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Reviews on Immunoassay Technology, Volumes 1 and 2
166
Turning Over an Old Leaf
TEXTBOOK
OF
PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY BY
GEORGE
H. B E L L
B.Sc., bLD.(GLAao.), F.R.F.P.S.G., F.R.S.E. Professor of Phy~dologyin the University of 8t Andrews at Universi~j College, Dunde~
J.
NORMAN
DAVIDSON
M.D., D.Sc.(ED~,L), F.R.F.P.S.G., F.R.I.C., F.R.S.E. Oardiner Profeuor of p h y s l a l ~ a l Chvmlsfry in ~. e Unittersity of Olas~aw; formerly Profeaumr of Biochemistry in eke Unit~rsity of London at ~t Thomas"s Haspital Mtxlival School AND
HAROLD
SCARBOROUGH
M.B., P~r.D.(EDt~.), F.R.C.P.E.
Professor of Medicine in the Welsh National School of Medicine of the UniversiSy of Wales and Direc$or of the M~dical Uni8 in th8 Royal Infirmary. Cardiff ; fo~nerly Reader in Medicine in the Unit~rsi~y of Birmingham.
Before the deluge: one volume physiology and biochemistry An appreciation of Textbook of Physiology and Biochemistry by Bell, Davidson and Scarborough* Bell Davison and Scarborough (conveniently abbreviated to the dental-sounding BDS), was, I believe, the bulkiest and heaviest book in my possession as an undergraduate in the mid-fifties. I still remember the feel of it, and its clear, very black print. Of course, it had to be a large book adequately to cover elementary biochemistry and physiology together even in those days, and (importantly) to illustrate them. Nowadays we are familiar with biochemistry textbooks which frequently run to two ponderous volumes, and contain little physiology. In the fifties many of us first encountered biochemistry as an adjunct of the physiology course. In St Andrews the chair of physiology had been endowed in the 1770s and perhaps by virtue of that venerability, maintained biochemistry in a sort of satrap status for longer than might have been reasonable. But anyway BDS fitted snugly into the scheme of things, covering all the material for that year. The first edition, which I managed to find in our library, is dated 1950 (and I see from the loan card at the back of it that it was borrowed as late as 1979, which says something, and it is not that the later editions were unavailable on the shelves). It went through many editions, the last to bear the original title, the ninth, appeared in 1976; but the eighties saw the end of three decades of heroic integration of the dynamics and chemistry of life with the publication (in 1980) of Textbook of Physiology (without biochemistry) also bowing to burden of the times in having no less than 41 contributors. *Present publisher: Churchill Livingstone, 1 Baxter's Place, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH1 3AF, UK
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(3) 1989
Understandably the first edition of BDS now has a somewhat antique look, at least on the biochemical pages. The formulae look awkward, with long carbon to carbon line bonds giving them a spider-like aspect. Perhaps more representative of the run is the 4th edition, which came out in 1959. The biochemical chapters, presumably written by Professor Davidson, seem in retrospect quite sparse, even for that year. For example there is not even a speculative mention of DNA replication. But physiology is by far the older science, and in a combined treatment it is perhaps inevitable that more space should be allotted to the complexities of the organs and homeostatic systems of the human body. Nowadays the common run of biochemists (and maybe "common" is the right word, since we are becoming to molecular geneticists what dustmen are to garbage disposal operatives) do not have to know where is the ampulla of Vater, or what might be Eck's fistula, but we users of the book picked up some of this, presumably to our permanent benefit. Looking at the book from this perspective however, I feel that its charm may have rested upon its illustrations, which are numerous and varied m there are charts, traces, graphs, line drawings, histological sections, and photographs, many in colour. I recall looking with some wonder for the first time at sufferers from beriberi and scurvy, cretinism and adrenocortical virilism. But it was evocative to see once again the photograph relating to pregnancy testing, still then based upon the injection of the suspect urine into X e n o p u s . T h e toad in the picture looks back at the camera with a quizzical look, as well it might. Seeing its massive bulk again, perched in stout glass case on a platform of wire mesh under which there is a mass of newly shed eggs, you can understand why it was not the basis of a kit which a lady could keep on her bathroom shelf. That had to wait for the more compact anti-HCG monoclonals. Classics, both of the literary and scientific kind (where the two categories can be separated) are not often read from cover to cover, rather we tend just to dip into them for pleasure and reassurance. Any old edition of BDS certainly comes into the definition of a classic in that sense. J K Candlish
Reviews on Immunoassay Technology, Volumes 1 and 2 Edited by S B Pal. pp 238 and 204. MacMillan Press, London. 1988. £40.00 each ISBN 0-333-45285-2 and ISBN 0-333-46849-X Reviews on Immunoassay Technology Volumes 1 and 2 are the first of a series of biannual publications containing reviews of recent developments in immunoassay from around the world. This series of monographs is targetted at immunologists and other laboratory workers (eg chemical pathologists). The first volume contains 10 chapters by 28 authors on very specific applications of immunoassay. For example, nicotine enzyme immunoassay (chapter 5) and non-isotopic studies of the TSHreceptor (chapter 10). The second volume contains 11 chapters by 25 authors, again on very applied topics. Many of the articles cannot be, strictly speaking, considered as reviews. The major benefit of these monographs would be to researchers engaged on a day-to-day basis in the development of new immunoassays. Although produced to a commendable standard, the monographs would be of little value to teachers. Eileen Ingham
Turning Over an Old Leaf
TEXTBOOK
OF
PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY BY
GEORGE
H. B E L L
B.Sc., bLD.(GLAao.), F.R.F.P.S.G., F.R.S.E. Professor of Phy~dologyin the University of 8t Andrews at Universi~j College, Dunde~
J.
NORMAN
DAVIDSON
M.D., D.Sc.(ED~,L), F.R.F.P.S.G., F.R.I.C., F.R.S.E. Oardiner Profeuor of p h y s l a l ~ a l Chvmlsfry in ~. e Unittersity of Olas~aw; formerly Profeaumr of Biochemistry in eke Unit~rsity of London at ~t Thomas"s Haspital Mtxlival School AND
HAROLD
SCARBOROUGH
M.B., P~r.D.(EDt~.), F.R.C.P.E.
Professor of Medicine in the Welsh National School of Medicine of the UniversiSy of Wales and Direc$or of the M~dical Uni8 in th8 Royal Infirmary. Cardiff ; fo~nerly Reader in Medicine in the Unit~rsi~y of Birmingham.
Before the deluge: one volume physiology and biochemistry An appreciation of Textbook of Physiology and Biochemistry by Bell, Davidson and Scarborough* Bell Davison and Scarborough (conveniently abbreviated to the dental-sounding BDS), was, I believe, the bulkiest and heaviest book in my possession as an undergraduate in the mid-fifties. I still remember the feel of it, and its clear, very black print. Of course, it had to be a large book adequately to cover elementary biochemistry and physiology together even in those days, and (importantly) to illustrate them. Nowadays we are familiar with biochemistry textbooks which frequently run to two ponderous volumes, and contain little physiology. In the fifties many of us first encountered biochemistry as an adjunct of the physiology course. In St Andrews the chair of physiology had been endowed in the 1770s and perhaps by virtue of that venerability, maintained biochemistry in a sort of satrap status for longer than might have been reasonable. But anyway BDS fitted snugly into the scheme of things, covering all the material for that year. The first edition, which I managed to find in our library, is dated 1950 (and I see from the loan card at the back of it that it was borrowed as late as 1979, which says something, and it is not that the later editions were unavailable on the shelves). It went through many editions, the last to bear the original title, the ninth, appeared in 1976; but the eighties saw the end of three decades of heroic integration of the dynamics and chemistry of life with the publication (in 1980) of Textbook of Physiology (without biochemistry) also bowing to burden of the times in having no less than 41 contributors. *Present publisher: Churchill Livingstone, 1 Baxter's Place, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH1 3AF, UK
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(3) 1989
Understandably the first edition of BDS now has a somewhat antique look, at least on the biochemical pages. The formulae look awkward, with long carbon to carbon line bonds giving them a spider-like aspect. Perhaps more representative of the run is the 4th edition, which came out in 1959. The biochemical chapters, presumably written by Professor Davidson, seem in retrospect quite sparse, even for that year. For example there is not even a speculative mention of DNA replication. But physiology is by far the older science, and in a combined treatment it is perhaps inevitable that more space should be allotted to the complexities of the organs and homeostatic systems of the human body. Nowadays the common run of biochemists (and maybe "common" is the right word, since we are becoming to molecular geneticists what dustmen are to garbage disposal operatives) do not have to know where is the ampulla of Vater, or what might be Eck's fistula, but we users of the book picked up some of this, presumably to our permanent benefit. Looking at the book from this perspective however, I feel that its charm may have rested upon its illustrations, which are numerous and varied m there are charts, traces, graphs, line drawings, histological sections, and photographs, many in colour. I recall looking with some wonder for the first time at sufferers from beriberi and scurvy, cretinism and adrenocortical virilism. But it was evocative to see once again the photograph relating to pregnancy testing, still then based upon the injection of the suspect urine into X e n o p u s . T h e toad in the picture looks back at the camera with a quizzical look, as well it might. Seeing its massive bulk again, perched in stout glass case on a platform of wire mesh under which there is a mass of newly shed eggs, you can understand why it was not the basis of a kit which a lady could keep on her bathroom shelf. That had to wait for the more compact anti-HCG monoclonals. Classics, both of the literary and scientific kind (where the two categories can be separated) are not often read from cover to cover, rather we tend just to dip into them for pleasure and reassurance. Any old edition of BDS certainly comes into the definition of a classic in that sense. J K Candlish
Reviews on Immunoassay Technology, Volumes 1 and 2 Edited by S B Pal. pp 238 and 204. MacMillan Press, London. 1988. £40.00 each ISBN 0-333-45285-2 and ISBN 0-333-46849-X Reviews on Immunoassay Technology Volumes 1 and 2 are the first of a series of biannual publications containing reviews of recent developments in immunoassay from around the world. This series of monographs is targetted at immunologists and other laboratory workers (eg chemical pathologists). The first volume contains 10 chapters by 28 authors on very specific applications of immunoassay. For example, nicotine enzyme immunoassay (chapter 5) and non-isotopic studies of the TSHreceptor (chapter 10). The second volume contains 11 chapters by 25 authors, again on very applied topics. Many of the articles cannot be, strictly speaking, considered as reviews. The major benefit of these monographs would be to researchers engaged on a day-to-day basis in the development of new immunoassays. Although produced to a commendable standard, the monographs would be of little value to teachers. Eileen Ingham