This is the first of a new series of periodical volumes the purpose of which is the "collation and meaningful synthesis [of new] information relevant to the pathogenesis of brain dysfunction." The collation has been successful, though the goal of synthesis has been incompletely attained. In ten long and detailed chapters of separate authorship, the book considers chemical, genetic, viral, and immunological topics. There is no clear, unifying theme, although several authors have attempted to relate their subjects to the generality of brain dysfunction. However, there has been no effort to treat in depth the clinical aspects of the individual topics. The book is quite expensive. There are but a few photographs and these rather poorly reproduced. Line drawings, charts, and graphs are adequate, as is the index. All chapters contain numerous references.
The volume opens auspiciously with an extensive, up-to-date discussion by Neufeld and Barton of disordered mucopolysaccharide metabolism