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The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. Second edition, revised and enlarged
488
BOOK
REVIEWS
or stored. Certain generalizations have been possible and will be of interest to those concerned with improving the retention of this vitamin in foods. The subject of “Tunnel Dehydrators for Fruits and Vegetables” has been treated by P. W. Kilpatrick, E. Lowe, and W. B. Van Arsdel. The authors systematically discuss types of air flow in various tunnels, mechanical elements of tunnel construction, criteria for selection of tunnel dehydrators, basic theory of such dehydrators, operating procedures, and recent trends in tunnel dehydration. They have supplied a critical and concise treatment of this type of dehydration, which is used extensively at present in the fruit and vegetable dehydration industry. HANS LINEWEAVER, Berkeley, California Clinical Biochemistry. Fifth edition. By ABRAHAM CANTAROW, Professor of Biochemistry, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and MAX TRUMPER, Formerly Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry and Basic Science Coordinator, Naval Medical School, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1955. xxxi + 738 pp. Price $9.99. The present edition of this book represents the fifth extensive revision in a period of 22 years. During this period, the volume has continued to serve an expanding, useful function. The growth and advances of biochemistry make it increasingly possible and desirable to consider problems of clinical disorders in terms of the underlying derangements of biochemical processes. In this sense, biochemistry plays a role of growing importance in the understanding, explanation, and treatment of disease. There are some instances in this new edition in which rather import,ant recent developments have been neglected. For example, in the field of endocrinology, only passing reference is made to triiodothyronine, described merely as a substance which may be formed by partial deiodination of thyroxine. Reference to the importance of aldosterone in clinical medicine is lacking. No consideration is given to important indications of a probable role for the melanophore-stimulating substance in the physiology of man. On the other hand, newer concepts are described for metabolic pathways of carbohydrates, lipides, and proteins. The problem of the extent to which these details should be presented is diicult of solution in a book devoted to the applied features of biochemistry. An effort is made to include chiefly material that has relevance to biochemical approaches to the diagnosis or management of clinical disorders. With this point of view, the volume becomes a useful reference text for the student of medicine, the practioner of medicine, and those associated with diagnostic laboratories. Information not readily available, or brought together elsewhere, is conveniently found in the present volume. ABRAHAM WHITE, New York, New York The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. Second edition, revised and enlarged. By Loms S. GOODMAN, Professor of Pharmacology, University of Utah, College of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah; and ALFRED GILMAN, Professor of Pharmacology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New
BOOK REVIEWS
489
York, N. Y. The Macmillan Company, New York, N. Y., 1955. xvi + 1831 pp. Price $17.50. Fourteen years have passed since the publication of the first edition of the “Goodman and Gilman.” The intervening years have shown the indispensability of the book for teaching, for an appreacition of recent developments in pharmacology, and for quick but thorough information on any pharmacological subject. The second edition, the need for which has been obvious for many years owing to rapidly changing therapeutic tools and to the increasing understanding of biochemical mechanisms underlying drug action, fulfills in every respect the expectations with which its publication was anticipated. Five hundred additional pages deal with histamine and its antagonists, inhibitors of renal transport, drugs used in the treatment of protozoa1 infections, penicillin therapy of syphilis, chemotherapy of tuberculosis, antibiotics, and general principles of toxicology. Among the deleted or greatly reduced subjects which may be mentioned are arsenical and other metals in the therapy of syphilis and the sulfonamides. The general organization of the material is the same as in the first edition, but reading is made easier by two-column pages and by frequent headings and subheadings. References to monographs, reviews, and original papers are brought up to date. Probably because of special research experience of the authors, some of the chapters are particularly concise and penetrating, such as the one on anticonvulsants, autonomic drugs, diuretics, and digitalis. Wherever possible, probable biochemical mechanisms underlying the action of the drugs under discussion are indicated, and the reader is directed for further information to recent publications on the subject. It is unavoidable that in a book of this size and scope, the reader might want to know more about certain topics and less about others and that the extent of treatment of particular subjects is quite often determined by recent research interests rather than by their practical significance. This attitude, on the other hand, infuses this volume of 1800 pages with a freshness and vigor which make perusal of this book-so indispensable to the teacher as well as to the student of medical science-rewarding and enjoyable. HEINRICH WAELSCH, New York, New York DDT, das Insektizid DichlorodiphenyltrichlorHthan und seine Bedeutung (The Insecticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and Its Significance). Vol. 1. PAUL MILLER, ed., and authors P. MUELLER,Basel; V. B. WIGGLESWORTH,Cambridge; E. BERNFUS, Wien; 0. WXLCHLI, St. Gallen; V. BUTOVITSCH, Bromma. (In German) Basel, Verlag Birkhiiuser, 1955. 299 pp. SFr. 37.50; paperbound, S.Fr. or D.M. 33.30. This volume, edited by Dr. Paul Miiller, is the first of three volumes dealing with the many aspects of this remarkable insecticidal chemical. The book is divided into five parts. Part I, by Dr. Miiller, presents in detail the studies leading to the discovery of DDT as an insecticide. The chemical and physical properties of DDT, proof of its structure, and methods-both chemical and biological-for its determination are fully described. A table is given listing many analogs of DDT with structural formulas and references to the original literature.
BOOK
REVIEWS
or stored. Certain generalizations have been possible and will be of interest to those concerned with improving the retention of this vitamin in foods. The subject of “Tunnel Dehydrators for Fruits and Vegetables” has been treated by P. W. Kilpatrick, E. Lowe, and W. B. Van Arsdel. The authors systematically discuss types of air flow in various tunnels, mechanical elements of tunnel construction, criteria for selection of tunnel dehydrators, basic theory of such dehydrators, operating procedures, and recent trends in tunnel dehydration. They have supplied a critical and concise treatment of this type of dehydration, which is used extensively at present in the fruit and vegetable dehydration industry. HANS LINEWEAVER, Berkeley, California Clinical Biochemistry. Fifth edition. By ABRAHAM CANTAROW, Professor of Biochemistry, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and MAX TRUMPER, Formerly Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry and Basic Science Coordinator, Naval Medical School, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1955. xxxi + 738 pp. Price $9.99. The present edition of this book represents the fifth extensive revision in a period of 22 years. During this period, the volume has continued to serve an expanding, useful function. The growth and advances of biochemistry make it increasingly possible and desirable to consider problems of clinical disorders in terms of the underlying derangements of biochemical processes. In this sense, biochemistry plays a role of growing importance in the understanding, explanation, and treatment of disease. There are some instances in this new edition in which rather import,ant recent developments have been neglected. For example, in the field of endocrinology, only passing reference is made to triiodothyronine, described merely as a substance which may be formed by partial deiodination of thyroxine. Reference to the importance of aldosterone in clinical medicine is lacking. No consideration is given to important indications of a probable role for the melanophore-stimulating substance in the physiology of man. On the other hand, newer concepts are described for metabolic pathways of carbohydrates, lipides, and proteins. The problem of the extent to which these details should be presented is diicult of solution in a book devoted to the applied features of biochemistry. An effort is made to include chiefly material that has relevance to biochemical approaches to the diagnosis or management of clinical disorders. With this point of view, the volume becomes a useful reference text for the student of medicine, the practioner of medicine, and those associated with diagnostic laboratories. Information not readily available, or brought together elsewhere, is conveniently found in the present volume. ABRAHAM WHITE, New York, New York The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. Second edition, revised and enlarged. By Loms S. GOODMAN, Professor of Pharmacology, University of Utah, College of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah; and ALFRED GILMAN, Professor of Pharmacology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New
BOOK REVIEWS
489
York, N. Y. The Macmillan Company, New York, N. Y., 1955. xvi + 1831 pp. Price $17.50. Fourteen years have passed since the publication of the first edition of the “Goodman and Gilman.” The intervening years have shown the indispensability of the book for teaching, for an appreacition of recent developments in pharmacology, and for quick but thorough information on any pharmacological subject. The second edition, the need for which has been obvious for many years owing to rapidly changing therapeutic tools and to the increasing understanding of biochemical mechanisms underlying drug action, fulfills in every respect the expectations with which its publication was anticipated. Five hundred additional pages deal with histamine and its antagonists, inhibitors of renal transport, drugs used in the treatment of protozoa1 infections, penicillin therapy of syphilis, chemotherapy of tuberculosis, antibiotics, and general principles of toxicology. Among the deleted or greatly reduced subjects which may be mentioned are arsenical and other metals in the therapy of syphilis and the sulfonamides. The general organization of the material is the same as in the first edition, but reading is made easier by two-column pages and by frequent headings and subheadings. References to monographs, reviews, and original papers are brought up to date. Probably because of special research experience of the authors, some of the chapters are particularly concise and penetrating, such as the one on anticonvulsants, autonomic drugs, diuretics, and digitalis. Wherever possible, probable biochemical mechanisms underlying the action of the drugs under discussion are indicated, and the reader is directed for further information to recent publications on the subject. It is unavoidable that in a book of this size and scope, the reader might want to know more about certain topics and less about others and that the extent of treatment of particular subjects is quite often determined by recent research interests rather than by their practical significance. This attitude, on the other hand, infuses this volume of 1800 pages with a freshness and vigor which make perusal of this book-so indispensable to the teacher as well as to the student of medical science-rewarding and enjoyable. HEINRICH WAELSCH, New York, New York DDT, das Insektizid DichlorodiphenyltrichlorHthan und seine Bedeutung (The Insecticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and Its Significance). Vol. 1. PAUL MILLER, ed., and authors P. MUELLER,Basel; V. B. WIGGLESWORTH,Cambridge; E. BERNFUS, Wien; 0. WXLCHLI, St. Gallen; V. BUTOVITSCH, Bromma. (In German) Basel, Verlag Birkhiiuser, 1955. 299 pp. SFr. 37.50; paperbound, S.Fr. or D.M. 33.30. This volume, edited by Dr. Paul Miiller, is the first of three volumes dealing with the many aspects of this remarkable insecticidal chemical. The book is divided into five parts. Part I, by Dr. Miiller, presents in detail the studies leading to the discovery of DDT as an insecticide. The chemical and physical properties of DDT, proof of its structure, and methods-both chemical and biological-for its determination are fully described. A table is given listing many analogs of DDT with structural formulas and references to the original literature.