C. J. Jung and the Humanities: Toward a Hermeneutics of Culture (Routledge, London, £25, 372 pp., 1990) is edited by Karin Barnaby and Pellegrino D'Aciernio. The book is a selection of essays and discussions from a conference in 1986 jointly sponsored by Hofstra University and the C. G. Jung Foundation of New York. Karin Barnaby has taught comparative literature at Hofstra University and is now at New York University, She has published an article on Schiller and Jung and is associate editor of Quadrant. Pellegrino D'Acierno is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of Italian studies at Hofstra University. He is the author or translator of several books on comparative literature.

Thirty alcoholic patients were investigated for evidence of impaired hepatic function and deficits in cognitive functioning, to see if there was any significant relationship between these two complications of alcoholism. Forty-seven per cent had abnormal γ-glutamyl transpeptidase levels, and 63 per cent had abnormal results on the Category test. Only one significant correlation coefficient was found, between one parameter of hepatic function and one of cognitive function. Possible explanations for this (negative) correlation are discussed, and the value of further study is suggested.

Among his various approaches to an understanding of schizophrenic inheritance, whether dominant or recessive, Rüdin (1916) also compared the respective frequencies of one-sided and two-sided familial taint. Essen-Möller (1949) tried the idea on another sample, but neither of us arrived at a definite choice. Lateron Slater (1966) surprisingly demonstrated that unilaterality is typical not only of dominant but also of polygenic transmission. In the present paper we adjust Slater's computation and, in so doing, accentuate his result. We also find a similar preponderance of unilaterality on a recessive model, and offer an explanation for this. The findings substantially reduce the efficacy of laterality of taint as an indicator of mode of inheritance.

As part of an investigation concerned with investment by both hospitals and local authorities in mental health a number of analyses were made of various published statistics relating to costs and other operating characteristics. In the particular case of spending in mental subnormality hospitals what emerges is a pattern of such surprising variability that it was felt worthwhile presenting the information. It would appear that this particular crude analysis has not been pursued previously despite the existence of the great mass of cost statistics collected, processed, published and circulated within the Health Service. As the Service spent £39·1m. on these hospitals during the fiscal year 1968–69 one might have expected this comparative cost information to have been used in any planning process, particularly when, as will be seen, the magnitude of the variability is so considerable.

Since Gregory Bateson and his co-workers presented their double-blind theory of the aetiology of schizophrenia in the 1950s, no grand comprehensive theory of the disorder has appeared. The double-blind theory was never accepted by the worldwide psychiatric community, and empirical research during the 1970s gave no support to it. In recent years, psychiatrists have focused attention on limited aspects of the illness, and mini-theories have flourished, but this tendency has been typical for the social sciences in general. Therefore, it is refreshing to have two attempts to integrate biological, psychological, and social viewpoints. But have these succeeded?