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fractions. The same can be said of column design methods. Hence, those expecting a review and summary of recent literature in the field will he disappointed. It is peculiar that, after the A. I. Ch. E., A. 6. A., and A. C. S. have set up certain standard symbols and notation a text in a chemical engineering series would fail to follow these standards. The consistent use of mol rather than mole is probably due to the desire t o use the old illustrations rather than make new ones. Others apparent are p for z (compressibiltiy), 0 for L (liquid flow in column), and others. The abundant references to M. I. T. theses and 10.45 notes which are not available to the nonresident of Cambridge could undoubtedly he replaced by journal references tbat would he of greater general value. Many of the journal references should he modernized; thus, instead of referring to Othmer's article in 1928 the 1948reference should heused, as it refers t o all of his previous papers in the field of vaporliquid equilibrium. Because this book is well-written and does cover excellently the field of distillation, it will be used widely as an advanced text and its a reference book. KENNETH A. KOBE U~messrTrOP T E X A ~ AU~TIN. TEX*~
CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY
W.A. Sexton, Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., Manchester, 412 England. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1950. xld pp. 36 figs. 57 tables. 15.5 X 25.5 cm. $10.
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THE relation between chemical constitution and biological activity is of intense interest to workers in both the basic and applied soiences, and it is not surprising that the point of emphasis will he different for the two groups of investigators. It is the reviewer's opinion that the present monograph is more likely to appeal to those primarily interested in application rather than in basic principles. It may be noted that the author's implied goal is "the design of physiologically active molecules." In the introduction the author han provided an interesting historical account of the development of synthetic organic medicinals and of the premises behind this development. The treatment of this topic indicates an awareness as to present status and problems and as to what is fact and hypothesis. The general tone is somewhat optimistic. The monograph can be considered t o be composed of three parts; the first, Chapters I to V inclusive, is anaccount of what may be termed the chemistry of the probable in silu reactants, or matrix elements, and of the general nature of the reactions of these substances with diffusible reactants. The first chapter contains a very brief account of the current ideas relative to the structure of the proteins, nucleic acids, and polysitcoharides. It is not apparent why the lipids me ignored. It is the reviewer's opinion that the section devoted to enayme action could be subst,nntjaJlvimmoved bv admtine . -a more auantitative attitude. A reader familiar with the concepts of enzyme chemietry may be annoyed by the terminology employed in the second chapter entitled Chemical Mechanisms Determining Drug Activity. The use of "inhibition by neutralization" for the well established "irreversible inhibition" and the failure to clearly distinguish hetween the various types of reversible interactions cannot be commended. The examdes given for irreversible inhibition are well chosen. I n contrast, t h e reader cannot be certain tbat the erample8 given for "inhibition by competition'' are truly illustrative since the only test applied is that of reversibility in very complex systems. In view of the author's use of conventional structural farmulss to interpret physiological activity the reviewer would like to advance the proposition that the interpretation of some reactions of physiological interest may he beyond the scope of such models. A discussion of soluhility phenomena, bond types, stereoohemistry, surface chemistry, cellular permeability, and the kinetics of bacterial growth is given in Chapter 111 under the A
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heading of Some Physico-Chemical Considerations. The trestment is far too brief and is generally superficial. The reviewer believes that the author's reluctance to adopt a more rigorous treatment, where such a. treatment is possible, seriously detracts from the usefulness of his monograph. The last two chapters, of the first section are respectively titled Modification of Drugs By Living Organi~msand Effects of Specific Chemical Groupings. The first of these two chapters is a reasonable account of the fate of organic oompounds in living systems. Chapter V is based upon an analogy to dyestuff chemistry and elaborates on the proposition that biological activity can be explained, a t least in part, on s. functional group basis. The author is clearly aware of the limitations of this approach and the contents of this chapter, with but one or two exceptions, offer little that would not he surmised by anyone familiar with elementary organic chemistry. The second part of the book, namely Chapters VI to XIII inclusive, is a series of essays on the chemistry and biologicrtl sctivity of those oompounds which are commonly recognized as vitamins, or growth factors, and are known or presumed to be functional as prosthetic groups of enzyme systems. The topics covered are: nicotinamide, riboflavin, thiamine, p-aminobenzoic acid, pyridoxin, pantothenic acid, biotin, pyrimidines, purines, pterins, porphyrins, cholines, and quinones. The account given is adequate and is written in a reasonably critical vein. Many tables purporting to relate chemical structure and biological activity are given. The essay on p-aminobenzoic acid provides an interesting example of how a theory which was originally satisfying, because of a limited amount of data, has grown into a veritable monster by the introduction of numerous ad hoc hypotheses in order to explain additional observations. The third and last part of the book is concerned with areas which, as the author points out, have been selected in a rather arbitrary manner. Chapter XIV contains a brief review of the more common antibiotics, Chapter XV a r6sum6 of the chemistry of several of the hormones, and Chapter XVI a description of a number of bactericides and fungicides. The antiprotozoal drugs are discussed in Chapter XVII and the insecticides and anthelmentics in Chapter XVIII. The last three chapters, namely XIX to XXI, are devoted to cancer, plant growth regulators, and antigens and antibodies. I n these chapters, ss well as in the previous ones, no attempt has been made to present an exhaustive literature survey. At the end of each chapter a number of selected references are given, including some as recent as 1948. The leek of success in relating chemical constitution to biological activity, except in very limited areas, is not due to any deficiency of this monograph, far it is doubtful that anyone could do a substantially better job a t the present time. It is reasonably clear that a real understanding of the above topic is not even close and that the occasiont~lsuccess achieved in the development of a new "miracle drug" has contributed but little to the elaboration of basic principles. CARL NIEMANN CAGIIORNIA I N ~ I T D TOFB TECANOLOBT P m ~ o r n ~C n .a u r o ~ ~ u
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THE EFFECTS OF ATOMIC WEAPONS Prepared under the direction of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Executive editor: Samuel Glasstone. McGraw-Hill Bwk Co., New York, 1950. x 456 pp. Illustrated. 16 X 23.5 cm. $2.25.
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A REVIEW of this book may conveniently start with the crude description of an atomic explosion as a bright light, gust of wind or, possibly, surge of water, and many "hot" atoms. Something like a third of the book is devoted to an account of the manner in which these phenomena develop. A second major portion of the text is concerned with predictions, and illustration by examples from the several bursts, of what happens to property and persons as a result. Finally there are discussions of possible defenses against atomic weapons. The book is a joint effort of many persons, 24 being listed as
