The Soul of the World is based on the Stanton Lectures delivered by Roger Scruton at the University of Cambridge. Much of the book draws upon and elaborates themes developed previously by the author, but in a tone that is “more conversational than scholarly” (vii). This revisiting of familiar themes, however, does not result in a series of rehashed essays carelessly strung together, nor does its tone convey a lack of intellectual rigor. This is not a philosophy-lite text but a carefully crafted and elegant meditation on the prospect of religious belief in the frequently hostile milieu of late modernity.

The purpose of this essay is to gain some clarity on a theological understanding of adoption as a witness to Christian faith. Contrary to contemporary portrayals of adoption as a reproduction option, the principal thesis of this essay is that adoption is rooted in charity. Adoption signifies a loving act of providing familial care and belonging for a child who would otherwise have none. In developing this thesis, baptism and foster care are examined in regard to Christian claims about the nature of the parent–child relationship. It is argued that since children do not belong to their parents, but are entrusted to their care by God, parental authority is therefore limited. Consequently, the parent–child relationship is embedded within a larger community of faith in which a child is affirmed as both gift and sign of hope.

A longitudinal study of early emotional development is in progress in Sydney, and preliminary results from the first three years of the study are reported. Antenatal assessment of parental personality, interpersonal relationships, and parental expectations identified different habitual ways of managing negative affect. Thus far, postnatal assessment of a subsample of the infants has differentiated emotion regulation at 4 months and empathy and mother-infant attachment quality at 12 months. Coping styles to manage emotionallly distressing or challenging situations showed individual differerences. Some 4-month-old infants used an immature strategy to cope with the stress of a non-responsive mother in the Still-Face Procedure, withdrawing and engaging in arousal-containing behaviours. At 12 months of age, these infants also tended to respond with immature personal distress reactions to a videotape of a distressed peer and to demonstrate insecure attachment. Assessment of coping behaviour at 30 months in a semistructured play situation aims to determine whether earlier continuity of withdrawal and emotionall containment versus engagement and emotional coping is maintained.

Marker loci in 113 members of nine unrelated multiplex families identified by a bipolar proband were tested for linkages with primary affective disorder. Linkage was excluded between the disease locus (assuming that it was a single autosomal dominant gene) and the HLA loci at a recombination fraction of 0.2, the ABO, Rh, and Lu loci at almost 0.05 and the Fy and P loci at 0.001.

This study compares the incidence of a variety of cutaneous conditions among 91 patients treated with lithium carbonate with the incidence of such conditions among 44 patients treated with other non-neuroleptic, maintenance medications. Data on cutaneous conditions and allergies were obtained using structured interviews, demographic data, medication histories and personal and family histories.

A significantly greater proportion of the lithium-treated patients than the comparison patients reported a cutaneous condition which may have been secondary to treatment in that it developed for the first time after the medication or appeared to have been exacerbated by the medication. Among the lithium-treated patients, females were found to be significantly more likely to report a secondary cutaneous condition. This effect was found across the whole range of cutaneous conditions. Male lithium-treated patients on the other hand reported approximately the same rate of secondary cutaneous conditions as both male and female comparison patients. Possible reasons for this sexual effect on incidence are discussed.

The literature on cutaneous conditions which have been associated with lithium therapy is also reviewed.

An educational history, corroborated by records where available, was obtained on 54 of the 58 adult offspring of 17 bipolar manic-depressives. The offspring were also interviewed and psychiatric status was ascertained.

Primary and other affective disorder in the offspring was not associated with a lower IQ or lower ultimate educational attainment than that of the remaining offspring. There was a trend towards increased educational failure in the offspring with primary affective disorder, but they were as likely as other offspring who had failed to have resumed their education at a later date. Ill offspring with any form of school failure had a significantly earlier onset to their psychiatric illness, although school failure could not be shown to be a part of an early symptom complex.