This book represents a first step in the coordination of organizations devoted to the study of allergy and psychodynamics with the object of pointing out the importance of emotional factors in the routine therapy of the allergic patient by both the allergist and the general practitioner. In the author's opinion it is necessary, in order to leave the "machine age" of allergy, to effect a systematic merger between immunology and psychology in this field.
The first section of the book deals with "Psychosomatic Aspects of Hay Fever and Asthma Prior to 1900" and stresses the fact that, before the relationship of these diseases to allergy was known, psychic factors were emphasized. To the reviewer, this statement is not surprising, since even today, in practically all instances in which the cause of a disturbance of normal physiologic function is not known, many will always be found who attribute its origin to