Journal of Neurophysiology

THE new Journal of Neurophysiology, under the editorship of Prof. Dusser de Barenne, J. F. Fulton and R. W. Gerard, made its first appearance in January. It is designed primarily to provide a means of publishing papers dealing with the experimental analysis of the phenomena of the central and peripheral nervous system, and descriptive neuro-anatomy and pathology are intentionally excluded. The publisher, Thomas of Springfield, Illinois, intends to produce a number every other month, and the editorial board undertakes to deal with submitted papers within one or two months of receipt. This accelerated publication is certainly desirable, as the existing channels for the publication of papers in this field in the United States are overcrowded, and there is an inevitable delay. The first number, of 55 pages, contains nine papers dealing, inter alia, with cerebral action potentials, effects of experimental cerebral lesions, degeneration of nerve, and changes in the salt content of nerves as a result of the transmission of impulses. The format is pleasing, and the standard of the illustrations is high. A little more uniformity in certain details is desirable ; authors are cited in different papers either by numbers, by year or by an abbreviation of the year ; the date of receipt of papers is not always given. A more uniform lettering of the illustrations might also receive attention, and the adoption of a bold face type for the volume numbers in the lists of references would add to the ease of reading. These criticisms are, however, minor and are points which will probably be dealt with as the journal becomes more mature. The periodical certainly fills a need, and should serve, as the editors point out, actually to help to counteract undue subdivision in physiology by bringing together in one journal many divergent investigations on the nervous system.