BOOK REVIEWS Except for coaoervate droplets used in experiments as cell models, Professor Oparin's contributions have been predominantly dialectical. As hi Preface states on p. xii, the results supporting premises 4 and 5 are to be found more fully in a volume of the 1963 symposium held a t Wakulls. Springs, Florida. Other recent books such as John Keosim's "The Origin of Life" and Jackson and Moore's "Life in the Universe" discuss more fully t,hm does this volume the crucial subject matter of advances of types 4 and 5, advances which have been registered since Oparin's 1957 book. The student could
supplement Oparin's latest presentation by such reading. The interpretation of experiments providing new understanding of the origin of macromolecules and of eeUs are not consistent with Professor Oparin's premises of an aqueous primeval broth or his belief that protein arising spontaneously must have been "disorderly" and that "disorderly" protein evolved to more ordered polymers. Many ways in which amino seids might have arisen on the primitive Earth have been suggested by several laboratories. In 1954, George Wdd proposed in a general manner that order within larger molecules was implicit in the monomers and this principle can he extended to nucleic
acids and to protocells. Experiments which have been published since 1957 explain such relationships in detail, but are not presented here. The musicians contributing tones to a. possible orchestration of the theory of the origin of life me simultaneously reading from different scores; at present much discordance e m be heard. A mare suie able presentation for the rtudient would he one in which each score is presented separately. Oparin's new book gives us neither a program of individual recitations nor simultaneous harmony. The incressing number of serious students of theories of the origin of life can however gain from reading each of Oparin's hooks, including this one. They should bear in mind that this latest edition treats in fewer pages a subject matter which has itself expanded since Oparin's 495-page volume which was presented in 1957.
SIDNEYW. FOX Institute of Molecular Euolutia Uniuersity of Miami Coml Gables, Florida Molecular Orbitals in Chemistry, Phyrics, and Biology Edited by Per-Olov Lowdin, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Bernard Pullman, Universitd de Paris, France. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1964. xiii 578 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $22.
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I agreed to review "IMolecular Orbitals in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology" mainly because I was curious to see what a book with such a fantastic title would be like. I t turns out that the volume consists of 33 papers, all dedicated to a fantastic man, Professor R. S. Mulliken (or, if you prefer, Professor Molecule). There is no question in my mind that Professor Mulliken richly deserves the honor. Since it is obviously impossible for me to review every contribution, I can only give some idea of the level and the scope of the volume. All but two of the uauers are original research contributions designed for an audience thoroughly trained in quantum mechanics. There is a reasanable balance between papers on calcuhtions of small molecules and papers on the treatment of organic rr-systems. However, I was saddened to see that only a part of one paper was devoted to the application of MO theory to metal complexes. This certainly does not reflect the fact that Professor Mulliken's work has greatly influenced the recent surge of research in the area of electronic structures of transition metal complexes. All researchers and advanced students interested in the electronic structures of ~nol..rulvcshotrla own copy nf this lhmk. I t n.ill w v e as n rcminrlrr 14I ~ profwnd P con~riburiunroi 11.e mrn who h ; ~ s d d r d so much to our understanding of electrons in molecules.
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HARRY B. GRAY Columbia University Nms York
(Continued on page A2261
A224 / Journol o f Chemical Education
