The hour of eugenics: race, gender, and nation in Latin America

Abstract

ReviewsGerlach, who believed in a fusion among dendrites.Others, like Golgi, believed that the basic reticulum was made up of axon collaterals.According to Golgi, the nerve cell itself, like its dendrites, was not an essential element in neuronal organization, they had solely nutritive functions.The book is of interest and importance for anyone interested in the history of the nervous system.At only a few points the text might tax the understanding of the non-neuroscientist.For example the discussion of gap junctions towards the end of the book would be difficult for someone without some relevant background in anatomy or physiology.Shepherd's text emphasizes one of the pleasures of study of the nervous system; its international character.In addition to the Germans, Austrians, and Swiss, the Czech, Purkyne, the Italian, Golgi, and above all the brilliant Spanish histologist Santiago Ram6n y Cajal contributed to this great series of discoveries upon which the neuron doctrine is based.The book is essential for every library which covers the history of biology or medicine, and a pleasure for those of us interested in the nervous system.