On Feb. 16-17, 1948, sixteen workers in coagulation under the sponsorship of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation gathered in New York to discuss blood clotting. One of their members read the well known poem, "The Blind Men and the Elephant." It is likely that, like the six men of Indostan, sixteen coagulationists returned to their homes still firmly adhering to their own fixed concepts of the coagulation elephant.
Although the book, as is to be expected, fails to furnish a coordinated picture of coagulation integrated with problems of hemostasis, several presentations, notably Jaques' paper, "Blood Clotting and Hemostasis," and Brinkhous' "Initiation and Acceleration Factors in Thrombosis," include much pertinent information drawn from past and present researches.
The chemists dominated the conference. A scholarly essay on the chemistry and physical chemistry of fibrinogen is given by Dr. Edsall. Many of his data are drawn from work done in his own laboratory.