BOOK REVIEWS developments of chemistry a s applied science, and in general, the theory of chemistry is presented in a n accurate and acceptable manner. The illustrations are, for the most part, good and easily understood line drawings. The ~hotographs are recent and of reasonably good quality. The book falls short as do all of the other chemistry texts in developing principles in a. connected and integrated way. The question and problem material still leaves something to he desired, this in spite of the added section s t the end of the book. All in all, this book stands out in the reviewer's mind as being good among other high school texts which are notably poor. JACOB SKIIXEN Walnut Hills High School Cincinnati,Ohio The Biological Replicotion of Macromolecules
Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, Number 12. Acsdemio 255 Press, Inc., New York, 1958. vi pp. 16 X 25.5 cm. $11.50. The single property most generally regardedas ehc~racteristicofthat difficultly defined state known as life, is the expressed ability of self-replication. By the time replication has occurred all aspects of the living cell, so far as we know, and except for mutational alteration of aome, sre replicated. The expert point of view is that macromolecules are most. intimately involved in this process. The hnrden of self-replication may be carried by nueleic acid, nucleoprotein, or nncleic acid and protein. Insofar a9 we know, the meehanism of replication may vary from one orgmism to another or even within the aamc organism. In no case is the process sufficiently understood that anyone can aver successfully that it is. At the present time the replication of macromolecules is a. popular field of inquiry. Some of the speculation in this ares. is extremely vivid. Some of the experimentation (which is of course based also on speoulation), is extremely ingenious. This book describes endeavor of each kind, particularly the latter. The volume comprises 17 articles, each of which treata some a ~ p e cof t the theme in a special way. The typical degree of complexity is quite involved. The book has much to recommend i t to the moderately specialized reader hut most of it is not particularly suitable for R general or casud reader. Four chapters which are exceptions are the introduction, Self-reproduction and All That by G. Pontecorvo; On Protein Synthesis hv F. H. C. Crick; Protein Synthesis as Part of the Problem of Biological Rcplieation, by J. 1,. Simkin and T. S. Work, and Processes Co-ordinating Intrscellular Activity, by Alfred Marshak. Mom recently Crick has likened the process of transfer of information from nucleic acid to protein to that of a tape recorder in contrast to that of the mare popular concept of a negative tem(Continued on page A7IO)
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Journal o f Chemical Education
BOOK REVIEWS plet action rts in this presentation. Remarks on specificity and chemical taxonomy indicate this author has missed some literature. I n this and other aspects of a fast-moving field the hook is inevitably dated. For the general reader, it would have been helpful t,o have a eoneluding chapter to summarize and integrate the interpretations within ibs pages. This is however too much to expert a t this stage in our knowledge or, rat,her, ignorance. The henefits that are most likely to accrue to students seeking orientat,ion are in the way of vigorous intellectus1 exercise in a simificant asoect of modern hiochemistry and possible intensive inspiration of a. few individuals t,o pursue one or more of the many intellectual stimuli. Perhaps one of these will bring our knowledge of sequence of units in nucleic acids to the point now attained for sequences of amino acid residues in protein molecules. When that day arrives, understanding of the coding process should be much surer. This reviewer is struck by one of the necessarily many kinds of omission. Kone of the experts included seem very seriously to consider the notion of a eontribvtion by protein molecules to internal control of amino acid sequence. Instead they virtudly all rely in their premises on nucleic acid, which takes on the suthoritv of an outside rteent. Is it heritage of authoritarian, or even supernaturturalistic, preconceptions from which science emerges only slowly?
SIDNEY W. FOX Florida Slate lTnzuemity Tallahasree Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry. Volume 13
Edited by Melville L. Woljmn and R. Stumt Tipson. Academic Press, Inc.. New York, 1958. xi 386 pp. Tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $11.
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This volume continues a series of v-ellwritten authoritative articles a-hich sommarize and modernize diverse aapects of the carbohydrates. Those who have used previous volumes will alno find much of value and interest in the present volume as well. The editors have selected topics ranging from theoretical to applied. Organic, biological m.u industrial aspects are considered, The chapters and authors are ns follows: Formation and Cleavage of the Oxygen Ring in Sugars, by F. Shsfizadeh; The Lobry de Bruyn-Alberda van Eckenstein Transformation, by John C. Speck, Jr.; The Formazsn Reaction in Carhohydratte Res~arch,by L. Mester; The FourCarhon Saccharinic Acids, by James D. Crom; The Methyl Ethers of Z-Amino-2Drony Sugars, by Roger W. Jeanloz; Glycosyl Ureides, by Irving Goodman; The Nonulossminic Acids, by F. Zilliken (Continued on page A71B)
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