BOOK REVIEWS Faivre 2nd It. Weiss. Separate paging fur earh of the three projected parts evident,ly is intended, its this part has its own paging and indexing, although i t is designated as the third part r,f volume. The tahles in the section for tin are used frequently and etfert,ively, and they hnve exrellent hibliographic notes. As is the rase with the entire treatise, bihliogmphies are listed frequently and contain numerous reierenres. A number of hihliographies might well have been brought closer t o tho date of publication, and n few do not go beyond 1053, although most are rcmunahly up t o d a k . The index is f i ~ rfrom thorough but a good arrangement in the treatment of earh element :md its compu~~nds does much t o overrome this handicap. The greatest use of the set undoubtedly will he ~8 n reference t d , but much use can lhe made c,i individosl vnlurnev and their parts ior intensive reading and stud:. 35 well. This :tppears to be the ease with t,hr mat,eri:d in this part of Volume 8.
nucleie acids and their components are succinctly presented. The remaining two thirds of the hook is devoted to the exposition of the metnbolism of biochemical compounds and the integration of metabolism, presented clearly with pertinent diagrams, figures, equations, and schemes for reaction sequences. After the general characterination of the enzymes in one chapter, the individual enzymes, of known metabolic importance, are introduced as the resetions they catalyze are encountered. Vitamins are presented as participants in meti~hrrlism with emphasis on the coenzymatic activities af their derivatives and wit11 indication of wlmt is known of t l u m vitamins (R, E , A, D, and C) with no established coenzymatic function. Nutritionnl aspects of the vitamins are not included. The authors have concisely presented
the salient aspoets of the catabolism of the carbohydrates and fats, and the associated and ensuing electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation. The catabolism of the amino acids is briefly indicated. Outlines of the biosynthesis of carbohydrates (including plmtosyntheais), fatty acids, other lipids, purines, pyrimidines, porphyrins, nucleie acids, and proteins are admirably up-to-date. Digestion, ahsorption and excretion: the urea cycle, and the nitrogen cycle in nature are outlined. Clear introductions t o biochemical genetics and metabolic regulation are especially cnmment-worthy. This book, not designed to be erhaust i d y encyclopedic, provides, in brief compass but in generous measure, a referenee "dietionr~ry"far terms, concepts, and reactions of modern biochemistry. As (Contin~
