PREFACE 



This book is the result of the International Symposium on Nervous Inhibition 

 that was held at the Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washing- 

 ton from 31 May to 4 June 1960. The published papers are not necessarily 

 identical with the talks as they were given at the Symposium; several of tiiem 

 have been worked over and some of them were expanded. It is hoped that the 

 book represents and reviews present knowledge of the so varied phenomena 

 of nervous inhibition. It was the idea behind the whole Symposium to give 

 recognition to the fact that states of inhibition or of temporary inexcitability 

 produced by nerve cells are as important for the co-ordinated and co-ordinat- 

 ing function of the nervous system as are the excitatory states of central or 

 peripheral neurons and of effector cells. Furthermore, it was the aim of the 

 Symposium to permit an interchange of ideas between neurophysiologists 

 primarily concerned with vertebrates, and those more interested in inverte- 

 brates, in order to stimulate and encourage the mutual interest in the universal 

 phenomena of nervous inhibition and in order to create a greater awareness 

 of the range of phenomena of nervous inhibition. The list of participants 

 represents many diverse fields of physiology and the topics were chosen to 

 cover as many diverse kinds of inhibition as possible. 



The International Symposium was sponsored by the Division of Regulatory 

 Biology of the National Science Foundation. The encouragement and finan- 

 cial support received from this organization is gratefully acknowledged. It 

 made possible the participation of experts from Australia, France, Great 

 Britain, Japan, Hungary and Canada, in addition to those coming from 

 various institutions of the United States. The pubfication of the Symposium 

 Volume is also subsidized by the National Science Foundation. 



Early in the planning of the symposium, the Director of the Friday Harbor 

 Laboratories, Dr. R. L. Fernald, established an ad hoc committee consisting 

 of A. W. Martin, A. H. Whiteley, with myself as chairman. This committee 

 was responsible for the planning of the meeting and the administration of 

 funds. Dr. Fernald deserves credit for making it possible to accommodate 

 all participants and a number of interested colleagues and graduate students 

 from the University of Washington at the Friday Harbor Campus and to 

 make all facilities of the Laboratories available to the guests. Already in the 

 early stages of planning, it was agreed that if the Symposium had to be held 

 within the limits of a small group of participants, we all should make at least 

 that part of our contribution to the meeting which consisted in our formal 

 presentation available to the larger scientific community and to those who 



