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Advances in biological and medical physics. Vol. V
BOOK
discussed, along with methods of synthesis. Useful additions the general one.
477
REVIEWS
of isolation, elucidation of structure, include a zoological and a botanical MARJORIE
ANCHEL, New York,
and methods index besides New York
Annual Review of Plant Physiology. Vol. 9. A. S. CRAFTS, LEONARD MACHLIS AND JOHN TORREY, Editors. Annual Reviews, Inc., Palo Alto, California, 1958. vi + 510 pp. Price $7.00. The important questions of plant physiology are now being asked, and in part answered, in molecular terms. Of the 15 review articles in the present ninth volume of Annual Review of Plant Physiology, eight are biochemical or biophysical papers. I feel that the Editors of this Annd Review have very wisely chosen to maintain in this manner their tradition of scientific catholicity. Surely, physiology has gone far toward completing its primary task of discovering and describing organ function, and now has before it a new task-that of explaining function in the most fundamental manner possible, in terms of physics and chemistry. On this frontier of biology there is certainly no substantial difference between the objectives of physiology, biophysics, and biochemistry, the last of which has virtually completed its task of mapping the metabolic network and is turning toward an essentially physiological problem. This problem is the chemical reconstruction of cell and organ function. The articles which comprise this volume of the dnnual Review are of a high technical standard. All are organized as useful creative syntheses in their fields. They are not mere encyclopedic coverages of literature. The subjects of the papers, and their authors, are the following: “The Quantum Yield of Photosynthesis,” by R. Emerson; “Physiology of Salt Tolerance,” by L. Bernst,ein and H. E. Hayward; “The Naturally Occurring Auxins and Inhibitors,” by J. A. Bentley; “Destruction of Ausin,” by P. M. Ray; “Metabolism of Ascorbic Acid in Plants: Part I. Function,” by L. W. Mapson; “Physiology of the Tobacco Plant,” by R. A. Steinberg and T. C. Tso; “Mineral Nutrition of Tree Crops,” by W. Reuther, T. W. Embleton, and W. W. Jones; “Physiology of the Fresh-Water Algae,” by R. W. Krauss; “The Metahby E. W. Bemm and B. F. Folkes; olism of Amino Acids and Proteins in Plants,” “Ausin Uses in the Control of Flowering and Fruiting,” by A. C. Leopold; “Herbicides,” by E. K. Woodford, Ii. Holly, and C. C. McCready; “Morphogenesis in Lower Plants,” by L. F. Jaffe; “Postharvest Physiology of Fruits,” by R. Ulrich; by L. Bogorad; and “Cytochromes in Plants,” by“The Biogenesis of Flavanoids,” L. Smith and B. Chance. H. S. MASON, Cambridge,
England
Advances in Biological and Medical Physics. Vol. V. Edited by JOHN H. LAWRENCE and CORNELIUS A. TOBIAS. Academic Press Inc., New York, N. Y., 1957. 487 pp. Price $12.00. The subject of biophysics has emerged rather rapidly in the last 18 months as a definite branch of scientific effort. The formation of the new Biophysics1 Society and the rate of increase in the formation of Biophysics Departments in institutions all over America have taken place so rapidly that it is almost difficult to believe that ten years ago we were debating whether biophysics was a subject or not. Among the very important formative agencies which have helped the subject of
478
BOOK
REVIE\VS
biophysics to get on its feet is a series of review articles of which this volume is the fifth. It marks quite a definite step forward in the content and interest of its subject matter. There are, all told, 11 articles ranging over a very wide field of biophysics and including physics of medical interest. .4mong these are articles on nuclear and electron paramagnetic resonance b> Power Sogo and Bert Tolbert. The nature of the experimental work which can be conducted under this heading is clearly outlined, and a very compact and useful article xvhich enables a biophysicist to begin thinking about this as a tool in his research is here available. The subject of action spectroscopy has not had a spokesman since the death of John Loofbourow. It is very cheering to find an article by Richard Setlow which carries the material forward from the stage in which it was left some ten years ago by Loofbouron and presents it in a succinct and informative way, including a great deal of new material as well as :I review. Very interesting studies, of a quantitative kind, on the genetics of somatic cells which have been carried out, by Theodore Purk are given a brief but very cffect,ive description. The outstanding work of Raymond Zirkle on partial cell irradiation, which has been the subject of considerable interest for the last two or three years, is again briefly reviewed by Zirkle himself, and the whole story is presented in a most lucid and readable fashion. Some of the contemporary work on the electrical properties of tissues and cells which has not been generally available in the biophysics1 literature since the early work of Fricke and of Cole and Curtis, is reviewed by Herman Schwan. The degree of sophistication which this subject has reached is indeed surprising. The complete, modern way of studying such cells and the future possibilities for research are delineated quite clearly. The review is thorough, if perhaps slanted a little to t,hc engineering approach. The quantum effects in vision are reviewed by Albert Rose, and a brief article on television techniques in biology and medicine brings out the by V. K. Zworykin possible applications of this modern extension of microscopy in a very interest,ing way. More specialized and medically oriented articles such as those by William Bale and Irving Spar on the use of antibodies to get radioactivity to needed locations for therapeutic purposes, the nature of cholesterol metabolism in atherosclerosis hy Max Isriggs, and a quite interesting review of low level counting by 15. C. iinderson and W. F. Libby are included in this collection of papers. One of the more controversial subjects today, the question of t,he radioactivit, of the human body, is thoroughly reviewed by two British experts in the field, F. W. Spiers :tnd 1’. It. J. Burch. Their article deals not only with historical material, hut also with terhniques of measurement ant1 dosages to hody tissues from natural radioactivity. The over-all result of collecting these 11 up-to-date biophysical essays, every one of which illuminates the subject under consideration, has been to make Vol. V of .!doanccs in. Riological and JIedical Physics one of the most valuable in the series and a reference which any biophysicist will find most useful in his library. l3. C. POLLARD, New Haven, Connecticut
discussed, along with methods of synthesis. Useful additions the general one.
477
REVIEWS
of isolation, elucidation of structure, include a zoological and a botanical MARJORIE
ANCHEL, New York,
and methods index besides New York
Annual Review of Plant Physiology. Vol. 9. A. S. CRAFTS, LEONARD MACHLIS AND JOHN TORREY, Editors. Annual Reviews, Inc., Palo Alto, California, 1958. vi + 510 pp. Price $7.00. The important questions of plant physiology are now being asked, and in part answered, in molecular terms. Of the 15 review articles in the present ninth volume of Annual Review of Plant Physiology, eight are biochemical or biophysical papers. I feel that the Editors of this Annd Review have very wisely chosen to maintain in this manner their tradition of scientific catholicity. Surely, physiology has gone far toward completing its primary task of discovering and describing organ function, and now has before it a new task-that of explaining function in the most fundamental manner possible, in terms of physics and chemistry. On this frontier of biology there is certainly no substantial difference between the objectives of physiology, biophysics, and biochemistry, the last of which has virtually completed its task of mapping the metabolic network and is turning toward an essentially physiological problem. This problem is the chemical reconstruction of cell and organ function. The articles which comprise this volume of the dnnual Review are of a high technical standard. All are organized as useful creative syntheses in their fields. They are not mere encyclopedic coverages of literature. The subjects of the papers, and their authors, are the following: “The Quantum Yield of Photosynthesis,” by R. Emerson; “Physiology of Salt Tolerance,” by L. Bernst,ein and H. E. Hayward; “The Naturally Occurring Auxins and Inhibitors,” by J. A. Bentley; “Destruction of Ausin,” by P. M. Ray; “Metabolism of Ascorbic Acid in Plants: Part I. Function,” by L. W. Mapson; “Physiology of the Tobacco Plant,” by R. A. Steinberg and T. C. Tso; “Mineral Nutrition of Tree Crops,” by W. Reuther, T. W. Embleton, and W. W. Jones; “Physiology of the Fresh-Water Algae,” by R. W. Krauss; “The Metahby E. W. Bemm and B. F. Folkes; olism of Amino Acids and Proteins in Plants,” “Ausin Uses in the Control of Flowering and Fruiting,” by A. C. Leopold; “Herbicides,” by E. K. Woodford, Ii. Holly, and C. C. McCready; “Morphogenesis in Lower Plants,” by L. F. Jaffe; “Postharvest Physiology of Fruits,” by R. Ulrich; by L. Bogorad; and “Cytochromes in Plants,” by“The Biogenesis of Flavanoids,” L. Smith and B. Chance. H. S. MASON, Cambridge,
England
Advances in Biological and Medical Physics. Vol. V. Edited by JOHN H. LAWRENCE and CORNELIUS A. TOBIAS. Academic Press Inc., New York, N. Y., 1957. 487 pp. Price $12.00. The subject of biophysics has emerged rather rapidly in the last 18 months as a definite branch of scientific effort. The formation of the new Biophysics1 Society and the rate of increase in the formation of Biophysics Departments in institutions all over America have taken place so rapidly that it is almost difficult to believe that ten years ago we were debating whether biophysics was a subject or not. Among the very important formative agencies which have helped the subject of
478
BOOK
REVIE\VS
biophysics to get on its feet is a series of review articles of which this volume is the fifth. It marks quite a definite step forward in the content and interest of its subject matter. There are, all told, 11 articles ranging over a very wide field of biophysics and including physics of medical interest. .4mong these are articles on nuclear and electron paramagnetic resonance b> Power Sogo and Bert Tolbert. The nature of the experimental work which can be conducted under this heading is clearly outlined, and a very compact and useful article xvhich enables a biophysicist to begin thinking about this as a tool in his research is here available. The subject of action spectroscopy has not had a spokesman since the death of John Loofbourow. It is very cheering to find an article by Richard Setlow which carries the material forward from the stage in which it was left some ten years ago by Loofbouron and presents it in a succinct and informative way, including a great deal of new material as well as :I review. Very interesting studies, of a quantitative kind, on the genetics of somatic cells which have been carried out, by Theodore Purk are given a brief but very cffect,ive description. The outstanding work of Raymond Zirkle on partial cell irradiation, which has been the subject of considerable interest for the last two or three years, is again briefly reviewed by Zirkle himself, and the whole story is presented in a most lucid and readable fashion. Some of the contemporary work on the electrical properties of tissues and cells which has not been generally available in the biophysics1 literature since the early work of Fricke and of Cole and Curtis, is reviewed by Herman Schwan. The degree of sophistication which this subject has reached is indeed surprising. The complete, modern way of studying such cells and the future possibilities for research are delineated quite clearly. The review is thorough, if perhaps slanted a little to t,hc engineering approach. The quantum effects in vision are reviewed by Albert Rose, and a brief article on television techniques in biology and medicine brings out the by V. K. Zworykin possible applications of this modern extension of microscopy in a very interest,ing way. More specialized and medically oriented articles such as those by William Bale and Irving Spar on the use of antibodies to get radioactivity to needed locations for therapeutic purposes, the nature of cholesterol metabolism in atherosclerosis hy Max Isriggs, and a quite interesting review of low level counting by 15. C. iinderson and W. F. Libby are included in this collection of papers. One of the more controversial subjects today, the question of t,he radioactivit, of the human body, is thoroughly reviewed by two British experts in the field, F. W. Spiers :tnd 1’. It. J. Burch. Their article deals not only with historical material, hut also with terhniques of measurement ant1 dosages to hody tissues from natural radioactivity. The over-all result of collecting these 11 up-to-date biophysical essays, every one of which illuminates the subject under consideration, has been to make Vol. V of .!doanccs in. Riological and JIedical Physics one of the most valuable in the series and a reference which any biophysicist will find most useful in his library. l3. C. POLLARD, New Haven, Connecticut