Because of the proximity of the International Conference on Lattice Dynamics in Copenhagen from August 5 to 9, Symposium III of the Rome meeting in September was designed, not as an opportunity for presentation of the latest results in the field of lattice dynamics, but rather as an elementary course to give the average crystallographer an understanding of the types of problems which have been solved and those being studied now, the techniques which have been used and those showing the greatest promise at present. The speakers could hardly have been better chosen for this task, and there was, as a result, general agreement on the great success of the symposium