My brother God A series of editorials on the theme of our annual December festival raises interesting questions. Can we, for instance. even call the season Christmas when, of the three contributors, one is Jewish and another agnostic? But we have to have a name for it... Then there is the problem of definition. A certain professor of psychology once risked the stability of his mind by exposing it to my inability to learn. He recovered, and it will surprise him greatly to know that enough of what he said remains to provide this paraphrase: Christmas has no meaning for people; people have meanings for Christmas. To many of us in this 1st week of December the season of laughter and joy and peace means miserable afternoons spent slogging round shopping centres. We jostle suburban housewives (God! They do this for fun?) as we look vaguely for presents that we don't especially want to buy for people who don't especially want to receive them, and we can be reasonably certain that the gifts will be something other than those the recipients would have bought for themselves. So one meaning of Christmas is 6 weeks of frustration capped by a day of disillusionment. If there really is to be a Second Coming, Christ will make points with me by appearing on a warm day in July with a promise to start by abolishing birthdays, His and mine in particular. None the less, in a commercial sense it cannot be denied that Christmas exists. Scientifically, Christmas is considered more dubious. A widely held belief in psychology is that God is a created surrogate father. Thus, to take Wordsworth ("the child is father of the man") one step further, Christ is the son, not of God, but of man. God is my brother, according to much scientific opinion. It has been noted that many men of science do not believe in God, to which Jung has replied (as reported earlier this year in the Journal - 115: 352, 1976), "Maybe, but that doesn't harm God." Nevertheless, science (the root meaning of which, remember, is knowledge) is being perceived as antimystic. The human race has been on this earth for thousands of years and for most of them religious leaders have been preaching the virtues of charity. But charity has failed to solve the problems of war, disease, hunger and ignorance. Only in the last few decades has there been a conscious effort to abolish the ravages of the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse. In the process charity has become obsolete (at least the individual, voluntary, soul-saving variety), and the meek, by becoming militant, are inheriting the earth's riches - a fairer share of them, anyway. It is not coincidence that ours is the first generation to turn away consciously from mysticism. But there remain many men of science who do believe in God, and this is by no means inconsistent. We cannot deny that which we do not know. We cannot tell how many forms of energy, cognitive or otherwise, await discovery. Christmas may mean a commercial binge, a re-examination of our consciences or a rededication to the caring principles of humanity. Perhaps to the scientist it should mean a reassessment of the value of Aristotelian philosophy, the logical base on which the theologies of Christianity have been erected, and a recognition that the Baconian principles on which scientific knowledge is erected are not the only way to truth. Has there not been too great a schism between these methodologies? A schism that has forced its way into academe, with the result that the ability to study and reason from first principles is lost to many members of the scientific community? This divergence has been chronicled, notably by Maritain and, more popularly, by C.P. Snow, who is both a scientist and a literary artist of skill. We hear much of the loss of the "art" of medicine, and there are those of our readers who feel sufficiently guilty about this that they paint pictures or read "long-hair" magazines to convince themselves that they still have links with the other side of the great schism. A rather pretentious American magazine devoted to the arts, sent to physicians, enjoys considerable prestige and advertising support, although our surveys indicate it remains on physicians' coffee tables, largely unread by them. Medicine has abandoned its classic traditions of teaching in favour of cramming students with scientific facts. And this development is being challenged from the viewpoint that people trained to be mechanical, to operate as human computers, will combine the fallibilities of both humans and computers. It has been suggested that in the next generation of men (which may coincide with the umpteenth generation of computers) a person with 18 months of training and a programed computer will together be able to provide as good medical care as do our present medical
graduates. The person will be able to provide the humanity and the computer the science. And so, as the computerized cash registers ring up the anthems and carols of this 20th-century festival, and the bishops in their great cathedrals ready, their robes and mitres, let us consider the fundamentals. Let us recognize the mental process that, from established truth, can progress through reason to new insights. This is the art of all science, and if medicine does not regain it, medicine will be the poorer. People have meanings for Christmas, and that is mine. JIM GARNER
BOOKS This list is an acknowledgement of books received. It does not preclude review at a later date. THE CELL IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. Vol. 3. Cellular Specialization (continued). Edited by F. Beck and J.B. Lloyd. 441 pp. lIlust. Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd.. London; Academic Press Inc., New York, 1975. $29.25 THE CELL IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. Vol. 4. Cel. lular Control Mechanisms. Cellular Responses to Environment. Edited by F. Beck and J.B. Lloyd. 429 pp. lIlust. Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd., London; Academic Press Inc., New York, 1976. 829.75 CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY OF SEROTONIN. Vol. 3 of Monographs in Neural Sciences. Edited by F. Sicuteri, F. and E. Schonbaum. 139 pp. Illust. S. Karger AG. Basel. 1976. $24.75, paperbound CURRENT CONTROVERSIES IN NEUROSURGERY. Edited by T.P. Morley. 853 pp. lIlust. W.B. Saunders Company. Philadelphia; W.B. Saunders Company Canada Limited, Toronto. 1976. $38.65 DISORDERS OF CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM IN INFANCY. 2nd ed. Vol. III of Major Problems in Clinical Pediatrics. Marvin Cornblath and Robert Schwartz. 501 pp. Iliust. W.B. Saunders company, Philadelphia; W.B. Saunders Company Canada Limited, Toronto, 1976. $21.65 NEW HEALTH PRACTITIONERS. Edited by R.L. Kane. 156 pp. US Department of Health, Education and welfare, Bethesda, 1975 NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND ULTRASOUND. A Sem. mars in Nuclear Medicine Reprint, October 1975. Edited by Leonard M. Freeman and M. Donald Blaufox. 169 pp. Illust. Grune & Stratton, Inc., New York; Longman Canada Limited, Toronto, 1976. 815.50 PETTICOAT MEDIC IN VIETNAM. Adventures of a Woman Doctor. Diane L. Tremblay. 275 pp. Illust. Vantage Press. Inc., New York, 1976. $6.95 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CORONARY HEART DISEASE. Vol. 18 of Advances In Cardiology. Edited by Vesa Manninen and Pentiti I. Halonen. 270 pp. lIlust. S. Karger AG, Basel, 1976. $46.25 PRACTICAL RADIOIMMUNOASSAY. A.J. Moss, G.V. Dairymple and C.M. Boyd. 158 pp. IlIust. The C.V. Mosby Company, St. Louis, 1976. $12.55
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Apocalypse. In the process charity has become obsolete (at least the individual, voluntary, soul-saving variety), and the meek, by becoming militant, are inheriting the earth's riches - a fairer share of them, anyway. It is not coincidence that ours is the first generation to turn away consciously from mysticism. But there remain many men of science who do believe in God, and this is by no means inconsistent. We cannot deny that which we do not know. We cannot tell how many forms of energy, cognitive or otherwise, await discovery. Christmas may mean a commercial binge, a re-examination of our consciences or a rededication to the caring principles of humanity. Perhaps to the scientist it should mean a reassessment of the value of Aristotelian philosophy, the logical base on which the theologies of Christianity have been erected, and a recognition that the Baconian principles on which scientific knowledge is erected are not the only way to truth. Has there not been too great a schism between these methodologies? A schism that has forced its way into academe, with the result that the ability to study and reason from first principles is lost to many members of the scientific community? This divergence has been chronicled, notably by Maritain and, more popularly, by C.P. Snow, who is both a scientist and a literary artist of skill. We hear much of the loss of the "art" of medicine, and there are those of our readers who feel sufficiently guilty about this that they paint pictures or read "long-hair" magazines to convince themselves that they still have links with the other side of the great schism. A rather pretentious American magazine devoted to the arts, sent to physicians, enjoys considerable prestige and advertising support, although our surveys indicate it remains on physicians' coffee tables, largely unread by them. Medicine has abandoned its classic traditions of teaching in favour of cramming students with scientific facts. And this development is being challenged from the viewpoint that people trained to be mechanical, to operate as human computers, will combine the fallibilities of both humans and computers. It has been suggested that in the next generation of men (which may coincide with the umpteenth generation of computers) a person with 18 months of training and a programed computer will together be able to provide as good medical care as do our present medical
graduates. The person will be able to provide the humanity and the computer the science. And so, as the computerized cash registers ring up the anthems and carols of this 20th-century festival, and the bishops in their great cathedrals ready, their robes and mitres, let us consider the fundamentals. Let us recognize the mental process that, from established truth, can progress through reason to new insights. This is the art of all science, and if medicine does not regain it, medicine will be the poorer. People have meanings for Christmas, and that is mine. JIM GARNER
BOOKS This list is an acknowledgement of books received. It does not preclude review at a later date. THE CELL IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. Vol. 3. Cellular Specialization (continued). Edited by F. Beck and J.B. Lloyd. 441 pp. lIlust. Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd.. London; Academic Press Inc., New York, 1975. $29.25 THE CELL IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. Vol. 4. Cel. lular Control Mechanisms. Cellular Responses to Environment. Edited by F. Beck and J.B. Lloyd. 429 pp. lIlust. Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd., London; Academic Press Inc., New York, 1976. 829.75 CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY OF SEROTONIN. Vol. 3 of Monographs in Neural Sciences. Edited by F. Sicuteri, F. and E. Schonbaum. 139 pp. Illust. S. Karger AG. Basel. 1976. $24.75, paperbound CURRENT CONTROVERSIES IN NEUROSURGERY. Edited by T.P. Morley. 853 pp. lIlust. W.B. Saunders Company. Philadelphia; W.B. Saunders Company Canada Limited, Toronto. 1976. $38.65 DISORDERS OF CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM IN INFANCY. 2nd ed. Vol. III of Major Problems in Clinical Pediatrics. Marvin Cornblath and Robert Schwartz. 501 pp. Iliust. W.B. Saunders company, Philadelphia; W.B. Saunders Company Canada Limited, Toronto, 1976. $21.65 NEW HEALTH PRACTITIONERS. Edited by R.L. Kane. 156 pp. US Department of Health, Education and welfare, Bethesda, 1975 NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND ULTRASOUND. A Sem. mars in Nuclear Medicine Reprint, October 1975. Edited by Leonard M. Freeman and M. Donald Blaufox. 169 pp. Illust. Grune & Stratton, Inc., New York; Longman Canada Limited, Toronto, 1976. 815.50 PETTICOAT MEDIC IN VIETNAM. Adventures of a Woman Doctor. Diane L. Tremblay. 275 pp. Illust. Vantage Press. Inc., New York, 1976. $6.95 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CORONARY HEART DISEASE. Vol. 18 of Advances In Cardiology. Edited by Vesa Manninen and Pentiti I. Halonen. 270 pp. lIlust. S. Karger AG, Basel, 1976. $46.25 PRACTICAL RADIOIMMUNOASSAY. A.J. Moss, G.V. Dairymple and C.M. Boyd. 158 pp. IlIust. The C.V. Mosby Company, St. Louis, 1976. $12.55
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