Health Education Journal

http://hej.sagepub.com/

EXPERIMENTS IN MENTAL SUGGESTION by L. L. Vasiliev, Professor of

Physiology in the University of Leningrad. I.S.M.I. Publications, Church
Crookham, Hampshire. 1963. Price 30s
W.G. Smeaton
Health Education Journal 1964 22: 57
DOI: 10.1177/001789696402200118

The online version of this article can be found at:

http://hej.sagepub.com/content/22/1/57.3.citation

Published by:

http://www.sagepublications.com

Additional services and information for Health Education Journal can be found at:

Email Alerts: http://hej.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts

Subscriptions: http://hej.sagepub.com/subscriptions

Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav

Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

>> Version of Record - Jan 1, 1964

What is This?

Downloaded from hej.sagepub.com at St Petersburg State University on December 24, 2013

book lack any evidence of exploration in
depth of some fascinating humari
behaviour patterns. Dr. Kellner might
have achieved a greater understanding of
his material had he started by recognising
what doctors nearly always overlook-
namely, that the first approach by the
patient to the doctor is for the vast
majority of patients-including the
&dquo;frequent attenders&dquo;--a social event of
major importance. This common failure
on the part of the doctor is due not to
arrogance or lack of humility, but simply
to his familiarity with his own discipline
and his own jargon.
&dquo;Family III Health&dquo; illustrates with
subtle compulsion the gap between even .
the best of GP’s, such as Dr. Kellner
quite certainly is, and the bulk of his
patients.
D. L. KERR
PHYSICAL FITNESS, by Lindsey Batten
Teach Yourself Books. English
Universities Press Ltd., 1963.
Pp. 118. Price 6s.
Herbert Spencer, who is quoted in the
foreword to this book, once coined the
phrase ’physical morality’-man’s duty
to his own body. This excellent little
handbook will help any man, or woman,
to fulfil this duty.
Dr. Batten works systematically
through the many aspects of fitness. He
discusses what it is and what it is for.
Food, exercise, feet, natural functions
are all related to fitness and there is
special consideration of the middle and
later years, as well as the years of youth.
In summing up the author says &dquo;Physical
fitness is to be desired because life can be
fuller, pleasanter, and better balanced
with, than without it&dquo;.
There is a current ’swing’ towards
fitness; many middle aged men. are
suddenly aware that they might pass
away during a game of golf
through no other reason than lack of
physical condition. This book, at an
astonishingly low price, is an extremely
useful publication and will satisfy diverse
interests. It can be of equal value to the
teacher and the layman.
D. W. J. ANTHONY
CHANGE OF LIFE. Facts and Fallacies of
Middle Age, by Joan Malleson. A
Penguin Handbook, 1963. Pp. 96.
Price 2s. 6d.
The author dedicated her book to a
little housemaid who once ’contemplated
suicide because she had been told that
her hot flushes were a sign of a very
57
Downloaded from hej.sagepub.com at St Petersburg State University on December 24, 2013
guilty conscience. Perhaps here is the
keynote this book which sets out to
to
clear superstition from the paths of its
readers.
In her preface, Dr. Malleson stated
that the book was written mainly for the
middle-aged woman but she hoped that
husbands and other readers would be
interested; I am sure that those who read
it will find it informative, lucid, easy to
read and full of wise counsel. The chapter
on the physiology of the change of life is
suitably written for readers who have no
previous knowledge of anatomy and
physiology. There are sections of the
book devoted to dealing with the stresses
and minor physical disorders and
discomforts such as giddiness, headaches,
hot flushes, skin troubles and other
complaints which may be experienced
in varying degrees during the menopause.
Dr. Malleson’s book written with deep
insight and foresight will do a great deal
to dispel the unnecessary fears associated
with this period of life, it will encourage
those who may need medical aid to seek
it without fear and in consequence find
their future paths in life happier and
healthier.
G. STABLEFORTH
EXPERIMENTS IN MENTAL SUGGESTION
by L. L. Vasiliev, Professor of
Physiology in the University of
Leningrad. I.S.M.I. Publications,
Church Crookham, Hampshire.
1963. Price 30s.
Professor L. L. Vasiliev shows in this
book a large series of investigations
which have been conducted to demon-
strate that the phenomena of telepathy
can be taken out of the field of specula-
tion and placed on a more scientific
basis. These experiments show that
telepathic phenomena definitely occur to
such an extent as to defy aIl incredulity
and . demonstrate unequivocal results
which fall well beyond those which
would be expected by mathematical
probability alone.
The author gives an account of origins
and development of study. He reviews
certain theories, such as . the electro-
magnetic theory and explores many
fields of investigation. It is shown how
the team examines the problem from all
facets-physical, physiological, biolog-
ical and psychological. The investigations
are spread over a period of 40 years.
This book is a sincere effort to raise
telepathy out of the realms of science
fiction and gives an affirmative reply to
the question--can thought be transmitted
 from one person to another without
words or other signals? No doubt there
may be many criticisms but it is difficult
to doubt objective facts when discovered
as a result of controlled scientific experi-
ments even although certain causes may
lurk in obscurity.
W. G. SMEATON
MEMORIES, DREAMS AND REFLECTIONS,
by S. C. G. Jung. Edited by Aniela
Jaffe. Collins and
Routledge &
Kegan Paul, London, 1963. Pp. 383.
Price 45s.
A book which forces the reviewer to
read another book in order to do justice
to it is a book indeed! Jung’s autobio-
graphical reminiscences had just that
effect on the present reviewer. Here is a
completely new departure in technique.
Partly it is the now fashionable I3osweil-
ian method-the reminiscences were
collected and edited by one of Jung’s
assistants, but the strangest thing is that
the subject quite frankly confesses that
he is interested only in internal happen-
ings. Jung dismisses the outer experiences
of his life as unimportant. His dreams,
his fascination with para-psychology,
’
views on unidentified flying objects, and
his deep probing of the mythology and
thoughts of antiquity, make Jung appear
more as a mystic or philosopher than
as a physician.
This is in keeping with the general
trend in German psychiatry and it must
be remembered that Jung belonged to
that German majority of Swiss people.
It is tempting to ask whether life in
Switzerland in his youth and middle age
was conducive to introspection in a
scholar-the major upheavals of modem
Europe having passed him by, his only
contact with the first world war being
an appointment at a prisoner-of-war
camp in his neutral country.
own
Other reviewers have tended to be
shocked at Jung’s frankness about his
association with Freud. It is a strange
story and Jung does not seem to come
out of it well. Did he ever detect the
inconsistency of his rejection of Freud’s
sexual theories and his own dream of a
phallus at the age of four? Surely this
remarkabledreamshouIdsupportFreud’s
discovery of the innate sexuality of the
58
Downloaded from hej.sagepub.com at St Petersburg State University on December 24, 2013
infant. It would also be interesting to
know what Freud himself thought of the
&dquo;loud report in the bookcase&dquo; which
coincided with a &dquo;red hot sensation&dquo; in
Jung’s diaphram and which the latter
attributed to para-psychological pheno-
mena.
It is the &dquo;late thoughts&dquo; of Jung which
provide the best value in this book. Here
the psychiatrist emerges as a teacher of
great importance with a message for the
whole world, for example:
&dquo;The individual who wishes to have
an answer to the problem of evil, as it is
posed today, has need, first and fore-
most, of self knowledge ..... He must
. know relentlessly how much good he can
do, and what crimes he is capable of,
and must beware of regarding the one as
real and the other as illusion. Both are
elements within his nature, and both are
bound to come to light in him ... &dquo;
Is Jung’s life a rare example of the
generation of the theory by revelation.
It is the revelationary quality of Jung’s
thought which makes it appear strange,
even uncomfortable to the scientifically
trained reader. This reviewer had to
read E. A. Bennett’s book on Jung before
he could pen a single thought on this
massive work, to read which is psycho-
therapy in itself.
A. J. DALZELL-WARD
INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL WORKERS.
The Family Planning Association.
This is a pamphlet designed to give
social workers information on the scope
of the F.P.A’s services and how cases
may be referred to a clinic of the
Association.
A new service is the provision of
cervical smear examinations for early
non-invasive carcinoma and it is stated
that this will eventually be available in
all clinics. Copies of the pamphlet may
be obtained from Mrs. J. Shelley, P.R.O.,
88 George Street, London, W.I.
A. J. DALZELL-WARD
’
BOOKS RECEIVED
THE HOMOSEXUAL CONDITION. A Study
of Fifty Cases in Men by Ernest
White. Peter Smith Ltd., Derby, ’
1963. Pp. 41. Price 2s.