Book reviews

Franz von Benda‐Bepkmann. Property in social continuity: continuity and change in the maintenance of property relationships through time in Minangkabau, West Sumatra. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979. xviii, 455pp. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde, 86.)

Karl J. Pelzer. Planter and peasant: colonial policy and the Agrarian struggle in east Sumatra, 1863–1947. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978. xii, 163 pp. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde 84.)

G. W. J. Drewes (ed. and tr.). Hikajat Potjut Muhamat: an Achehnese epic. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979. 286 pp. (Bibliotheca Indonesica, 19.)

Willem Meijer. Indonesian forests and land use planning. Report on a fact‐finding tour aimed towards a co‐ordinated development of forest resources in Indonesia. Lexington, Kentucky: Thomas Hunt Morgan School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, 1975. 112 pp. $3.50, inc. postage. (Available from: University of Kentucky Book Store, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA).     

Feud and Fable: The Sherrington-Horsley Polemic and the Delayed Publication

In the February and March 1894 pages of The Lancet and in private letters, Charles Sherrington and Victor Horsley exchanged angry accusations pertaining to primacy of research on the course of the pyramidal fiber tract as determined from studies in monkeys. The polemics appear not to have ended in a manner satisfactory to either one. Moreover, the dispute allegedly led to a remarkable delay in publication of one of Sherrington’s major contributions, which pertained to the localization of the motor cortex in apes that was published in 1917. Here we examine the argument in detail including the comments of an intermediary, Professor Rubert Boyce. We also examine the evidence for the supposed delay in publication, and conclude that the account of the delay originated in John Fulton’s 1952 obituary of Sherrington, and is not true. We suggest it has become a fable that should no longer be repeated.     

IMPRESSIONS:HOW SPECIAL IS THE TIBET'S CHANGTANG?

<正>The group,numbering 30 or 35,all moved in unison,dressed in thick bluish-gray coats,they descended the steep rocky slopes.Their goal was obvious.These blue sheep were looking for water.They dropped lower.My colleague and friend,Dr.Aili Kang,and I used our binoculars for a better look.Suddenly, the animals bolted,fleeing in different directions and all moving upslope away from snowfields.We saw why.A wolf appeared,its tail hanging low and curved.We waited and watched,getting a better look.It