and the Red Sea. Now records continue to show that such exchange has a strong northward bias. And, to honour Ferdinand de Lesseps, Professor Por has ‘. . . coined the term ‘Lessepsian migration’ for the outstandingly facinating phenomenon of the invasion of the Mediterranean sea by the tropical Red Sea fauna and flora’. Though his book is volume 23 in a series entitles ‘Ecological studies’, the author rightly says that quantitative ecological analysis of this migration is not yet possible.

After a section outlining the geological- history background of the Mediterranean-Red Sea region the author turns to the Canal itself (construction, history of research, hydrography, nature of the bottom, and biological aspects) before dealing with the Lessepsian migrants in their new environment in the eastern Mediterranean. Two final chapters cover the relatively small number of migrants into the Red Sea and compare the Suez Canal with other inter-oceanic canals.

Though the Suez Canal is a high salinity environment it contains many species and is evidently the source of most migrants. After careful analysis of the records, the author concludes that 128 species are certain migrants: 76 are uncertain. Some migrants, following Levantine establishment, have become widely distributed along eastern Mediterranean shores.

There is much else in this scholarly and interesting book, which is warmly recommended to marine scientists.

N. B. Marshall

Genetics of the Cell Surface A Royal Society Discussion. Pp. 198. The Royal

Society, London. 1978. f 7.75.

This collection of papers is a valuable contribution for those interested in the histocompatibility antigens and related genetic systems involving the surface of mammalian and bacterial cells. It is especially helpful for the medical worker involved with the HLA system to see this in the context of its counterpart in the mouse, the H-2 system, and for histocompatibility antigens to be compared with blood groups and various bacterial and trypanosomal antigens.

Two chapters in this book review the genetic aspects of the HLA and H-2 systems, while a third covers the biochemical basis of the HLA antigens and related gene products within the HLA region of chromosome 6. Both this chapter and the one by Winifred Watkins on the biochemical basis of human blood group systems show that notable progress has been made in understanding the sequence of steps in production and control of these antigens, processes that are likely to provide valuable models in our understanding of such fundamental processes as neoplasia and embryonic development. Those working on the degenerative neurological disorders thought to result from disturbed structure and function of cell membranes will also find the information given here a corrective to some of the over- simplified concepts currently in use, but at the same time an indication that careful and persistent biochemical and genetic study can

indeed give a real knowledge of what is an exceedingly complex area.

Peter Harper

Active Touch. The Mechanism of Recognition of objects bY Manipulation. A Multi-disciplinary approach. Edited by George Gordon.

Pp. 275. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1978.

Hardcoverf 19.50, flexicoverf 11.00.

This is a fascinating collection of papers which were delivered at a meeting of world eminent physiologists in 1977. They were concerned with examining the prime function of the human hand, that of ‘touch’. To the reviewer the special quality of the book resides in the presentation of applied ‘physiology’ which overlaps many mutual areas of interest in medical practice.

The Editor has realised a structure of thoughtful and erudite papers beginning with functional characteristics of the skin, for instance, the effects of temperature, vibration, and skin distortion and sensation and followed through to the inter-action and modulation of incoming impulses in the spinal cord and the brain. Significant emphasis has been placed upon the importance of ‘feed back’ from muscle action on afferent impulses which can be led to an enhancement in the quality of tactilegnosis.

Fourteen of the twenty-one papers examined human situations, from the elegant analysis of joint sense to methods that increase the ability of the blind to see through their fingers.

This book is highly recommended for surgeons, neurologists, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists who wish to improve the function of the normal or injured hand.

T. R. Fisher

Strategies for Europe. Edited by M. Goldsmith. Pp. 164. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 19 78. f 10.00 ($20.00).

This work is a review of the symposium ‘Strategies for Europe’ organised by the Science Policy Foundation and the Commission of the European Communities in April 1977. The common theme of the papers and the debates which followed them is investigation of the means necessary for Europe to be able to move towards economic and political equilibrium. After an introduction to the subject by Giinter Schuster, Lord Flowers discussed the European Science Foundation and Jean-Jacques Salomon the contribution of the social sciences. Then Umberto Colombo talked about industrial innovation and the American Philip Rittersbush about the various involvements of the public authorities. Finally, before Michael Sharks gave the conclusions and recommendations of this symposium, Shridath S. Ramphal considered relations with the developing countries.

The conclusion of this volume is. as emphasised by Maurice Goldsmith in the preface, that Europe should have a regional scientific policy which nevertheless takes account of the global associations implicit in the history of the continent. This policy must

take account of two new phenomena. Firstly, the development within COMECON of links between the socialist group of European countries, each having their individual cultures. Secondly, the appearance in commercial relationships of the new economic force resulting from the disappearance of the colonial system. It is therefore important to establish a ‘federation of European organisations of scientific policy’ which will coordinate the efforts of each country. Consultation of this work is facilitated by the general index (participants, organisations, and topics) and by the synopsis which follows the paper and debate on it for each of the six principal subjects discussed.

A. Danzin

Human Implicationsof Scientific Advance. Edited by E. G. Forbes. Pp. 596. Edinburgh University Press. 19 78. f 12.00.

The somewhat contrived name of this book does not reveal its content as well as its subtitle Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of the History of Science Edinburgh IO-I9 August 1977. Yet even this conceals the whole truth, for the Proceedings are only those invited papers delivered at the ten symposia held during the Congress and does not include any of the larger number of short papers read at the eleven scientific sessions. There is no introduction to explain this or other matters.

The subject areas are diverse (as are the typewriters used to type the scripts from which the book is printed). A review of this brevity cannot start to discuss critically even one ofthe sixty-three papers, though it can be said that they are categorised under the symposia headings Science and Human Values; Causation of Scientific Ideas; Diffusion in Science; Medicine and Industrialisation; Physics and Metaphysics in the Scientific Revolution; Thermodynamics; Source Materials: Heredity and Evolution; Classification; and Cosmology. There are great variations in style of the papers in this work: some are positively chatty, others austerely academic. The former are probably closer to the actual presentation at the meetings; the latter (including some with many notes and references) have clearly been specially written up for publication.

A number of the papers are of the greatest interest and the editor is to be congratulated on the not always easy task of prising them from their authors. However, the most important aspect of this work for future historians may well be for analysing the strange phenomenon of international congresses: hence the further need for an introduction.

R. G. W. Anderson

75 Years of Chromatography-A Historical Dialogue. Edited by L. S. Ettre andA. 3atkis. Pp. 550, Elsevier, Amsterdam B New York. 1979. $49.75 (Dfl. 112.00).

This is a doubly disappointing book. First, and foremost, because it is based on an untenable historical premise. Second, because of its naivity in supposing that a constructive contribution to history can be made by stringing together a series of sixty unstructured

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