Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

period in early manhood to a simple and perhaps even doubtful beliefin die concept ofthe one God, not even sure that beliefin a deity was fundamentally different from the anthropoids' innate fear of snakes! Darwin does emerge more completely in this Autobiography than in the earlier editions, but Charles as a person comes dirough as much more lively and delightful in his account ofthe "Beagle" voyage written many years before— not the "Journal" ofthe voyage, which is somewhat stodgy, but the "Diary," written freshly from day to day by a young man with a roving eye, and first published a century after it was written. N. J. Berrill McGiIl University Mind, Matter, and Morals. By Arthur E. Meyer, New York: American Press, 1957. Pp. 192. $3.50. Mind, Matter, and Morals by Arthur E. Meyer is an interesting demonstration of the ability ofdie human brain to peer intently at itself. This is a biologist's brain, and it sees cells and synapses as the matter which makes possible mind and morals. At no point in his philosophy does Dr. Meyer relax his insistence on die use ofthe scientific method in resolving die problems of die mind and spirit. By an ingenious manipulation of Einstein's concept of the interchangeability of energy and matter, he brings religion to terms with biology. Thomas Aquinas also struggled with this problem and arrived at an equally ingenious solution for those who prefer a more personalized God than does Dr. Meyer. He takes vigorous issue with physicists and "supernaturalists" alike when they question the universal applicability ofthe laws ofcausality. In respect to avant-garde dunking in theoretical physics, he presents a closely reasoned argument that distinguishes between the consequences ofthe principle ofindeterminacy and any abrogation ofthe laws of cause and effect. At the other pole, he adds an amusing and incisive critique ofthe kind ofevidence that is diligently accumulated by the parapsychologists. Admittedly, "there are more diings in Heaven and Earth dian are dreamt" by neurophysiologists, but extrasensory perception does not appear to be one ofthem. Dr. Meyer develops the Freudian concept of the interaction between body and mind, which he then extends to the ultimate exchange of energy and matter in the universe. Sherrington used die phrase "the energy system which is the body." Dr. Meyer's philosophy might be paraphrased as "the energy system which is the body and society and the Almighty One." His is an acceptable, even a respectable, approach to modern biology and religion, but it suffers from diffuseness. The word "consciousness" is applied to all cellular activities in die body which influence awareness. Perhaps this extrapolation is legitimate, but itdestroys the working meaning ofdie word. A theologian might argue in the same way widi his generalized use ofthe word God. The chapter on ethics is the apodieosis of the reasonable man's view of the Golden Rule in our society. It could have been written only by a good and eminently civilized IOO Book Reviews Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Autumn 1939 man. It is reassuring that Dr. Meyer has found a personal solution to die central problem that vexes his contemporaries. It would be a captious critic who demanded that it be die universal solution. ESTELLB RaMEY Georgetown University Scfaol ofMedicine A Short Introduction to Anatomy (Isagogae breves). By Jacopo Berengario da Carpi. Translated with an Introduction and Historical Notes byL. R. Lind. With Anatomical Notes by Paul G. Roofe. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1959. Pp. xi+228. $5-oo. Berengario da Carpi was one ofthe most prominent Italian surgeons ofthe first half ofthe sixteenth century who is now chiefly remembered as a pioneer anatomist. Only one man before him, Mondino de' Luzzi, two centuries earlier, had dared to revive the practice ofhuman dissection and to record his findings in a work entitled Anathomia instead of submissively copying die description of Galen. It was this book that served as a springboard for Berengario's facile mind. In profound admiration for his bold predecessor, Berengario published in 1521 a Commentary on Mundinus, which, because of its large size, voluminous contents, and costliness, failed to be a successful publishing venture. One year later, however, he made up for the lack...