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The viruses: Biochemical, biological, and biophysical properties. Vol. 3
158
BOOK
istry of Apple and Pear Fruits.” Every biochemist, physiologist, plant scientist, and food scientist should read this review to be inspired to look upon even the most complex living systems as having an ultimate orderly explanation. H. W. SCHULTZ, Corvallis,
Oregon
The Viruses: Biochemical, Biological, and Biophysical Properties. Vol. 3. Edited by F. M. BURNET, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, and W. M. STANUniversity of California, LEY, Virus Laboratory, Berkeley, California, Academic Press Inc., New York, N. Y., 1959. xvii + 428 pp. Price $12.00. The publication of this series of three volumes has been awaited with considerable interest by workers in virology and, in this reviewer’s opinion, the objectives of the editors, as outlined in the preface, have essentially been achieved. As the title indicates, this work is not concerned with the clinical, epidemiologic, ecologic, and applied immunologic aspects of virology, i.e., with viruses as agents of disease, but rather with their fundamental attributes as living entities. Over the past decade there have appeared a number of texts and manuals dealing broadly with viruses as incitants of disease. During that interval, tremendous strides have been taken in the extension of our knowledge of the basic phenomena underlying viral activity, and Burnet and Stanley have undertaken the preparation of the first compilation, and integration, of such knowledge in the English language. The material covered represents in large part findings derived from the biological approach to the nature, property and structure of the viruses, but the considerable knowledge derived from biochemical and biophysical approaches is also thoroughly and competently covered. Several of the chapters are concerned with aspects of virology that have been the subject of recent reviews, but this in no way detracts from the value of this volume since, aside from the fact that additional material has been added to bring the information up to date, presentation in one place of the several different facets of a problem is of distinct value. This book is not for those who would seek minute and detailed information about each or most of the wide spectrum of viruses that have been uncovered up to the present time. Rather, in order to achieve broad generalizations and to present working concepts of the phenomena underlying viral replication and activity, it has been necessary to lean most heavily on information derived from those viruses which have been most
REVIEWS
intensively and comprehensively studied as models. Consequently, as the editors point out, “a large proportion of each of the three volumes is concerned with the properties of one plant virus (tobacco mosaic virus), one bacterial virus (T2), and three animal viruses (vaccinia, influenza A, and poliomyelitis viruses) .” Volume 3 is concerned to a greater extent with biological properties of viruses rather than with their biochemical or biophysical nature and characteristics, but it should prove just as interesting and valuable to those in the physical sciences as to those in the biological field. There is, for example, an excellent and authoritative exposition on the biological aspects of the intracellular stages of viral growth. Even to those with some foundation in histology and cellular structure, the chapter on “The Morphological Approach” should prove valuable as a background for interpretation and an understanding of experimental data concerned with viral replication. The chapter dealing with this latter aspect provides, in turn, the foundation for a subsequent discussion of genetic interactions between animal viruses, e.g., genetic markers or characteristics, phenotypic mixture, etc. On the physicochemical side, there is a brief chapter summarizing current knowledge of the chemical nature of virus receptors and a somewhat longer one dealing with inhibition of intracellular multiplication of viruses by a variety of chemicals and the relation of chemical structure to inhibitory activity. Other chapters deal with the hemagglutination phenomenon, the interference phenomenon, variation in virulence in relation to adaptation of a virus to a new host, serological variations, and the insect viruses as a group. There is also an excellent and indeed very timely chapter dealing with viruses as the etiologic agents of tumors in certain mammalian and avian species. This volume is considered an excellent summary of our present knowledge of fundamental virology, and is recommended to those interested in virology, whether from the biological or the physicochemical standpoint.
EDWIN H. LENNETTE, Berkeley,
California
DDT. The Insecticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and Its Significance. Vol. II. Human and Veterinary Medicine. Edited by S. W. SIMMONS, Chief, Technology Branch, Communicable Disease Center, U. S. Public Health Service, Atlanta, Georgia. Birkhauser Verlag, Base1 und Stuttgart, 1959. 570 pp. Price: $16.50. This second volume of a set which will have at least three volumes is, like the first volume,
BOOK
istry of Apple and Pear Fruits.” Every biochemist, physiologist, plant scientist, and food scientist should read this review to be inspired to look upon even the most complex living systems as having an ultimate orderly explanation. H. W. SCHULTZ, Corvallis,
Oregon
The Viruses: Biochemical, Biological, and Biophysical Properties. Vol. 3. Edited by F. M. BURNET, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, and W. M. STANUniversity of California, LEY, Virus Laboratory, Berkeley, California, Academic Press Inc., New York, N. Y., 1959. xvii + 428 pp. Price $12.00. The publication of this series of three volumes has been awaited with considerable interest by workers in virology and, in this reviewer’s opinion, the objectives of the editors, as outlined in the preface, have essentially been achieved. As the title indicates, this work is not concerned with the clinical, epidemiologic, ecologic, and applied immunologic aspects of virology, i.e., with viruses as agents of disease, but rather with their fundamental attributes as living entities. Over the past decade there have appeared a number of texts and manuals dealing broadly with viruses as incitants of disease. During that interval, tremendous strides have been taken in the extension of our knowledge of the basic phenomena underlying viral activity, and Burnet and Stanley have undertaken the preparation of the first compilation, and integration, of such knowledge in the English language. The material covered represents in large part findings derived from the biological approach to the nature, property and structure of the viruses, but the considerable knowledge derived from biochemical and biophysical approaches is also thoroughly and competently covered. Several of the chapters are concerned with aspects of virology that have been the subject of recent reviews, but this in no way detracts from the value of this volume since, aside from the fact that additional material has been added to bring the information up to date, presentation in one place of the several different facets of a problem is of distinct value. This book is not for those who would seek minute and detailed information about each or most of the wide spectrum of viruses that have been uncovered up to the present time. Rather, in order to achieve broad generalizations and to present working concepts of the phenomena underlying viral replication and activity, it has been necessary to lean most heavily on information derived from those viruses which have been most
REVIEWS
intensively and comprehensively studied as models. Consequently, as the editors point out, “a large proportion of each of the three volumes is concerned with the properties of one plant virus (tobacco mosaic virus), one bacterial virus (T2), and three animal viruses (vaccinia, influenza A, and poliomyelitis viruses) .” Volume 3 is concerned to a greater extent with biological properties of viruses rather than with their biochemical or biophysical nature and characteristics, but it should prove just as interesting and valuable to those in the physical sciences as to those in the biological field. There is, for example, an excellent and authoritative exposition on the biological aspects of the intracellular stages of viral growth. Even to those with some foundation in histology and cellular structure, the chapter on “The Morphological Approach” should prove valuable as a background for interpretation and an understanding of experimental data concerned with viral replication. The chapter dealing with this latter aspect provides, in turn, the foundation for a subsequent discussion of genetic interactions between animal viruses, e.g., genetic markers or characteristics, phenotypic mixture, etc. On the physicochemical side, there is a brief chapter summarizing current knowledge of the chemical nature of virus receptors and a somewhat longer one dealing with inhibition of intracellular multiplication of viruses by a variety of chemicals and the relation of chemical structure to inhibitory activity. Other chapters deal with the hemagglutination phenomenon, the interference phenomenon, variation in virulence in relation to adaptation of a virus to a new host, serological variations, and the insect viruses as a group. There is also an excellent and indeed very timely chapter dealing with viruses as the etiologic agents of tumors in certain mammalian and avian species. This volume is considered an excellent summary of our present knowledge of fundamental virology, and is recommended to those interested in virology, whether from the biological or the physicochemical standpoint.
EDWIN H. LENNETTE, Berkeley,
California
DDT. The Insecticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and Its Significance. Vol. II. Human and Veterinary Medicine. Edited by S. W. SIMMONS, Chief, Technology Branch, Communicable Disease Center, U. S. Public Health Service, Atlanta, Georgia. Birkhauser Verlag, Base1 und Stuttgart, 1959. 570 pp. Price: $16.50. This second volume of a set which will have at least three volumes is, like the first volume,