The authors are of the opinion that the pineal gland is not an inactive, vestigial structure but that it has functions which as yet are ill-defined. They contend that inadequate evaluation of published evidence is the reason that most investigators in this country consider the pineal gland to be functionless. The authors hope to rectify this situation by their book, which is a review of the world literature on studies of the pineal gland.
The book itself is short, containing only 280 pages, of which 164 are devoted to the bibliography. The text is divided into brief chapters dealing with a review of published data on the relationship between the pineal gland and the pituitary gland, gonads, adrenal cortex, thyroid glands, parathyroid glands, thymus, skin pigmentation, growth, development, and metabolism of various substances.
As the authors have noted, most of the published papers contain data too scanty to permit valid