Experimental Neurochemistry

The second volume of the Handbook does not parallel any volume of the first edition; it is one more sign, or reflection, of the expansion of the field. By emphasizing the experimental approach, it illustrates the tools that have re­ cently become available for investigating the nervous system. Also, perhaps even more than other volumes, it illustrates the multidisciplinary nature of the field, requiring multidisciplinary methodology. It is now recognized that the availability of methodology is often the rate-limiting determinant of studies and that improvements or innovations in instrumentation can open up new avenues. A new improved method, although opening up new possibilities and being crucial to making advances, is only a tool whose use will determine its use­ fulness. If we do not recognize its possibilities, its use will be limited; if we do not recognize its limitations, it will mislead us. It is the possibilities and limitations and the results obtained that are illustrated here.