Recent Advances in Sex and Reproductive Physiology [antikvár]

FOREWORD The very numerous and urgent requests for information and for assistance that now are addressed by medical practitioners to those of us who are reputed to be acquainted with recent advances in sex and reproductive physiology have made it abundantly clear that somé such book as this had become a necessity. The rapidity of the advances in knowledge in this particular field has been eagerly watched by the clinician, since it seemed to promise that reinforcement which alone could give a proper understanding, and therefore a control, of the phenomena of conception, pregnancy and parturition ; phenomena which, because of their seeminginevitability,have for so long challenged man's dominion. Man has turnéd from the adventurous conquest of his environment to the conquest of himself. To-day is the day of biological invention, eagerly used for the control of the undesirable and the unwanted. Sex and reproduction are no longer hedged around by myth and taboo ; they are no longer accepted as mysteries that defy understanding. They are matters inviting examination and explanation ; they are regarded as expressions of physico-chemical forces, the nature of which is to be displayed. It is accepted that when knowledge is sufficient, control will be absolute, and, though knowledge is not yet sufficient, readers of this book must be persuaded to the view that this will not always be so. Having been forced to the view that, if only for self-protection, such a book as this must be written, the question arose as to who should write it. It is one that I myself should have liked to have written ; in fact, I had promised myself that I would do so, but during these last few years whilst the author has been a colleague of mine, I have been slowly, though perhaps rather willingly, driven to the conclusion that not I, but he, must undertake the task. Having read this book, I now know that the one that I would have written would not have been so good. Its author knows his subject and, what is equally important, enjoys discussing it. He can rest assured that the book he has written is not only a successful attempt to synthesise all that is known of this particular subject, but that it must prove to be exceedingly helpful to the very large number of clinicians who seek to incorporate into their practice recent advances in science. F. A. E. €.