Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936)

This book is a collection of Pavlov’s contributions to physiology and neurology, and includes descriptions of his experiments on the digestive system. Some of the essays in this 1957 book were probably presented here in English for the first time, although there is no statement concerning the translation. Pavlov won the Nobel Prize for “Physiology or Medicine” in 1904 and his acceptance speech is one of the essays in this book. The speech is notable because in it Pavlov links fundamental principles of the physiology of digestion with his later work on conditioned response. There is also a brief autobiographical sketch, photographs of Pavlov and his home, and a concluding section, “Fragments of Statements at the Wednesday Gatherings,” which are transcripts of seminars that took place in 1934 and 1935. The seminar discussions are interesting because they reveal Pavlov’s theoretical disagreements with other notable physiologists.
There is no editorial attribution on the title page of the book, but a fifty-five page introduction by “Kh. S. Koshtoyants” summarizes the influences on Pavlov by earlier Russian physiologists and evaluates Pavlov’s impact on physiology and the importance of experimentation. The helpful endnotes, probably written by Koshtoyants, provide background, explain scientific terms, and identify other scientists mentioned in the essays.
In a very readable review of this book published in the journal, California Medicine in 1957, the reviewer Arthur Burton further explains Pavlov’s contributions in basic discoveries, surgical techniques, and the experimental method. Burton also states, “His [Pavlov’s] consistent philosophical position was that all behaviour could be explained on the basis of the soma. This led to a counterreaction and to the eventual understanding of the part emotion plays in such behaviour.”… (mehr)