Preface 



E 



rVER SINCE ITS INCEPTION the Society of General Physiologists has spon- 

 sored an annual symposium on some aspect of basic experimental physiology. 

 In keeping with the mission of the Society and the very diverse fields repre- 

 sented in its membership, the symposial topics and participants have been 

 chosen deliberately to cut across disciplinary boundaries in the hope that in- 

 formation from diverse fields will, when brought into juxtaposition, reveal un- 

 suspected correlations and suggest new lines for future investigation. Tradi- 

 tionally, also, an effort has been made to venture into little-exploited fields, 

 where the potentialities of rewarding generalizations, if less predictable than 

 in more popular and homogeneous areas, are proportionately the more stim- 

 ulating. 



The subject of the present Symposium seemed to the Council a particularly 

 happy choice, presenting on the one hand the challenge of pioneering in a field 

 both fresh and important and on the other an exceptional opportunity to include 

 contributions by colleagues versed in mammalian physiology, in connection 

 with our joint meeting of 1955 with the American Physiological Society. We 

 also felt fortunate in being able to persuade as well qualified and imaginative 

 a physiologist as Dr. Bullock to enlist the talent required for the experiment. 

 Our expectations were well rewarded by the heavy attendance and active dis- 

 cussion at the Symposium. Whether our essay has achieved a unified picture 

 of the extraordinarily all-pervading and fascinating field of discontinuous rate 

 processes, or only served to define objectives for the future, the reader must 

 judge. In either case the objectives of the Society will have been served. 



John Buck {Secretary 1953-55) 



For the Council 



Society of General Physiologists 



