adjustment to the many dramatic changes which have occurred in the last quarter century. On the whole I feel well pleased with the present status of the Society and believe that it is well prepared to cope with all the problems which may come be fore it. We should remember, however, that the Society is not an end in itself but exists only to serve the physiological sciences, and the most important way to do this is for each member to make his own contribution to his science as effective and illuminating as possible, whether it be in teaching or research. No scientific society can professionally be better than the members of which it is composed. Compared to the maintenance of this standard of excellence, all administrative disputes within the Society pale into insignificance. The important effort must be to make sure that the American Physiological Society is not outranked in high scientific quality by any other similar group. Without this high quality, the recruitment of graduate students will be a problern in spite of all the career brochures or other publicity devices that money can buy. More Nobel Prizes in Physiology offer the surest guarantee for the future of the Society and emphasis in the next quarter century should be put on activities that best serve that objective.

Celebrating the centennial of the American Physiological Society, this new book reviews the activities during the Society's first hundred years. The first section covers materials from the Society's founding in 1887 and a review of each of the first 25 year periods of the Society's existence. The second section includes a chronological account of the Presidents and the Executive Secretary-Treasurers. Also included are chapters on membership, publications, meetings, financial affairs, educational activities, organization of the Society, neurophysiology, relations with IUPS, women in physiology, use and care of laboratory animals, awards and honors, and the centennial celebration

A study of physiology in America, this places the development of American physiology in the cultural context of the period. Divided into three parts, the book covers social and institutional history; physiology in relation to other fields; and instruments, materials and techniques.

This is a motley document, the product of many, presented for what it is. Fondly conceived as another Flexner report, it lacked a Flexner to produce it. The excitement of planning by varied committees was not always maintained through execution; communication, necessarily difficult, was strained by im portant changes in operating staff; questions were forgotten by the time answers became available; too much was undertaken with inadequate experi ence and funds (large though the support seemed) ; multiple purposes and distributed responsibility caused confusion and delay; the inevitable and evi table hazards of an extended undertaking exacted their full toll. As a result, the report is seriously late in appearing, and it lacks important portions of the anticipated perspectives along time and across disciplines. But high devotion and hard labor have been poured into the mold, and the finished creation is not without merit. The Survey did pioneer in formulating a study of a profession, and its struggles have supplied both guidance and warning to many followers. It did amass great chunks of new data, collate older information, and make interpretations of the whole which have been put to use long before this report was completed. And it did catalyze much other successful activity, especially in the area of education, by the American Physiological Society and its sister organizations and by agents of other in terests, from mathematics to medical schools.

Traces historical developments in scientific conceptions of physiology, ecology, behavior, and evolutionary biology during the mid-twentieth century Life Out of Balance focuses on a period in history when new ideas of self-regulation, adaptation, and fitness became central to a variety of biological disciplines. During the decades surrounding World War II, these ideas developed in several quite different contexts and led to greater debates about the merits of such models as applied to larger systems, including society at large. Particularly in its later cybernetic form, homeostasis seemed to provide new ways of discussing balance and regulation that avoided discredited approaches of earlier champions of vitalism and mechanism. It provided a common perspective and terminology for discussing self-regulating “systems,” whether biological, mechanical, or social. Although enormously fruitful and influential, homeostatic perspectives also generated numerous controversies when critics questioned the degree to which biological systems are characterized by balance and self-regulation. Resolving these controversies continues to be a challenge in modern biology. If natural selection constitutes the first law of biology, scientists who champion homeostasis as a theoretical model claim that it is a second law, equally important and closely related to the first. Such claims notwithstanding, homeostasis has generated a series of controversies since it was formalized by Walter Cannon in the late 1920s. Critics contended that Cannon took a too-optimistic view of life, not only ignoring pathological deviations from normality but also failing to adequately explain the ability of living things to respond adaptively to environmental challenges. Underlying these controversies was the unresolved problem of integrating physiology and other areas of functional biology with the emerging evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics and Darwinian natural selection. The physiological idea of homeostasis as the adaptive “fit” between the organism and its environment and the Darwinian idea of adaptation and fitness in terms of reproductive success might seem to be complementary in an unproblematic way, but historically they have had an uneasy relationship.

Voluntary associations have been ubiquitous in our society for hundreds of years. Efforts to develop a classification scheme have often overlooked one important segment: membership-based organizations (MBOs). MBOs are created voluntarily by a group of like-minded individuals who seek to advance their interests by organizing to promote and protect a specific domain. A number have earned the reputation for operating as “special interests.” To accept that notion would not be telling the full story and would overlook the many contributions they have made. A central thesis of Special Interest Society:How Membership-based Organizations Shape America is that no modern democratic society can function without them. With a focus on how they emerge and the steps they take to advance their mutual interests, the book also provides a sober account of how MBOs can be slow to accept important and necessary changes. It also reveals the less flattering role they have played in denying access or limiting acceptance to eligible individuals based on their race, gender, ethnicity, and more. In Special Interest Society, James R. Hudson analyzes over 400 published histories of MBOs to report on their emergence, growth, and development. Many provide essential services within our society of which we are unaware that we have come to rely upon. Employing several sociological theories, he explains why their actions have enabled these organizations to thrive in a democratic society as well as affect significant social change. Throughout, he demonstrates how open and democratic societies provide a fertile ground for their continued emergence. He explains why their numbers have increased over the last two hundred years as occupations and personal interests have become more specialized and complex. Written for students and scholars working in sociology, public policy, business, community development, and nonprofit management, as well as association professionals and their staff, this book provides an unparalleled insight into the history, purpose, and challenges of associations in America.

Reproductive issues from sex and contraception to abortion and cloning have been controversial for centuries, and scientists who attempted to turn the study of reproduction into a discipline faced an uphill struggle. Adele Clarke's engrossing story of the search for reproductive knowledge across the twentieth century is colorful and fraught with conflict. Modern scientific study of reproduction, human and animal, began in the United States in an overlapping triad of fields: biology, medicine, and agriculture. Clarke traces the complicated paths through which physiological approaches to reproduction led to endocrinological approaches, creating along the way new technoscientific products from contraceptives to hormone therapies to new modes of assisted conception—for both humans and animals. She focuses on the changing relations and often uneasy collaborations among scientists and the key social worlds most interested in their work—major philanthropists and a wide array of feminist and medical birth control and eugenics advocates—and recounts vividly how the reproductive sciences slowly acquired standing. By the 1960s, reproduction was disciplined, and the young and contested scientific enterprise proved remarkably successful at attracting private funding and support. But the controversies continue as women—the targeted consumers—create their own reproductive agendas around the world. Elucidating the deep cultural tensions that have permeated reproductive topics historically and in the present, Disciplining Reproduction gets to the heart of the twentieth century's drive to rationalize reproduction, human and nonhuman, in order to control life itself. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1998.

"Provides an in-depth review of current print and electronic tools for research in numerous disciplines of biology, including dictionaries and encyclopedias, method guides, handbooks, on-line directories, and periodicals. Directs readers to an associated Web page that maintains the URLs and annotations of all major Inernet resources discussed in th