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Sleep as a biologic and physiologic phenomenon has attracted much interest among investigators in the last decade. The monograph under review is a complete presentation of the views on sleep of the Viennese school. The editor, Dr. Sarason, in a brief introductory article, gives the general biophilosophic premises to the problem and points out the practical value of better knowledge of this important function from a clinical and especially from a therapeutic standpoint. The monograph is arranged in three parts: Biology and the Clinical Aspect of Sleep; Pharmacology of Sleep-Inducing Drugs, and the Hydrotherapeutic Treatment of Sleeplessness. In the first article on sleep as a problem of biodynamics, O. Pötzl considers sleep as a general biologic phenomenon and discusses the correlatives of this phenomenon in the physiology of protozoa, plants and lower and higher animals. The alternation between the anabolic and catabolic processes in the protoplasm is the foundation of