Vol. 72, No.

260

BOOK REVI
THE SEXUAL CRIMINAL-A PSYCHOANALYTICAL
STUDY. By J. Paul de River, M.D., F.A.C.S., Criminal
Psychiatrist and Sexologist, Los Angeles Police Department, Consultant Alienist to the Superior Courts, City and
County of Los Angeles. Charles C. Thomas, Publisher,
Springfleld, Illinois, 1949. $5.50.

The book contains many case reports of "sexual criminals," many photographs of victims. "Psychoanalytical
study" is a misnomer. The author gives few if any findings
to indicate that such studies were made. Rather, he gives his
interpretations which would not appeal to orthodox psychiatrists and which would not satisfy qualified psychoanalysts.
Many of his statements are not in accord with the facts
nor with the views of authoritative psychiatry. He states
that "sexual psychiatry is not included in the curriculum of
medical schools." He allows an attorney who writes his
introduction, to state that most psychiatrists consider sex
perverts afflicted with insanity; and that no particular effort
is made to classify perverts. There are many statements
which would make even little informed readers close the
book.
In many places it is difficult to find what the author is
talking about. For example, "man stands in opposition to
himself, in otherness than himself."
Many cases are reported with questions and answers
developed in interviews. There is nothing psychiatric or
psychoanalytical in these interviews.
This book adds little if anything to one's library of the
many authoritative texts which have appeared in the last
40 years.
*

RECENT ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY. By W. H.

Newton, M.D., M.Sc., D.Sc., Professor of Physiology in the
University of Edinburgh. Seventh Edition, The Blakiston
Company, Philadelphia, 1949. $4.50.

In this small book, the last edition of which appeared ten

years ago, one finds several subjects reviewed critically. Its
contents may best be inidicated by a list of chapter headings:
The Physical Basis of Temperature Regulations, Water Diuresis, Digestion, Some Aspects of the Physiology of Pregnancy, Blood Pressure and the Kidneys, Catheterization of
the Heart, The Electrical Excitation of Nerve, Cutaneous
Sensation, Auditory Impulses and Color Vision. Some of the
chapters stress very recent work, others reach back a decade; most are more than adequate to accomplish the author's
purpose of indicating "certain modern currents of thought."
The volume is recommended to medical students, physiologists, and those physicians interested in fundamental aspects
of the cited topics.
*

FROM THE HI LLS-An Autobiography of a Pediatrician.

By John Zahorsky, M.D. The C. V. Mosby Company, St.
Louis, 1949. $4.00.

John Zahorsky has long been a familiar figure in American pediatrics and is perhaps best known to the profession
for his early description of an acute exanthematous disease
of early childhood known variously as roseola infantum,
exanthem subitum and rose rash, and sometimes called
Zahorsky's disease. Born in Hungary in 1871, he came to
America at the age of six months. He took his medical
degree in 1895 and after a period of general practice confined his professional work to pediatrics beginning in 1905.
He was active in medical teaching in St. Louis at the Mis-

souri Medical College and its successor, the Medical School

of Washington University, and later became professor of
pediatrics and director of the department at St. Louis Medical School, in which he is now professor emeritus. He is the
author of a Synopsis of Pediatrics, of a text on pediatrics
and of a number of medical papers.
The autobiography relates the author's early experiences
incidental to the life of an immigrant family during pioneer
days, his professional training, teaching and practicing
career and his many avocational interests. The book is written entertainingly, with many anecdotes and bits of poetry
by himself and others. Its descriptions of men who stimulated and inspired him, particularly Dr. E. W. Saunders of
St. Louis, and of his difficulties and triumphs in improving
medical education, hospital facilities and child care in St.
Louis, are of considerable general interest. Much of the
book, unfortunately, will appeal only to those who are or
have been intimately associated with the author.
*

ESSENTIALS OF OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY. By Robert L. Faulkner, M.D.,

Assistant Professor of Gynecology, and Marion Douglass,
M.D., formerly Assistant Professor of Gynecology, both at
The Western Reserve Medical School. 300 illustrations, including 3 color plates. Second Edition. The C. V. Motby
Company, St. Louis, 1949. $8.75.

This edition of this popular textbook of Obstetrical and

Gynecological Pathology is a great improvement over the
first edition. The text matter has been carefully revised, and
numerous ambiguities have been clarified. The balance
throughout the work seems to be good as far as emphasis is
concerned, with the single exception that the pathology of
pregnancy seems to be somewhat abbreviated and with definite omissions. The section on ovarian tumors is especially
good, and the same may be said of the section on the
endometriumn.
This is an excellent textbook for the student and for the
specialist who is interested in refreshing his mind with
regard to pathological entities.
If one were to criticize, one would say that in a book
dealing with histological detail, illustrations can not be too
good. I suppose that one will never again see a publication
such as Liepmann's Handbuch, with its beautifully detailed
colored drawings. However, one could wish that now and
then drawings could be included to elucidate illustrations
where microphotographs do not quite meet the expectation.
*

THE QUESTION OF LAY ANALYSIS-An Introduction

to Psychoanalysis. By Sigmund Freud - translated by
Nancy Procter-Gregg. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.,
New York, 1950. $2.50.

This short book is a very adequate translation of a plea

by Freud on behalf of lay analysts. It is, however, of much
greater interest to the physician than that, since it presents
in brief and comparatively simple form, from the mouth
of the founder of psychoanalysis himself, the basic concepts
of this discipline. It cannot be truthfully said that after
reading this book the physician untrained in psychological
medicine will have a clear understanding of Freudian principles. However, the amount of such understanding per unit
time spent in reading will be far greater than in any other
other work known to this reviewer.