BOOK REVIEWS A Stereotaxic Atlas of the Rat Brain, L. J. PELLEGRINO. A. S. PELLEGKINO & A. J. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYX C USHMA N Plenum Pres\. New York (1979). 121 Figures. f22.50. THIS is an extended and updated version of the first edi- mentary value. Furthermore. in many tigureh the corrc- tion. which appeared in 1967. The atlas now includes coro- spondence between photomicrographs and line drawings it nal sections from the enttre brain and also a full series of poor, further detracting from the documentar! v;~luc of the sagittal sections. The figures include photomicrographs of photomicrographs. 4Onm frozen sections stamed for cell bodies and fibres It would seem an impossihie task to make an alla\ that (modified Kliiver and Barreru technique) and line drawings is equally detailed and accurate in ail parts of the brain: m of the same sectrons presented on pages facing each other. this atlas it seems that the figures from parts of the tha- It is praiseworth!, that the &stance between the sections is lamus and particularly from the more anterior parts of the only XOpm. and that the coordinates are given with two brain (hypothalamus and anterror telencrphahc \tructures/ different reference pomts. It IS also valuable that they use would have gained from some more details. it also I un- adult rats (2XtX32Og) instead of adolescent ones (15Og) fortunate that the authors give so few reference\. and dc used in some other atlases. However. the value of the atlas not specify the references used for each region T~I\ 1, par- is lessened h! certain deficiencies, some of which one might ticularlv wanted in regions where the notnenclature and hope that the author\ will amend in a possible future edi- delineation of nuclear groups differ cnnsiderahl! hetween tion. different authors. It ma! seem rather demanding to ask for a horizontal Despite these objecttons. the atlas certainly wtll prove to qrries in addition to coronal and sagittal ones: nevertheless he a useful supplement to the strreotasic atlases of the rat it would have increased the usefulness of the atlas. The brain already available. most serious objection. however. is the poor quality of the photomicrogruphs: manq are almost without any docu- PI K BKOIX41. -__ Pain. J. J. BOXA (Ed.) Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease. Vol. 5X. Raven Press. New l’ork (19x()1 391 pp.. $47.60 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON EACH year the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease holds a meeting devoted to a particular topic in the neurosciences and designed to encourage com- municatron between basic researches and clinicians work- tng in that field. The proceedings of the 1979 meeting have recently been published by Raven Press. edited by John Bonica. and continue the very high publishing standards aheady estabhshed for this series. In line with the general aims of the Association the hook is divided into two parts. namely ‘Basic Aspects of Noci- ception’ and ‘Clinical Aspects’. Part 1 itself embraces three sections devoted to anatomrc and physiologic aspects. psy- chologic and psychiatric aspects. and to modulation of pain. John Bonica helps to relate these different aspects and to set the scene for the various contributors in a help- ful introduction which includes an historical overview of pain research. This is especially useful to the layman poss- ibly unaware of the contrasting specificity and intensive theories of pain which vied for support in the early part of this century and which still seem to influence much current work. Although new results are presented by some contribu- tors. most concentrate on reviewing data already published by their particular group and relating it to the work of others. Thus the hook includes several quite extensive reviews of literature up to 1979. a fact which will make it of more lastmg value than many published symposia. In part I these include E. R. Per1 on the affcrent hasis of nocicep- tion. including their recent work on horseradish peroxidase lahelling of electrophysiologically defined neurones. and F. W. L. Kerr and T. Fukushima on the spmothalamic tract C. R. Chapman opens the section on psychologic aspect,. with a review of the relationship between pain and percrp- tion followed by contributions from R. Melzack. M. T. Orne and B. B. Wolff. In the final section of part I .I, E. Sherman and J. C. Liebeskind review the evidence impli- cating endorphins in centrifugal pam modulating mecha- nisms and P. D. Wall presents the most recent vetston of the gate control theory. In part I there arc also aontrihu- tions from S. H. Snyder. W. D. Willis, K. L. Casey and from R. Dubner’s group. Part 2 concentrates entireI> on mechanisms and treatment of chronic pain s!ndrorne\. It opens with a review by H. Merskey on the role of the psychiatrist and goes on to cover headache (M. Sovak anti colleagues), neuralgias (W. H. Sweet), drafferrntation and causalgia (R. R. Tasker), cancer pain (J. J. Bonica) and finallq low back pain iJ. D. Loeser). At various potnti throughout the book are recorded parts of the discussion which followed the original oral pre~ntation of these papers, another fact which helps the layman approach the different reviews slightly more critically. In summary here is a nicely produced hook which should not only serve as a useful source of reference and introduction for newcomers to pain research. but also help the sort of cross-disciplinary communication vihich the ARNMD seeks to encourage. 1507