the critical reader beyond clear prose, good illustrations and an idle afternoons
entertainment.
KATHERINELEVY

Neural and Psychological Mechanisms in Cardiovascular Disease. Edited by A. ZANCHELTI.Casa


Editrice 11 Ponte, Milano, 1972. Price $25.

THIS attractively presented volume contains the proceedings of a symposium held in Italy in July,
1971. The participants were a distinguished international group of neuro-physiologists, psychologists,
epidemiologists, psychiatrists and cardiologists. The objective was to produce some inter-disciplinary
cross-pollination.
Hypertension was the dominant theme and there were fascinating papers on the neural and bio-
chemical substrate of cardiovascular responses and on experimental analogues of (after due caution
about identity with) essential hypertension.
Professor Neal Miller reviewed the success in the operant conditioning of curarized artificially-
ventilated rats to raise or lower blood pressure, urine flow or even to produce differential vascular&y
in the two ears, as well as the failure, to date, to condition durable blood pressure control in conscious
active humans.
The minor theme was coronary arterial disease. Dr. Frederick H. Epstein indicated that proportion
of the disease unexplained by known risk factors and Professor F. Dreyfuss surveyed the well
known retrospective clinical studies which suggest stress (and not infrequently recognisable depres-
sion) as an antecedent of infarction. Dr. C. B. Jenkins presented the evidence for acoronary personality
while Drs. Mertens and Segers questioned its specificity. Dr. Stewart Wolf revisited Roseto and found
that in the past decade it has joined the twentieth century and experienced its first two young myco-
cardial infarcts-both are outsiders as fits his hypothesis.
The verbatim discussions were good. The common-sense of the questions and exchanges as scientists
in one area tried to come to terms with the findings and concepts of another is striking. Dr. Malliani
asked contributors to indicate the limitations they would recognise in their own investigatory tech-
niques and many responded enlighteningly.
The book is rich in references and should be a pleasure to read for anyone interested in the brain-
circulation nexus.
J. CONNOLLY

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