Body Mechanics in Health and Disease

679 mindful of instances where the trauma was too severe or where psychiatric disease renders therapeutic interference ineffectual. and problems of infancy and adolescence. Fully realizing the intricacy of the interrelation of personality factors and the difficulties in communicating such complexes, it is with regret, rather than with destructive criticism, that I recognize many lacunae in the authors' handling of the childhood problems, particularly those that may set the foundation for neurotic symptoms. There is a lack of correlation between the stated basic principles, etiology, symptoms, and treatment. Case histories to illustrate such relationships are, in general, absent. I fear that the authors' approach will lead the well-motivated pediatrician "to look up" this or that symptom. The scanty generalizations offered may well strengthen the "isolated-symptom" concept, rather than stimulate the physician to consider the symptom as a highly individualistic expression in response to violations of basic principles. Adequate treatment can only be instituted when symptom, person, and situation are well understood; the book does not offer enough to facilitate such understanding. The bibliography is pertinent in most instances. The sparse reference to the psychoanalytic literature is noted. This book, which is a third edition, develops in detail the relationship between the functioning skeletal system and its influences upon the function of the various organs of the body. The authors contend that faulty body mechanics with attendant body sag can cause malposition of the functioning organs of the body and thus affect their maximum efficiency. The early chapters deal with the relationships of certain pathological and physiological tendencies portrayed in three general body types, namely, the slender, the stocky, and the intermediate. The authors amplify further that various stresses and strains upon the skeleton may influence the vascular function of the organism, especially when the body mechanics are poor. The subsequent, and at times detailed, discussion of the relationship of the body mechanism to the circulatory system, the diseases of abdominal viscera, and relationships to diseases of