The information concerning the clinical equipment forms a survey of Italian and French achievements and projects. However, the main point to remember is the dominant theory that in open as well as closed environments clinical criminology must be practised by a team belonging to various disciplines, each member of the team participating in the therapeutical activity which aims to reintegrate the delinquent in society. This principle of complementary action of all in the battle against crime appears also in the analysis of the relations between judicial authority and institutions of criminology.

The third part of the volume traces a vast picture of the organisation of research on the international level. I t contains important contributions to the study of methodology; among these the study of Mr. Lodge concerning the research undertaken by the Home Office Research Unit in the United Kingdom deserves to be particularly mentioned. The discussions are centred mainly upon the need for elaborating specific methods of research, to study crime, the criminal and criminality and to define the role and the tasks of the researcher.

The general conclusion which the XIVth Course proclaims, is that the three aspects it studied are strictly indissoluble ; their integration constitutes the very foundation of an autonomous criminological discipline. Teacher clinicians and researchers, far from opposing each other, complement and stimulate each other for the progress of scientific criminology and a rational criminal policy. C. Somerhausen

INTERNATIONAL-AUTHORITATIVE-INDISPENSABLE

"Methods of Forensic Science", Vol. 4 Edited by A . S. Curry (London, New York and Sydney. Interscience Publishers, 1965, 369 f$., 1051-)

This is the fourth volume of what are in effect a series of monographs dealing with specific aspects of forensic science in the widest possible sense of the term. Volumes 1 and 2 have been edited by Frank Lundquist of the University Institute of Forensic Medicine, Copenhagen, and Volumes 3 and 4 by Dr. A. S. Curry. The four volumes have appeared a t approximately yearly intervals. The Advisory Board for the series is of international status, and comprises representatives of Sweden, France, Argentina, Yugoslavia, Puerto Rico, Germany, the United States, and from our own country, Dr. Cuny, Prof. C . Keith Simpson, and Mr. L. C. Nickolls. I t is gratifying to note that our own Society is so well represented, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Apart from its actual content, the present volume is of special importance in that it contains a good general Subject Index to Volumes 1 to 4, inclusive ; but, there is no Author Index.

A feature of this series is the fact that there is no sequence of subjects, each monograph being an entity on its own and completely unrelated to those before and after i t in the volume. Since the index covers the whole four volumes, this matters little, because one can always use it to find all the information relevant to the one aspect of a particular subject. To those who like to read a book from cover to cover however, this arrangement is somewhat disconcerting, as is apparent from the following list of contents given in the order in which they occur. Alcohol determination ; glass fragments examination ; coloured fibres ; drug metabolites in viscera ; thin layer chromatography ; detection of soap abortion ; infra-red spectroscopy in toxicology ; the grouping of dried bloods and secretion stains. On the other hand it may be argued that this is not a work to be read a t a sitting (or even sitting), but rather that the four volumes should be treated as a reference book to be consulted as required on specific problems. From this point of view, they serve the purpose admirably ; indeed the series resembles more closely the journal of a learned society, con- taining varied papers on different aspects of the same discipline.

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The first monograph by Dr. H. Ward Smith, Toronto, Canada, dcals compre- hensively with methods for the determination of alcohol. The various known methods, their disadvantages and advantages and the variables affecting them are discussed in turn in approximate historical sequence. Methods depending on the analysis of breath, and in particular the Breathalyser receive particularly full treatment, and will be of special topical interest to workers in this country. The monograph also includes breath testing programmes, the training of breath test officers and operational procedures of a similar nature. The accumulation, distribution and elimination of alcohol in and from the body are also discussed, and there is an imposing bibliography of 257 references. The monograph is an excellent one, but leaves one conscious of the limitations of an international series of this nature, since there is only a bibliographical reference to the work of Cavette which is the basis of methods used by many workers in this country ; and none to the reports of the British Medical Association, which are authori- tative, even though they make no contribution to the solution of the analytical problem.

The monograph on the examination of glass fragments by D. F. Nelson, Auckland, New Zealand, is equally comprehensive and deals with sampling, and the various physical and chemical tests which may be used for identification purposes. On the physical side, one of the most important of a forensic nature is of course the determination of density by flotation, and in particular the density gradient method. Those who habitually use these methods are only too conscious of the difficulties of technique often encountered, and perhaps more emphasis on this might have been made by the author. Nevertheless his operational details are precise and to the point. Among the difficulties which often bedevil forensic work of this nature are the variations in density which occur from place to place in glass bottles ; the author is alive to this and cites a variation in an individual bottle of 0.00230 gram per ml. as the maximum observed ; however, larger variations even than this have been found.

M. Frei-Sulzer, of the Zurich City Criminal Police deals with coloured fibres, with special reference to natural fibres. This again is a very useful summary of the general subject, the physical and chemical reactions of each fibre being con- sidered in detail. Good photomicrographs are desirable to illustrate this type of subject, but the monograph is somewhat lacking in quality in this respect ; probably because of the paper, rather than of the original photomicrographs. The treatment of staining reactions for the identification of fibres is also rather weak ; no directions are given for making up the stains and the source of Neo- carmine W2, which is frequently recommended, is referred to only through its Swiss producer. A similar comment applies to the iodine-zinc chloride stain, the Herzberg variety of which gives a red colour with cotton and not the violet or blue colour mentioned by the author. The approach is mainly from the point of view of textile fibres, but most paper fibres are also "natural" and many textile fibres are used in paper ; a case in point is cotton, which loses its characteristic twist when derived from paper, an important point not mentioned by the author.

L. K. Turner of Melbourne, discusses methods of identification of drug meta- bolites in viscera. Comprehensive papers on this aspect of toxicology are all too few, and the present monograph is a welcome addition to the literature. He deals first with the initial extraction of the sample and the isolation of drug metabolites. Methods of identification and determination are then discussed under the following main headings : Inorganic, Organic (volatile), Non-volatile acidic group, Non-volatile basic group and Non-volatile metabolites of volatile drugs. This again is a useful summary of existing methods occupying some 50 pages, and ending with a bibliography of 163 references to the literature. Thin-layer chromatography is the subject of the monograph by G. Machata of Vienna, and is a short but concise exposition of the theory and practical reali- sation of this useful method. Of special importance are the reagents for

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developing the chromatograms, and here again a limitation of the international approach is apparent because the reader in this country will find only one British firm mentioned as supplying the recommencled apparatus, and he may be unable to obtain some of the reagents or layer media under the descriptions used in the text.

The monograph on soap abortions by W. Schwerd of Wurzburg, Germany, is concerned chiefly with the detection of soap in small quantities in admixture with other fluids likely to be encountered in abortion cases. Much of the content of this monograph will be familiar ground to those used to soap analysis and, as an example, they will prefer the chemical methods to the polarographic method for detecting titanium. The determination of sodium and potassium occupies a good deal of space, detailed chemical methods being described, although the flame photometer would be preferred by most workers. The author is wise to include a section on detergents, because although these are not commonly recognised as abortion agents, they might well be used in ignorance. A. Alha and V. Tamminen of Helsinki discuss infra-red absorption spectroscopy applied to forensic work in a general sense ; and the final monograph deals with the grouping of dried blood and secretion stains by R. A. Outteridge of Harro- gate. This last contains a considerable amount of valuable practical infor- mation on a subject distinguished by its exceptionally difficult technique.

I t will be appreciated from the foregoing that this volume maintains the high standard of its predecessors, and the four volumes together comprise a valuable reference work which no forensic science laboratory can afford not to possess. Julius Grant

ALSO RECEIVED : Bugg, D. E. : Burglary Protection & Insurance Surveys (2nd Ed.);

Stone & Cox Ltd. Banes, D . : Principles of Regulatory Drug Analysis

Psychosocial Aspects of Drug Taking; Pergamon Russell, R. Scott : Radio Activity and Human Diet; Pergamon Costello, C . G . : Psychology for Psychiatrists; Pergamon

Recommendations of International Commission on Radiological Protection; I.C.R.P. Publication, No. 9

Shoolbred, C . F . : Administration of Criminal Justice in England and Wales; Pergamon

McLaren, A . : Advances in Reproductive Physiology, Vol. 1; Academic Press