free valence values of individual carbon atoms as well an bond orders in conjugated cyclic materials may he derived. I n the next t n o chapters two mmewhat related groups of natural prodoots arc discussed-fungal metabolites including some of the natural chlorine-rontaininp organic rompounds and other biologically active natural products meh as usnic acid from lichens. The chapter on peptides and proteins (much the largest, comprising I I pages with 484 ~ d e r m r e r )gives a n aerount of rerent advances in t h i ~important field. 1Iet.hods for idmtifyinp terminal groups, far the determination of the total st,rueture, and for chemical synthesis of polypeptides are prrsmted. The biosynthesia of polypeptides is also discussed. In this as ncll as in other chapters, attention is given to problem* of biagenesis. In the last chspter emphasis is on up-t,o-dat,e methods of preparation, hut attention is called t o salient chemical charaet,rristic., psrbiculerly stcreochemistr:and opt,ical activity due to msenic and antimony. A st,rennous effort has obviously been made t o bring the reviews as u p - t d a t e as possible ss evidenced by the numerous references in ~ a r hchapter t o articles p r h l i s h d in 195i.
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L. A . G O L D B L l T T
U. S. D w ~ n r n or r ~A~o n r c u ~ ~ u n ~ Nsr Onm,\as. L a u ~ s m l i ~
THE STRATEGY OF CHEMOTHERAPY Edited by S. T. Cowan and E. Rowoft, Central Public Health Laboratory, London. Cambridge University Press, New York, 360 pp. 16.5 X 25 cm. 19S8. viii
+
57. I\' SIXTEEN chapters, the present and future problems of chemotherapy arp reviewed h y nineteen competent and prominent American and British contributors who participated in this symposium in London in April, 1958. Obviously, t h e manunrripts must havc been submitted in advance: the unusually prompt pnhlieat,ion of these artirlrs gives the hook a stamp of timeliness and up-to-dateness. The chapters include such subjects as general hiaehemieal principles of chemotherapy; antibiatirs in chemotherapy: selective inhihition of hacterial cell w d synbhesis; surface-active bactericides: memhrane penetration and the therapeutic value af chemicals; inhibitors of energy supplying reactions; lethal s,vnthesis; selective inhihit,ion of virus mult,iplieation; specific inhibitors of protein ~ynthesis; mechanismfi of chemotherapeutic synergy; and the chemotherapy of hacterial, fungal, and some protozoal diseases. The book in addresped to advanced readers with a well-founded understanding in organic and physical chemistr.~, in microbial biochemistry and t h e horderline areas between these sciences. I t (Continued on. page AO80)
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
is not too much t o say t h a t t,he past, thc present state, and the future of chemat,herapy have not been smlt,inir;ed more intelligently since Paul Ehrlieh wrote some of his timeless observations i n this field. While many ~ y m p o s i sonly review the published literature, the present book carefully a n a l y s ~ sand weighs each advance and failure, and makes bold, clear, and workable suggefitiona for future Esearches. Every medical scientist should read the rhapters by D. D. Woods s n d R . G. Tucker (The Relation of St,rategy t o tactic^: Rome General Biochemical Principles), J. T. Park (Inhibition of Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis in Chemotherapy), P. Mitchell (Membrane Penetration and t.he Therapeutic Value of Chemicals), and D. W. Woalley (The Design of Antimrt,xbolites). These and somo of the 0 t h ~ articles show artists in medical science a t work and reveal their methods, thoughts, and hopes for the future. I n a symposium with so many contributions, there are hound t o he errors and t,ransgressions from conservative standards of sricntific publication. But one cannot glimpse the future and remain conservative at the same time. The critical reader may he embarrassed bv t h e unorthodox thonghts of somo predictions, by the self-centeredness of Woolley's chapter, or by the apologetic defense of unplanned, random chemotherapy through the nevertheless superbly sueressful antibiotir approach. But them passing thoughts d l he w e p t sway hy bhe impression of the whole symposium, which explains the status and expanding future of drug science as it has seldom been done beforo in a critical manner. ALFRED B U R G E R U~rrr.nslrrO F vinclvlr Cx*~~orrr;srrl.~r;, v,nc,s,*
CRYSTAL STRUCTURES. CHAPTERS 11 AND 1 2
Rolph W. G. Wyckoff, Laboratory of: Physical Biology, National Institute of! Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, Befhesda,. Maryland. Interscience Publishers, Inc.,. New York, 1957. 19.5 X 24.5 Ern. (With Supplement 111) WITH the publication of the. above. data, Dr. Wyckoff continues his manumental task of preparing a classified directory of crystal structures. The five. volumes of Crystal Structures (to which. two new chapters are now being added),. contain descriptions of the structure and. organization of atoms and molecules in crystals. These descriptions summarize the results of X-ray diffraction studies on single erystals and contain drawings of the molecular packing which have been prepared for these volumes. The material is presented in loose leaf form so that these additions may easily be inserted into their proper locations in the existing volumes. Each chapter is di-
(Continued on page A62S) JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION;
