This book has developed from an earlier monograph, 'Renal Function' (1962; London, Edward Arnold). It retains the general purpose of that book in relating the composition of the blood to the volume and com position of the urine of animals, including the new data of the intervening 20 years. As indicated by its title, this new book also has the particular purpose of studying the urine of animals in a normal environment and eating food usual to the species. Renal physiology illustrates a dilemma which arises also in other fields. Advanced technology, harnessed by accumulated experimental skill, now allows detailed investigation of basal processes. Micropuncture experiments have greatly advanced our understanding of the processes of glomerular fil tration and tubular reabsorption and have contribut ed to the wider discussion of the physicochemical nature of the movement of water and ions across cell surfaces. But experiments at microscopic or cell ular level demand experimental conditions in which the systems are abstracted from their natural en vironment, either as isolated perfused preparations or with the anaesthetised animal merely providing support for a tissue left in situ. The arguments from such experiments, important though they are towards understanding the basal processes, readily become remote from the reality of the normal animal.

A murder in Main Quad, a near demise high on Mont Blanc, the lady who survived hanging and became a celebrity, Lord Nuffield's dreadful visits to the dentist, and the surgeon who operated on his own hernia using strychnine: all pointers to medical mysteries and advances. This book aims to entertain and inform the reader interested in the advancement of medical science. The author presents seven distinct areas of endeavour in which he has been involved during an Oxford career undertaking original research in engineering, materials science, anaesthesia and physiology while working as a tutor and practising doctor. Each topic is presented and illustrated with novel insights from a historical and often fascinating background extending up to medical controversies of the present day. A final section takes a personal look at the factors which contribute to Oxford's extraordinary ability to nurture medical science.

Studies on the Development of Behavior and the Nervous System, Volume 3: Neural and Behavioral Specificity covers the fundamental concepts and principles of neural and behavioral specificity in various species, including fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals. This book is composed of five sections encompassing eight chapters. The first section discusses the historical developments of neurobiological research; the role of visual experience in the functional development of the visual system; and the interrelationship between maturation and experience in development. The second section examines the developmental control of synaptogenesis and the precise neural cell connections. This section further addresses the main discrepancies in the evidence and interpretations of the retinotectal specificity based on the chemoaffinity theory. The third section discusses the role of visual experience in the development of the mammalian striate cortex, with particular emphasis on the incorporation of ontogenetic information into the developing nervous system. This topic is followed by an overview of the properties of kitten visual neurons and of some evidence for plasticity in the developing visual systems of frogs, monkeys, and man. The concluding sections cover the theories of innate species-specific behavioral development and the ontogeny of mammalian perceptual development. Neurodevelopmental biologists and researchers will find this book invaluable.