B O O K REVIEWS their respective fields. In each chapter the author presents the past accomplishments, current methods, and future trends in the subiect under discussion. These r t m i n v c ilm+! 1111 ~ u d l m jljh t (.tpwI~ng t1.r l i t t w r u n . i n tIww s,wi:,l n n m for t l w reader. The contents are as follows: Laminar Flow of Single-Phase Newtonian Systema h y Professor Acrivos; Turbulent Flow of Newtoniiln Systems by C. A. Sleieher; Liquid-Liquid Extraction by R. B. Olney and R. S. Miller; Non-Newtanianism in Thin Liquids: Molecular and Physical Aspects by E. W. Merrill; Viscoelastic Phenomena in Thick Liquids: Phenomenological Analysis by A. G. Fredericksnn; Solid-Fluid Systems by F. A. Zenz; Flow of Fluids Through Porous Materials by R. E. Collins; &-Liquid Flaw in Conduits by A. E. Dukler and M. Wicks, 111; Absorption and Distillation by J. E. Vivian and C. J. King; Chromatographic Separations by R. F. Baddour and J. R. Vdbert; Process D,pamim and Control by L. Lapidus and I). E. Lamh. The only critical comment from this reviewer is the type used in the printing of the hook. Apparently, the type is too hold and after several lrours of perusal, the eEdenoy of reading decreases greatly as compared to the type used in most chemical engineering books. In many cases the figures are dificult to read because of the small size. These are minor items hut should be taken rare of in the following editions. A copy of this bock should be on the book shelf of each professor and each industrial worker specializing in one of the areas covered by the book. ~~
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and sources of representative and unusual examples, chcmieal and physical properties and function, techniques of isolation and characterization, and litorsture references to comprehensive reviews and specific papers. The danger of mistaking artifacts produced during isolation for naturally occurring eompounds is well illustrated. Far well-known classes such as carbohydrates and amino acids, emphasis is placed an lessor known examples, but for alkaloids, tho importance and widespread oecurrcnce are not adequately conveyed. Structure proofs and syntheses, which usually oocupy much of the literature on natural products, arc not discussed, since they are not ol concern to the biologist. In almost all instances i t will be necessary to consult the original literature or reviews for the details on experimental procedures or for inrlusive h t s of compounds of a given group;
the wellaelected refercnccs make this no problem at all. The survey of structures produced by higher plant. is quite cxtonsive; the only omissions noted by this reviewer are the fluorine-containing fatty acids present as toxic constituents of scveral plants and 2-aminaethylphosphanic acid, the only known occurrence of the C-P bond. Rcaders desiring to acquire a knowledge of the types of cmnpounds that occur naturally should bear in mind that this irr not a survey of nll natural products found in plants and that a very large part of the recent work in t h field ~ has hren concerned with mirroorganisms, from whicll much moro unusual types of structures have bcm obtained. (The latter are eat,aloecd in "The Pfizer andb book o f M i c r o t k Metabolites.")
JOHN J. MCKETP* Un&rsiiy of Tezas Austin
The Organic Constituents of Higher Pbnfr: Their Chemistry and inferrelationships
Trevor Robinson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Burgess Publishing Co., Minneapolis, Minn., 1963. iii 306 pp. Figs. and tables. 22 X 28.5cm. $6.75.
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As biological research has become more and more a matter of chemical investigation, tho need of the biologist for knowledge on the chemistry of natwal products from s biological rst,her than chemical outlook has become more urgent. The purpose of Professor Trevor Robinson's hook is t o provide botanists with a. survey of the types of organic eompounds that occur in higher plants and their interrelationships without the burden of information of interest only to the chemist. Although the brief chapter titles do not indicate it, the compounds are grouped according to their mode of biagenesis rather than strictly by chemical structure; this novel and useful classification is an outstanding charaoteristic of the book. For each group are given the structures Volume
40, Number 12, December 1963
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A983
BOOK REVIEWS Thr w r y frw typographics1 errors in t h r t,est are trivial. A book of this t,ypr reqnirrs a. large number of strurt,ursl formnlns, and the abunrlsnce of sudl formulas is another rxccllent fpnture. Altlmuph most of t,l~eformula^ have ~ P I W reprodtwrd directly from t h e nutlior's drawinas, there aro numerous errors. pcrlmps murc than avPrage far such books. A Inrgc number of t h e formulas wpre cherkpd; errors were not,ed in tlrp strurturps given for salicin, gentisie acid, i n t,asmanone, o-kasin, khdlin, rucnrvonr, lancrol, hecogenin, s o h i d i n e , fnkugctin, thiamine, fatic acid, and folinir acid. Although such errors seriousl?detract from a n otherwise well-executed book and will be a thorn t o workers, the?nhould not bother t h e general reader. The avnidrtnre of unnecessary chemical jargon and conventions is desirnhle in a book intmdcd primarily f t ~ rbiologists. but tho UFP of double-hrsded arrows for reversible rrsctians (pp. 31, 32) is objectionable to chemists; t h e nonronvmtiand r~prenmtationof porphyrin ringn is coninsing: and the expression. "methylation in
