reviews This snpplement also dise~issesthe three linear transforms commonly wed to evaluate the constants V,.. sndK, and points out that t,he Lineweaver-Bnrk plot is generally the least aocrmte. There are brief diac~~ssionsof competitive and "on-compet,it,ive inhibition and t,mnsport kinetics. The appendix provides some n concise useful Westions as derivations of some of the kinetic eqnations. There are some defects in this text'. The ,,nits of K , are derived not on the basis of s. simple dimensional analysis but rather on the basis of the posit,ion of K, on a sat,nration curve. More significently, the authors do not carefolly distinguish of K, and the rebetween the activity of the snbst.rate. That this is important is most strikingly illustrated by the fact that same optically active strates bind to prot,eolyt,ic enzymes in an order which is the reverse of their reaetiv. ities, When nectians rephrased this will he an programmed sup plement. Even so, ihis presentation of enayme kinetics is mnch het,ter Lhan that given in most corrent hiochemistry texthooks and should he considered by any instmlctor iesching imdergradoate biochemistry. ROBERT L. VANETTEN Purdae Unioersilr~ Lafayelie, Indiana
Oxygen and Oxidation. Theories and Techniques in the 19th Century and the First Part of the 20th
Eduard Farbcr, The American Ulliversity, Wnshinglon, D. C., Washington Academy of Sciences, 1530 P St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 20005, 1967. vii 111 PP. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 22.5
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cm.
94.25.
Paprrbonnd.
~h~ title of this book is nccumte, but, the s,lhtit,le and t,he repilintion of the chemists all author tell the real too often fail to renlise how $hey can learn modern pmetieal( !) of how bo,h concel,ts and by techniqoes developBd, hi^ hook is not a. rehash of the phlogiston hypol,hcsis; it is only mentioned a few ,,imes. N~~ is it an. other review of current research on oridation. ~ ~ tit fills h a~ gap ~ bet,ween, , ~h~ oxygen-based of which evolved early in the nineteenth c o n t w "O flash Of gel'iils-it was a natural consequence of interpreting observations. I t s development enconntered powerful overriding philosophical slmggles with hter it had to hand'e lhefacts the hypothesis "ltimntely it even 'llrvived lhe cha'le"ge electrolysis. in any more than footnote-abtention l o the anthor's statement, "The primarily theoretienl aim of the oxygen-based system developed into methods of chemical prodnelion, of which lhc industries of wdfnric acid aud
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aniline dyesitrffs were ihe ewliest and largesf." There is n grenl deal of information in these 100 pages. The nnlhor gives the incis the disrovel.el.ssintetl them. ~li.. seler(ion o,.deri,,g ,,f
