VOLUME 33, NO. 7, JULY. 1956
357
Rapid advances in the field of clinical chemistry made it neces sary to rewrite the hook in its entirety. Much new material has been added. includine whole chaoters on Nucleic Acid Metab* lism, ~emo&obina n d ~ o r ~ h y rketabolism, in and a discussion of Biochemical Aspects of Diet. A few subjects forming separate chapters in earlier editions were skillfully integrated; the s e p arate chapter on diabetes, for example, now forms a. part of the discussion of Carbohydrate Metabolism. All together there are now 23 chapters, varying in length fromtwopages (Sulfur Metabolism) to 79 pages (Carbohydrate Metabolism). I t is hardly possible, of course, to cover all aspects of clinical biochemistry equally well and exhaustively in 738 pages. On the whole. the authors have made their selections carefullv and have
ing with newer methods of protein fractionation, for example, would probablylike tosee afew pages dealing with the interpretation of abnormal electrophoretic patterns. However, it is easy to see how suggestions of this type might necessitate considerable extra space. Errors and discrepancies are very difficult to avoid in a book of thi8 type and this reviewer was pleased to see that they are not numerous enough to become annoying. I t is justified, I believe, to point out that discrepancies between the normal valuesfor sodiumand potassiumin serum (132-144meq./l. and 3.64.8 meq./l., respectively, on page277 and 132-152meq./l. and 3.6-5.3 meq.11. on theinside back cover) in text and summary tables should be eliminated. These discrepancies existed already in the fourth edition, but with different numerical values in each case. Aoart from such minor blemishes. one can onlv ooncmtulate the authors for a job well done. he book is indiipens&le to all those interested in the interpretation of clinical chemistry data. OTTO S C H l L E S ALTON OCXBNER MEDICILFOUND*TIOI(
New ORLEANO, LOUISIANA
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AN INTRODUCTION TO PAPER ELECTROPHORESIS AND RELATED METHODS
Michael Ledere*, Institut du Radium, Paris. Elsevier Publishing 206 pp. 70 figs. 15 X 23 Company, Houston, 1955. xii cm. $7.75.
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EVENin this day of intensive, systematic, scientific research, simple basic methods for the separation of mixtures of chemical substances are usually discovered slowly and by chance. But once described, bhese new and useful methods are applied rapidly in various Mds. An outstanding example of this phenomenon is the belated discovery of paper electrophoresis and the subsequent rapid utilization of this novel, useful technique. From the standpoint of logic, paper electrophoresis, which is also known as paper electroehromatography and ionography, might have evolved a priori from columnar electrocbromatography, from differential electrical migration in gels as in the moving boundary methods, or from the extensive use of selective sorption in paper ss in paper chromatography. But, in spite of all this antecedent exporienee, paper electrophoresis was not yecognized as a unique method until about 1948. Since then, this new differential electrical migration technique has been modified in many ways, and it has been adapted to the investigation of hundreds of different kinds of electrically charged or ionized substances and to many kinds of uncharged substances that are converted into charged complexes in solution. Paper electrophoresis resolves tho mixtures of charged substances into a series of zones that must he located and investigated by suitable nuclear, chemicd,.physical, or biologicd tests. Many of these critical testing techniques had been brought to a. high degree of refinement in connection with earlier studies of columnar electrochromatography, columnar chromatography, and especially paper chromatography. Described a t first in short articles, paper electrophoresis has
now become the subject of several reviews and monographs. One monograph, "Ionography" by McDonald and collaborators, is devoted to the ohvsical ~ranertiesof the mieration svstems and t o various appliktions in highly specializid field; Another monograph, "Practical Paper Electrophoresis," in Japanese, by Mori and Kobayashi, covers procedures and applications. The third monograph by Lederer includes examples of techniques ( 7 chapters), selected applications to various kinds of organic and
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The book is printed on glossy paper which adds to i& attractiveness. This new book should be especially useful to teachers and students. It is, hon,ever, a condensed version of the subject p r o pared from the research worker's point of view. I t will he difficult for the beginner to assemble the equipment that is described, to carny out the mparations, and to identify the s e p arated substances u.ithout consulting the original literature. Apart from this limitation, this new book provides an introduction to the subiect that is not available elsewhere. I t should be
BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE DEVELOPING NERVOUS SYSTEM Proceedings of the First International Neurochemical Symposium. Edited by Heinrich Waelsch, Columbia University and Psychiatric Institute, New York. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1955. xvii 537 pp. 91 figs. 55 tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $11.50.
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TRIS symposium cont&ns contributions by 56 authors discussing the following subjects: morphological and functional ontogeny of the nervous system; the chemical composition and dynamic biochemistry of the developing enzymatic differentiation in relation to function; cellular chemistry; and intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the development of the nervous system. Biochemists will find here a summary of a wealth of information which could not eaeily be gathered by literature surveys. Every kind of chemical, nutrient, hormone, and enzyme system affectine normal and ~atholoeicalnervous functions has been con-
biochemists and neurophysiologists of our time. ALFRED BURGER UNIVBRBITI OP VIRBINI* C " A ~ L ~ W ~ ~ "vmcrsr* ~LLE.
ATOMIC ENERGY RESERRCH AT HARWELL
K. E. B. Jay. The Philosophical Library, New York, 1955. rii 144 pp. 9 figs. 14.5 X 22 cm. $4.75.
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THIS ~ m d volume l describes the present status of research at Harwell, the United Kindom's foremast Atomic Energy Lahoratory. Part I, mitten for the nontechnical reader covers the developments of the years 1951-54. It supplements the 1952 publication "Harwell-The British Atomic Energy Research Establishment, 1946-51." Part 11, written more for scientists but nonspecialists, treats selected researches of amorefundamental type in physics, chemistry, and metallurgy. American readers familim with similar activity on this side of the Atlantic will learn I:**,^ A.b"L7
