P. LASAREFF. Théorie ionique de l’excitation des tissus vivants. — Librairie Scientifique Alb. Blanchard. Paris. 1928. Pp. 240.

P. Lazarev. Ionic Theory of Excitation of Living Tissues.

This book is a thoroughly revised and expanded edition of the well-known monograph by Academician P. P. Lazarev, which appeared in Moscow in 1916 under the title “Studies on the Ionic Theory of Excitation” and was then published there in French in 1918. Even the first edition of this book was, albeit with some delay, duly appreciated in the West as well. Thus, for example, in the journal Scientia (vol. 41, p. 441, 1927), Prof. Botazzi (of the physiological laboratory of the Neapolitan University) writes of this first edition, among other things, as follows: “Lazarev is a physicist, and it is understandable that he has an easy command of mathematical calculations, which is an invaluable advantage in the study of physiological problems of such a kind as ionic excitation. Like Nernst, he wished to draw closer to physiology, and from this rapprochement results of extraordinary importance have flowed. But what is astonishing is the philosophical culture that he displays, especially in the introduction and in the first chapter, as well as in some of the footnotes.”

The new edition of Lazarev’s book represents the next step in the direction he indicated. All the chapters of the book devoted to questions of the ionic theory of vision, hearing, smell, taste, etc., have been reworked by the author on the basis of new and abundant experimental and theoretical material accumulated in his Institute over the 12 years that have elapsed since the first edition.

A certain schematic character and simplification in the formulation of particular problems is undoubtedly intentional, since only in this way was it possible to create so general a theory, one that quantitatively embraces the whole activity of our nervous and muscular system. Only thanks to this did he succeed in laying a solid foundation and erecting, in its basic constructions, a solid edifice of the physico-chemical theory of the activity of our nervous system.

As a whole series of studies from the Institute of Academician P. P. Lazarev has shown, ionic theory in all cases serves as a guiding thread that makes it possible to find one’s way through phenomena that at first glance are very complex and obscure. (See, for example, the work of S. V. Kravkov on the difference between complementary colors and the colors of successive contrast in Journal of Applied Physics, vol. V, supplementary issue, p. 115.)

Only the introduction has passed over from the first edition without change: “Quelques considérations sur les méthodes des recherches théoriques dans la physiologie,” etc.

All the more complex mathematical derivations and proofs, unlike in the first edition, are given in the form of a special appendix at the end of the book.

The book has been included in the well-known series “Collection de Monographies Scientifiques Étrangères.”

I. Fedorov.