European Contributors Research Articles

Treatment of an anencephalic infant: the case of Baby K

The vexed ethical and legal questions which arise as regards the maintenance of life in an individual who is not (or who is no longer) otherwise capable of meaningful survival have been discussed primarily as regards certain patients who are terminally ill. The issue has been thrown into a new perspective by discussions as regards the fate of an anencephalic infant. The two accounts which follow of the Virginia case of "Baby K" are reproduced with permission from the Summer 1994 Newsletter of the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics. Both provide an American medico-legal view of this prominent case; in future issues of this journal, European contributors will provide their opinions.

Introduction

Abstract It is not exactly news that universities are in crisis and that intellectuals in the traditional sense are an endangered species. Earlier discussions on this subject in Telos 71 and 13 indicated the extent to which the present cultural and pedagogical paralysis in institutions of allegedly “higher learning” and the collective cretinization of those who have become its functionaries is rooted in broader social problems. Those particular discussions, however, were peculiar for a journal with Telos' eurocentric history in that they were exclusively focused on the American context — one implicitly assumed as paradigmatic for other Western societies. In this issue, the discussion is broadened by including European contributors from outside the relatively narrow Telos circle: Klaus Heinrich, Pierre Bourdieu and Claude Karnoouh.

Book reviewsThermological Methods. Ed. by EngelJ.-M., FleschU. and StüttgenG., pp. 326, 1985 (VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, Weinheim, FRG), DM 136. ISBN 3–527–15168–0 (FRG), 0–89573–410–9 (USA)

This book, by a number of distinguished European contributors, describes the scientific principles and practical methods of thermology (defined as the study of the nature and effects of thermal energy).

Understanding the Liver: A History

This short book is an in-depth history of the evolution of ideas about the liver from earlier recorded history and covers in separate sections the anatomic, physiological, and metabolic functions of the liver, diseases of the liver, and, finally, therapy for liver diseases. There are a variety of appendixes, an extensive annotated bibliography, and an index of both names and subjects. The writing is fun to follow, and, as a hepatologist, I found the account fascinating reading with sufficient material in each essay to last some 30 minutes. As in any history there are disagreements as to the correct perspective of modern events. I found the authors gave appropriate emphasis to the contributions of Hans Popper but, at the same time, ignored many other American and European contributors. I found the effort a valuable one, however. My only criticism of the book is the quality of reproduction of the photographs;

Ethnic similarity and economic status of the potential helper as determinants of helping behavior

A field experiment was conducted in an attempt to study the effects of (a) the ethnic origin of the potential helper, (b) the ethnic origin of the recipient, and (c) the economic status of the potential helper, on the extent to which help would be offered. One hundred and twenty subjects participated in the experiment. The experimenter asked each of the subjects to contribute money for a needy family. The major finding was the significant interaction between the ethnic origin of the potential helper and the ethnic origin of the recipient. The frequency of European contributors was about equal for recipients from the two ethnic groups involved, whereas the frequency of Middle-Eastern contributors was higher when the needy family was of Middle-Eastern ethnic origin than when it was of European ethnic origin.

Therapeutic Heat.

Rehabilitation medicine has, in the past fifteen years, made notable advances, mainly as a result of the increasing incidence of chronic diseases and disabilities in all age ranges. Techniques utilized in its practice have, of necessity, been largely empirically derived, but, despite this, rehabilitation is now well established as an important component of contemporary medical care. There is a great need, however, for employment of the scientific method and objective analysis for the procedures utilized in its practice. Therefore, the appearance of the second volume in the Physical Medicine Library is doubly welcome, since it undertakes a thorough analysis of probably one of the widest physical therapeutic agents used in medicine—heat. Twenty-three American and European contributors with diverse experience have created a scholarly discourse, encompassing basic physics, physiology, therapeutics, instrumentation, and clinical applications in a variety of syndromes. Each of the authors is expert, thorough, and critical and presents his

Annual Review of Physiology

THE "Annual Review of Physiology", though published in the United States, was intended to be international in authorship. It started in 1939 and during the War it had to remain, as it had begun, entirely in American hands. The present volume marks the first appearance of European contributors, who are responsible for five of the twenty-seven articles. Next year we are promised two contributions from the U.S.S.R.