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BOOK REVIEWS
" DR. M. V. GOVINDASWAMY
LECTURES and WRITINGS "
Edited by : S. K. Rzmacliandra Rao,
Published by : Mrs Uma Govindaswamy,
No. 30, ' Ud'aya Bhavan ' Shankar Mutt
Road, Bangalore-4., Pages 247 ; Lib.
Edition Rs. 15/- Ordinary Rs. 10/-.
In the history of the Indian Psychiatry,
the place of Dr- M. V. Govindaswamy is
secure and will be remembered as the
founder of t h e All India Institute of Mental
Health at Bangalore. The young generation
of the psychiatrists of the seventies may
not be aware of the multif aceted and multi-
coloured personality of this great man,
who was a brilliant teacher, who can hold
on audience comprising of Doctors and
Psychiatrists spell bound either in the lec-
t u r e halls of the Institute or a well inform-
ed lay audience in The Indian Institute
of World Culture at Basavangudi. H e was
a great clinician who recognized the value
of the basic sciences as psychology, neuro-
physiology, genetics etc. and an outstand-
ing scholar both in the Western and the
Indian literature. Some of these aspects
are illuminated by the valuable w o r k in
which Mr. S. K. Ramachandra Rao,
formerly of the Department of Psychology
of the Institute and a close associate of
Dr. Govindaswamy has collected some of
his work and edited with considerable
skill. The book is published by the devoted
wife of Dr. Govindaswamy. Maj. Gen.
Bhatia has given an appreciative fore-
ward.
The lectures pertaining to child psy-
chology and psychiatry form t h e major
portion of t h e book, and the ideas found
a r e useful not only to the professional
people but also to parents. The reviewer
could remember many of the thoughts
which formed the basis of the lectures on
child psychiatry given to the students of
the Institute. There are thought provok-
ing articles entitled " Socio-Psychological
Problems '' viewed against the background
of Indian culture-patterns and "Literature-
Life and Psychology ", their inter-relations,
in the collections about Indian literature.
O t h e r articles a r e Psychomotor epilepsy,
Circulatory factor in mental and nervous
disorders, and t h e need for research in
systems of Indian Philosophy and A y u r -
veda.
The book will be of personal interest
to t h e Indian Psychiatrist and to t h e Post-
Graduate students of clinical psychology
and psychiatry throughout the country.
The book has a good ' g e t - u p ' and is
moderately priced. It is strongly recom-
mended not only for medical libraries b u t
also for personal collections. W e look
forward towards more volumes from t h e
Editor.
O. Somasundarara
CURRENT CONTENTS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Vol. I, No. 1 — Monthly Journal, launched
by Indian Documentation Service,
Gurgaon, Haryana. Annual Subscrip-
tion, Rs. 36/-.
This new publication purports to pro-
vide a bibliographical tool for informing
about what is being currently published
in India in Scientific & Technological
Journals.
Although t h e journal promises " even-
tually to survey nearly all the eight h u n d -
red Indian scientific, technical and medical
journals", at present it has presented at
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i6*
be.-t an unrepresentative sample of these
journals. From the medical field, for
example, the journal has included t h e
Punjab Medical Journal and Maharashtra
Medical Journal, but left out the Journal
cf Indian Medical Association and the
Indian journal of Medical Research. In-
clusion of obscure and unimportant jour-
nals while ignoring the most outstandingly
important ones is a serious flaw in a biblio-
graphical tool of this kind.
While the journal is going to be pub-
lished quarterly, the contents of monthly
journals it has chosen to present have
been produced in respect of one month
only. How at this rate the journal can
provide full coverage to these journals is
not understood. If it does not envisage
full coverage, what would its utility be ?
As at present, it is an amateurish at-
tempt ; but if its drawbacks are taken
care of, it has the promise of becoming a
useful bibliographical tool.
J. S. Neki
ARCHIVES OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
Vol. I Nos. 1 & 2 J u n e and December 1970
Editor G. K. Vishwakarma,
Published by Goa Medical College,
Pages 145, Price not mentioned.
The history of medical journalism in
India is rather a sad one. The announce-
Book Reviews
ment of a new journal is made regularly
almost every year but alas, there are very
few which are published beyond 3 - 4
years. Initial enthusiasm soon give way
to frustration with mounting financial,
administrative and editorial bottlenecks.
Barring one or two journals, in the whole
country, there is none which commands
respect in the international medical world.
With this background, the above
journal will be received with mixed feel-
ings. It is no doubt a bold venture ; over
29 scientific articles well printed on
glossy art paper, w i t h goodwill messages
from everybody who matters (or does not
m a t t e r ) . The editorial is particularly
pleasing, having something for everyone.
The choice of articles is wide and varied
though all of them are not of the same
standard.
It is not clear what is the aim of this
new journal. Is it to represent the original
work of the faculty of Goa Medical Col-
lege or is it for the whole country ? It
does not seem to be meant for students or
G. Ps. and unfortunately specialists by and
large like to confine themselves to their
own speciality journals. Meanwhile at
this stage all one can do is to wish good
luck to the publishers and hope that the
delay resulting in printing first 2 issues
together is not indicative of shape of things
to come !
N. N. Wig