BOOK REVIEWS Antibiolicr: Their Chemistry and NonMedical User
Edited by Herbert S. Goldberg, School of Medicine, Univemity of Missouri. I). Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1959. x 608 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 23.5 em. $15.
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When this hook was announced by the publisher the promising titlo lcd this reviewer to order a copy for his personal library. His first reaction was thnt of disappointment and after a few attempts a t its use the hook quietly gathered dust on his library shelf. Six months later, in
This hook i~ a collection of reviews by different authors, each designed to survey one non-medical aspect of antibiotics. Since these seven chapters were prepared by different authors and since little, if m y , restreining editorial hand appears to have been exercised, the different chapters vary considerably in quality and style. The book has an excellent and critical review by Peter P. Regna of the chemical studies aimed a t elucidating the structures and, nherc significant, the configurations of thc penicillins, the streptomycins, rhlornmphenicol, tho tetracyclines, the maerolides, the polyenes, tho polypeptide antibiotirs, and n few others. The earrinolytic microbial products such a8 puromycin and the actinomyeins are not included. The chapter provides an excellent introduction to the chemistry of bhose antibiotics covered but does not tie in well with the remainder of the hook.
What is needed, in the opinion of the reviewer, is a summary of the physical properties, rertctivitiee and stabilities of each of the major commercial antibiotics, since it is an appreciation of these properties that often explains variations in the results of different investigators in applieations. Another excellent chapter, by R. T. Goodman, treats of the influence of antihiotics on plant diseases. His critical discussion of bhu subject matter, obviously based on xn extensive background of personal research, makes the chapter authoritative. The chapter is well writt m and well dooumented. The short chapters by C. L. Wrenshall, on the use of antibiotics in food preservntion, and by J . T. Logue, on the public health significance of the uses of antibiotics in food preservation and in plant and animal disease control, touch light,ly on but do not do justice to these subjects. Here the problem may well be that many of the data have been accumulated in thr laboratories of the pharmaceutical industry and have not been published. In addition, the subjects of food additives and chemical residues in human foods have, regrettably, passed the atage where the prahlem~can be settled on scientific principles. The chapter Antihiotirs in Nutrition cantributes little to the subject except, perhaps, to bring together abstracts of 545 papers. To be atwe, a review of such a. ~ u h j c e ton which so much work of different. quality has heen published is excceding1.v diflicult. To quote the author, "Suffice it to say thnt one can set up an experiment (or quote an experiment) to show that one antihiotic is better t,han another," will summarize the problem of revicning this subject,. I n the present instance. the reviea- is not critical and. to ~
original papers. When one encounters such a statement as, "Rats eat only 2 or 3 times during a 24-hour period (about 1:00 A.M., 0:00 A.M., sometimes about 4:00 P.M.)," one wonders how much confidence to place in other shtements of the author. The chapter on the uae of antibiotios in the isolation and cultivation of microorganisms is of interest from an historical standpoint on their importance in simplifying methods for the culturing of pathogenic organisms. It is regrettahle that the use of antibiotics in the isolation of amino aeid-denendent. mutants., nermitting the determination of the sequential biochemical syntheses of the aromatic amino acids, was not included. All in d l , this book gives evidence of hasty preparation and lack of a strong editorial guiding hand. I n many instanc~s the writing is illiterate and the excessively large numher of t.ypvgraphica1 errors are a thorough discredit to the publisht-r. While the book may be useful as a source of references to specific non-medical applications of antibiotics, i t is a great disappointment in rplation to the promise of its title. F. Y. WISELOOLE The Spuibb Institute f o Medical ~ Research New Bmnswirk, New J e m q (Conlinued on page A558)
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A550 1 Journd o f Chemical Education
