- Email: [email protected]
International review of cytology. Volume 4
BOOK
Progress
ited by L.
in the Chemistry ZECHMEISTER,
REVIEWS
of Organic Natural
255
Products.
Volume XII.
Ed-
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CaliWien, 1955. x + 580 pp. Price, $19.00; cloth bound
fornia. Springer Verlag, Sl9.80. Contents: “Sesquiterpenes and Diterpenes” by A. J. Haagen-Smit, California Institute of Technology. “Tetracyclic Terpenes” by E. R. H. Jones and T. G. Halsall, Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester. “Neuere Vorstellungcn auf dem Gehiete der Biosynthese dcr Steroide und vcrwandter Naturstoffe” by R. Tschesche, Chemisches Staatsinstitut tler Universitat Hamburg. “Some Biochemical Aspects of Fungal Carotenoids” by F. T. Haxo, Scripps Insti. , . tution of Oceanography of t,he University of California. “The Pyrrobzrdme Alkaloids” by F. L. Warren, Department of Chemistry, University of Natal. “Paper (‘hromatography in the Study of the Structure of Peptides and Proteins” by 15. 0. 1’. Thompson and A. R.. Thompson, Biochemistry Unit, Commonwealth Scicrrl.iflc and Intlust,ri:tl Research Organization, Melbourne. “Acides amin& iod4s cl%iodoprot6incs” by Jean Roche et Raymond Michel, Biochemie g6n6rnle et c<>lll~);trCe, College de France. “Chemistry and Biochemistry of Snake Ven onis” by Karl Slotta, Caisa Postal 4790, R,;to Paula. “Gene Structure and Gcnr .1ction” by G. \V. Beadle, California Institute of Technology. Organic chrmists will welcome the appearance in this well-known series of Vol. X11, which covers nine subjects of much current interest. Each chapter presents :I r&urn& of the more important findings in a given area, and each is Jvritten by an individual cspcrienced in the field. The book is attractively printed and con on the Inins a minimum of typographical errors. The editor is to be complimented assemblage of such useful and v:rlunblr mnt.erial for the advnncrd student and investigator. Itooen An~nrs, TTrban:~, Illinois
International Review of Cytology. Volume 4. Edited by G. H. BOURNE, London Hospital Medical College, and J. F. DANIELLI, Zoology Department, Kings Collcge, London. Academic Press Inc., New York, 1955. xii + 419 pp. Price $9.00. Few readers of this or previous volumes of the Znternational Review of Cytology will be interested in all of the contributions included, but no observer of cell I)iology will fail to find some essays of more than ordinary interest. It is obvious t,hat the editors take a broad view of the ambit of cytology, and arc willing to cxamine it with the searchlight as well as the floodlight. Among the essays on methods that are included in this volume, the treatment of cgtochemical micrurgy by RI. J. Kopac is particularly welcome as a summation I,y a master in the field. So much has been written about microanalytical methods and so little about the techniques of manipulating cells that are needed to put t,hesc methods to their best USC. It is one t,hing to handle millimicroliters of chemcal reagents and quite another to manipulate similar quantities dra\vn from selected regions of living cells. It is more difficult to evaluate the article by Wolrnan on problems of cytological fixation. He makes a thoughtful attempt to deal with this important problem at a level higher than the usual prescientific one, but one
still feels that cytological fixation remains a culinary operation. The bibliography does not encourage one to feel that this deplorable situation is being improved rapidly. N. B. Kurnick contributes a review of the histochemistry of nucleic acids. Although this has been one of the most exhaustively reviewed topics in cytological technique (Kurnick introduces his review by citing nine other rrviews in recent years), it is not evident that conspicuous advances arc being made in either the introduction of new techniques or the resolution of 01~1con t,roversies. The volume includes two essays on bacterial cytology, by A. Marshak and by It. Vendrely, both distinguished contributors to this most frustrating Geld. It is fortunate that both of them deal with the controversial questions concerning the bacterial nucleus at some length. The development of bacterial genetics has made the problem of the structure and behavior of the I,nctcrinl chromosome an urgent one. Clearly, significant progress has been made toward the clefinition of tllc nn clear bodies in bacteria, but knowledge of bnct~rrial chromosomes anrl tlrcir lahnvior in division is still primitive. W. S. Vincent summarizes the present knowledge of the structure and chcmistry of the nucleolus. It is made clear that a formidable body of tlescriptirc ant1 cytochemical information has, as yet, failed to yield the essential clues concerning the function of this structure, although the uniformities of its behavior convince us that it plays an important part in nucleus-cytoplasm interaction. In an essay on plant mitochondria, by D. P. Hackett, problems of lint morphology and details concerning enzymes and synthetic systems are discussed in a common context that reminds us pleasant,ly that the advance of lliology is destroying demarcations between fields of research as well as creating specialisms. Similarly, Muhlethaler’s art.icle on the structure of chloroplasts deals wit.11 morphological details that will certainly play a part in any realistic picture of photosynthesis. The volume includes an article by E. J. Conway on the act,ive transport of cations that is interesting in itself but leads at least one reader t.o the conclusion that we shall not advance very far in this field until we arc able t.o matcrinlizr onr “pumps.” Three essays in this volume deal with the functional cytology ol specialized animal cells. L. E. Wagge describes the extraordinary activities of freely moving amebocytes in engulfing and transporting materials, at the same time serving as a mobile reservoir of cells. Moe describes in detail the specialized secretory aclivities of the goblet cells of the intestine. To a large number of readers, the most interesting essay in the volume will be Couteaux’s summary of work (much of it, by Couteaux) on the localization of cholinesterases at neuromuscular junction. The structural visualization of events deduced earlier from pharmacological and neurophysiological dat
Progress
ited by L.
in the Chemistry ZECHMEISTER,
REVIEWS
of Organic Natural
255
Products.
Volume XII.
Ed-
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CaliWien, 1955. x + 580 pp. Price, $19.00; cloth bound
fornia. Springer Verlag, Sl9.80. Contents: “Sesquiterpenes and Diterpenes” by A. J. Haagen-Smit, California Institute of Technology. “Tetracyclic Terpenes” by E. R. H. Jones and T. G. Halsall, Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester. “Neuere Vorstellungcn auf dem Gehiete der Biosynthese dcr Steroide und vcrwandter Naturstoffe” by R. Tschesche, Chemisches Staatsinstitut tler Universitat Hamburg. “Some Biochemical Aspects of Fungal Carotenoids” by F. T. Haxo, Scripps Insti. , . tution of Oceanography of t,he University of California. “The Pyrrobzrdme Alkaloids” by F. L. Warren, Department of Chemistry, University of Natal. “Paper (‘hromatography in the Study of the Structure of Peptides and Proteins” by 15. 0. 1’. Thompson and A. R.. Thompson, Biochemistry Unit, Commonwealth Scicrrl.iflc and Intlust,ri:tl Research Organization, Melbourne. “Acides amin& iod4s cl%iodoprot6incs” by Jean Roche et Raymond Michel, Biochemie g6n6rnle et c<>lll~);trCe, College de France. “Chemistry and Biochemistry of Snake Ven onis” by Karl Slotta, Caisa Postal 4790, R,;to Paula. “Gene Structure and Gcnr .1ction” by G. \V. Beadle, California Institute of Technology. Organic chrmists will welcome the appearance in this well-known series of Vol. X11, which covers nine subjects of much current interest. Each chapter presents :I r&urn& of the more important findings in a given area, and each is Jvritten by an individual cspcrienced in the field. The book is attractively printed and con on the Inins a minimum of typographical errors. The editor is to be complimented assemblage of such useful and v:rlunblr mnt.erial for the advnncrd student and investigator. Itooen An~nrs, TTrban:~, Illinois
International Review of Cytology. Volume 4. Edited by G. H. BOURNE, London Hospital Medical College, and J. F. DANIELLI, Zoology Department, Kings Collcge, London. Academic Press Inc., New York, 1955. xii + 419 pp. Price $9.00. Few readers of this or previous volumes of the Znternational Review of Cytology will be interested in all of the contributions included, but no observer of cell I)iology will fail to find some essays of more than ordinary interest. It is obvious t,hat the editors take a broad view of the ambit of cytology, and arc willing to cxamine it with the searchlight as well as the floodlight. Among the essays on methods that are included in this volume, the treatment of cgtochemical micrurgy by RI. J. Kopac is particularly welcome as a summation I,y a master in the field. So much has been written about microanalytical methods and so little about the techniques of manipulating cells that are needed to put t,hesc methods to their best USC. It is one t,hing to handle millimicroliters of chemcal reagents and quite another to manipulate similar quantities dra\vn from selected regions of living cells. It is more difficult to evaluate the article by Wolrnan on problems of cytological fixation. He makes a thoughtful attempt to deal with this important problem at a level higher than the usual prescientific one, but one
still feels that cytological fixation remains a culinary operation. The bibliography does not encourage one to feel that this deplorable situation is being improved rapidly. N. B. Kurnick contributes a review of the histochemistry of nucleic acids. Although this has been one of the most exhaustively reviewed topics in cytological technique (Kurnick introduces his review by citing nine other rrviews in recent years), it is not evident that conspicuous advances arc being made in either the introduction of new techniques or the resolution of 01~1con t,roversies. The volume includes two essays on bacterial cytology, by A. Marshak and by It. Vendrely, both distinguished contributors to this most frustrating Geld. It is fortunate that both of them deal with the controversial questions concerning the bacterial nucleus at some length. The development of bacterial genetics has made the problem of the structure and behavior of the I,nctcrinl chromosome an urgent one. Clearly, significant progress has been made toward the clefinition of tllc nn clear bodies in bacteria, but knowledge of bnct~rrial chromosomes anrl tlrcir lahnvior in division is still primitive. W. S. Vincent summarizes the present knowledge of the structure and chcmistry of the nucleolus. It is made clear that a formidable body of tlescriptirc ant1 cytochemical information has, as yet, failed to yield the essential clues concerning the function of this structure, although the uniformities of its behavior convince us that it plays an important part in nucleus-cytoplasm interaction. In an essay on plant mitochondria, by D. P. Hackett, problems of lint morphology and details concerning enzymes and synthetic systems are discussed in a common context that reminds us pleasant,ly that the advance of lliology is destroying demarcations between fields of research as well as creating specialisms. Similarly, Muhlethaler’s art.icle on the structure of chloroplasts deals wit.11 morphological details that will certainly play a part in any realistic picture of photosynthesis. The volume includes an article by E. J. Conway on the act,ive transport of cations that is interesting in itself but leads at least one reader t.o the conclusion that we shall not advance very far in this field until we arc able t.o matcrinlizr onr “pumps.” Three essays in this volume deal with the functional cytology ol specialized animal cells. L. E. Wagge describes the extraordinary activities of freely moving amebocytes in engulfing and transporting materials, at the same time serving as a mobile reservoir of cells. Moe describes in detail the specialized secretory aclivities of the goblet cells of the intestine. To a large number of readers, the most interesting essay in the volume will be Couteaux’s summary of work (much of it, by Couteaux) on the localization of cholinesterases at neuromuscular junction. The structural visualization of events deduced earlier from pharmacological and neurophysiological dat