Q. Ji exp. Physiol. (1971) 56, 123-125
BOOK REVIEWS
SMOOTH MUSCLE. Edited by EDITH BtLBRING, ALISON BRADING, ALLAN JONES
and TADAO TOMIrA. London: Edward Arnold, 1970. Pp. xix+676. £10.
Many different techniques have been used to study smooth muscle, the nerves to it,
and the functioning of the organs in which it occurs. This book is an attempt to pro-
vide within one volume a comprehensive review of current work and theories, so
that the workers in one speciality may become aware of what is being achieved by
different techniques from their own. The twenty chapters by different authors contain
general reviews of a particular field, and usually a more detailed account of their own
work. It is commendable that in most chapters no attempt has been made to cite
every paper of significance in the last ten years, as is too often done in reviews.
A careful selection of papers by an expert is of far more use either to a specialist in
another field, or to a student. Also, chapters not overloaded with references are more
readable and give a more easily understood general picture of the state of knowledge.
Chapter 1 therefore would be better if it contained only a tenth of its references; a
non-microscopist will not want so many references to repetitive original papers, and
smooth muscle microscopists will already be aware of most of them.
Smooth musele is one of the major tissues innervated by the autonomic nervous
system, but the diversity of its responses to nerve stimulation has in the past tended
to obscure rather than clarify the general properties of the autonomic nervous system.
However, the amount of information now obtained from smooth muscle actually
allows a clearer appreciation of the properties of the autonomic nervous system.
The chapters on smooth muscle structure, and those discussing the structure and
function of the nerves to it (chapters 1, 8, 14, 15 and 16), give an unusually compre-
hensive and clear account of current knowledge of the autonomic nervous system.
They should be studied by all teachers of physiology and by editors of physiology
textbooks; some of the chapters in general textbooks for students, on the autonomic
nervous system and organs innervated by it, are beyond belief in their antiquity and
inaccuracy. For completeness however it is a pity that more is not included here on
the biochemistry of the neurotransmitter systems.
As is appropriate in a book on the physiology and pharmacology of smooth muscle
a considerable part of it is devoted to ion movements, and the interpretation of smooth
muscle responses in electrophysiological terms. The evidence for the 'classical'
membrane theory is presented in chapter 2, this is developed and modified into a
multicompartment system in chapter 3, and in chapter 4 the evidence for the pure
'association-induction' hypothesis is discussed. When the language of these theories
has been mastered it is possible to see how close the various approaches come to
explaining smooth muscle properties. The electrical properties of two extensively
studied smooth muscle tissues, guinea-pig vas deferens and taenia coli, are discussed
in chapter 7 in terms of the cable theory. It is clear that firm conclusions about the
underlying mechanisms of the electrical phenomena of smooth muscle cannot at this
stage be drawn, but that fundamental advances in knowledge concerning excitable
tissues are likely to come from the study of smooth muscle. These reviews provide a
useful insight into the trends of current work.
VOL. Lvi, lqo. 2 -
1971 123 10
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124 Book Reviews
This book is not intended for medical students, nor is it suitable for them; however
it will appeal to many Honours students in physiology and pharmacology as it
presents within one volume a generally readable and contemporary review of various
aspects of smoothe muscle. The book is intended mainlythem. the authors' fellow
for
workers, and it should prove of great interest and value to
R. I. WOODS
A TEXTBOOK OF GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY. H. DAvSON. London: Churchill,
1970. Vol. 1. pp. xiv+1030; Vol. 2. pp. vii+1031-1694.£12.00 a set.
These two volumes are recommended as well worth the high cost. However the pub-
lishers and author are probably at risk of being sued under the Mercantile Marks Act
by an irate student who has laid out a lot of money and Claims that he has acquired
neither a textbook nor an account of general physiology. He could state that what he
has got is six highly specialized monographs on The Structural Basis ofLiving Matter,
Transformation of Energy in Living Systems, The Transport of Water and Solutes,
Characteristime of Excitable Tissue,the Mechanism litigant mightof Muwcle, he was
The of Contraction Light:
Its Effect on, and its Emision his old OrganisM. The who as a medicaladd that in 1918
by
encouraged to buy the book by uncle, a doctor student
learnt all his physiology from a book by a man caled Bayliss with the title General
Physiology. He said it wassuch a good book, because it contained not only all the
physiology thatthe medical student wanted, but relateda it to the physics, chemistry
a
and zoology of time and so presented physiology as whole. The student now has
had time to look at the index of Davson's book; he sees that it does not cover half the
subjects in Bayliss. Bayliss wrote only a little on memory and on anaphylaxis, about
which not much was known in his time. These two subjects are now of great general
interest in physiology and are not mentioned by Davson. Hlis book also lacks the
balance that one expects in a textbook. The transformation of energy and the trans-
port of water and solutes might be considered of comparable importance in physiology,
yet the latter gets seven times as much space as the former (663 pages as against
92). The huge account of transport of water and solutes is also unbalanced. It
devotes 37 pages to cerebrospinal fluid, but there is not a word on seminal plasma which
could be claimed to be equally important and interesting in a general way. The
account of iron absorption on the small intestine is trivial and overlooks the fact it is
controlled to meet needs for haemoglobin synthesis. In the preface to the 1st edition
of 1951 Davson makes some attempt to define General Physiology and clearly claims
to be a successor to Bayliss. In the preface to the second edition, he states that his
increased in
original definition is wrong. In the two subsequent editions, both greatly sympathetic
length, there is no attempt at definition. Any magistrate wouldbeen 'conned'.
surely be
to a student who bought the book and claimed that he had
Yet this is a splendid book which any student or teacher of physiology would like
to own. Within his limited fields Davson reads widely, and reads original articles
rather than reviews and symposia. He writes fluently and has a flair for what is
interesting, especially in comparative physiology. Even in difficult subjects, he is
able to show the reader the front line of research and convey both its subtleties and
excitements. The book is well illustrated with electron micrographs, line drawings
and charts that convey the problems of the relation of structure and function, the
essence of physiology. The large section on the transport of water and solutes, which
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