Language and Language Disturbances

it emphasizes the application of statistical methods to the small groups of variable data which are commonly available to the worker in biological fields. The first part of the book describes the theoretical bases of statistical interpretation , the dassic frequency distributions, and the relationships between variables. In the second part are discussed problems of sampling, estimation of parameters and their security intervals, comparisons of samples, and the analysis of variance. The presentations are concise and logical throughout, that of the analysis of variance being particularly lucid. Mathematical derivations are given in much greater detail than is common in comparable books in English, so that the reader who is able to follow them may find the development of the ideas more expl;icit. here than in the latter works. Several diagrams illustrating the properties of distributions are helpful in this connection. Although examples of the use of the theoretical material are included in all sections, the problems are relatively few, and practical details of calculations are not discussed. To English readers this work presents little not already available to them, but to biologists educated in the French tradition, it may be a valuable introduction to the newer applications of statistical methods to their field. Language and Language Disturbances joins the rapidly expanding array of books dealing with the functions of the human brain. Theoretical formulations based on the author's extensive experience with neurological disturbances of language functions are presented in this monograph. Certain of these formulations clarify aspects of this problem, others point to the difficulties which arise in any formulation made within the limits of our present and inadequate knowledge. For the student of aphasia or the student of brain function this book is challenging and stimulating. Early in the book, Dr. Goldstein draws attention to the various factors which may contribute to the production of a symptom complex. The amount of destruction of a region of cortex upon which a certain function depends results in a quantitative "dedifferentiation of function." The nature of the lesion will influence the degree of dedifferentiation since pathological processes vary in their effect on nervous tissue. Other symptoms are due to more general effects of dysfunction of the abnormal brain as a whole. Still another group of symptoms can be ascribed to the patient's attempt to overcome his deficit-the "organismic" approach. An orderly analysis of language deficits in terms of these distinctions is attempted …