reviews The Molecule and Its Double Jean Jacques. McGraw-Hill, Inc.: New York, 1993 (McGrawHill Horizons of Science Series). Translated (by Lee Scanlon) from the French La Molecule et son double. 128 DO. 15 x 22.8 cm. $10.95 PB.
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Louis Pasteur's seminal discoveries that laid the mundwork for the development of stereoehemistry are the centerpiece of this engaging little hook mitten for the layman. Although the story of Pasteur's first discovery, that of the resolution of sodium ammonium tartrate by the hand picking of enantiomorphic crystals, is well known to students of organic chemistry. The other discoveries made during the first five years of Pasteur's scientific career deserve to be better known than they are. These are the discoveries of the classic diastereomer-mediated resolutions and of kinetic resolutions: and the discovery of racemization. The author also examines the connection of Pasteur's discoveries to crystallography and Pasteur's introduction of the concept of dissymmetry to rationalize his observations. With nary a n equation present (and very few formulas, the absence of whieh is explained on p 471, the book blends history and philosophy of chemistry with fundamentals of stereochemistry in a n interesting way. The author leads readers to pander the connection of stereochemistry to such disparate concerns as the odor and taste of organic compounds, the nature and content of modem pharmaceutical agents, and the origin of the unique handedness of c h i d substances i n nature. The b w k consists of a n intraduction by Dominique Lecourt, a prologue and three chapters: I. Past e u r discovers "dissymmetry," 11. Asymmetric carbon a n d molecular chirality, and 111. Chirality and living things. This English version loses some of the sparkle of the original due to a too literal translation (that in turn leads to a few errors). Yet, this is an eminently readable book that I would recommend to undergraduates as early as the sophomore year as well as to graduate students for corollary reading i n elementary as well as in advanced courses in organic chemistry. The author, Jean Jacques, Emeritus Director of Research of the French CNRS Laboratory a t the College de France, Paris, is a prolific organic chemist hest known for his studies in stereoehemistry. He is as well a historian of science whose concerns for the papularization of science has led him to write the scripts of cartoons intended to introduce concepts of chemistry especially for young people. These appeared in the French magazine 2'Argonante. He also has written two other highly interesting b o k s for the general public regrettably not translated into English, Les confessions d'un chimiste ordinaim, [Confessions of a n ordinary chemist] (1981) and L'impreuu ou la science des objets trouues, [The unforeseen, or the science of the lost and found] (1990).
Samuel H. Wilen The City College, City University of New York New York. NY 10031
the fruits of their discoveries before the results have been substantiated (a practice called "concurrence," which is common in the medical, pharmaceutical, and Pentagon-sponsored R & D-the last being the single biggest U S . government science expenditure), and haw some scientists even alter their data when they fail to support the conclusions desired. His purpose, perhaps sarcastically and cynically but realistically stated, is "to show that the American scientific community is a s 'pure' and unbiased as the political machinery that dispenses its patronage and its funding." Bell analyzes dozens of cases of R & Din different fields (anthropology, earthquake engineering, weapons, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, etc.) t o show t h a t these examples represent a pronounced trend toward "fraud, compromise and political influence i n scientific research," the subtitle of his monograph. Among the cases revealed i n full detail for the first time are the 1986 NSF decision to grant $25 million to SUNY, Buffalo over UC, Berkeley to create a n earthquake engineering research center; the overselling of the nuclear pumped X-ray laser of SDI ("Star Wars"), which resulted in the first truth-in-science law, passed in 1988; the David Baltimore ease; the failure of the FDA to recall the widely prescribed but sometimes fatal painkiller Zomax from the market; and the withdrawal from the market of the defective Bjork-Shiley convexweoncave heart valve. Because funds are indispensable to the conduct of research, he follows the path that money follows to and from institutions to show the roles played by funding agencies, university officials, and private corporations. Bell demonstrates how and why the mechanisms supposed to make science self-correcting (grant peer review, journal peer review, and experimental replieation) are prone to abuse. One of the most disturbing aspects of his study is the retribution inflicted on whistle-blowers who attempt to expose cases of fraud and how the subsequent "investigation" of the fraud by university or funding agencirs hrcomes an rnvestignrion ol'the mforrnant and a coverup ol the d e g e d fraud. The overwhelming majority of scwntists hove nor hwn involved dlreerlv in rhr fraud, corn~mmisc.and ~ a l l t ~ e a l influence i n research, but they have remainkd silent onlobkers or have looked the other way. Also, attempts of the scientific community a t "self-regulation" have proven inadequate. The solutions to the problem that Bell endorses involve correcting the patronage system, which is no longer able to cope effectively with the increasing acceleration of research activity. H e advocates the separation of control from funding a t funding organizations; legislation to encourage universities receiving federal funding to prevent or a t least publicize conflicts of interest, with effective sanctions for those which do not comply: and refmement of existing legislation to provide sanctions against offenders, remedies to the whistle-blowers, and due process to all involved in federally supported research. Bell's sobering revelation of a consistent but unfortunate picture of how science currently operates in the United States should help "to banish the secrecy that surrounds science funding and encourage reexamination of the conduct of science in today's world." It is required reading for everyone interested in the pursuit of scientific truth.
George B. Kauffman
Im ure Science: Fraud, Cornpmrnise, and Political lnfkence in Scientific Research Robert Bell. Wiley: New York, 1992. wi + 301 pp. 15.0 x 22.7 crn. $22.95. Science has been suffering from a 'bad press" for decades, and recent evidence of scientific fraud a t the highest levels has exacerbated the situation. In this meticulously researched, shattering indictment of the scientific community, Robert Bell, Professor of Ecanomics a t Brooklyn College, City University of New York, makes extensive and detailed use of whistle-blowing investigations, published documents, personal inteniews, testimony given under oath, evidence from court cases, and inside sources to demonstrate how science funding is influenced hy conflict of interest and pork barrel politics, haw scientists, eager to cash in on '%breakthrough"discoveries, begin manufacturing and developing
California State University, Fresno Fresno, CA 93740
Titles of Interest The Work Environment. Volume 2, Healthcare, Laboratories and Biosafety Doan J. Hansen, Eo lor. -ewis Publsners: POB 519, Cnelsea, M. 48118 1993. 351 pp. Fgs. and Tables. 16.4 x 24.3 cm 555.00 L S $66 00 F.
This volume focuses an contemporary issues and the potential occupational h a z a d s facing healthcare and scientific professions today. The book covers important topics such as the Bloodborne
Volume 71
Number 2
February 1994
A53
