Principles of Biochemistry by Abraham White, Philip Handler, Emil L. Smith, and DeWitt Stetten, Jr. (review)

different from that pursued during graduate years, and make courses in the history and philosophy of scienceobligatory, etc. Finally, by all means, discourage overwhelmingprojectresearch and encourage long-term fundamental research programs. Give the individual investigator the opportunity to express himselffreely, without stifling him by administrative duties, on the one hand, and the burden ofsupervision of numerous technicians, on the other. So the microbiologist, or at least some ofhim, continues to flout contemporary scientific mores, and to this the reviewer can only add AMEN. William Burrows University ofChicago Principles of Biochemistry. By Abraham White, Philip Handler, Emil L. Smith, and DeWitt Stbtten,Jr. 2d ed. New York: Blakeston Division, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1959. Pp. xiii-l-1149. $15.00. The first edition ofthis text excited general approval and became popular among students because it was a mature guide to the subject yet was written clearly and organized well for both teacher and student. This second edition has all the virtues of the first and in addition includes some correlative material basic for understanding ofdisease and brings all the aspects of the field up to date. The authors have done all this without lengthening the text greatly—an achievement to be recommended and admired. All too often textbooks are modelled upon mail-order catalogues, revisions or editions consisting principally ofadded pages or paragraphs listing the new "lines" ofshoes, dresses, and notions acquired since the previous catalogue was issued. In the dim and distant past, some twenty-five years ago, it was still possible for one biochemist to write an acceptable text. The explosive development ofthe field since then makes such a feat well nigh impossible. The virtues of this collaborative text lie in the happy fact that the combined research experience ofthe four authors is broad enough to allow authoritative handling ofpractically all the divisions ofthis complex field. Their teaching experience guides the presentation and selection ofmaterial. The authors point out in the Preface that the book was intended primarily for students ofmedicine and physiology and that it emphasizes data derived from general mammalian and human sources. Overwhelmingly, the book is used now and will be in the future by medical students and physicians. Over ninety per cent of medical students will practice the art of medicine in all its branches. Increasingly a knowledge of biochemical events and processes is vital to the intelligent handling ofdiagnostic and therapeutic problems. The finest teaching and the best textbooks in the first or second years ofthe four-year medical curriculum still seem inadequate for the main task ofinstilling a biochemical approach in the practice ofmedicine . A thorough course ofapplied biochemistry in the senior year, when the student is aware ofthe demands ofclinical medicine, may be an answer. However, the curriculum is already full to overflowing. For this and many other reasons, a five-year course seems inevitable . Many educators believe that this year can be "squeezed out" ofthe twelve now 439 deemed necessary to prepare a pupil to enter college. It might then be possible to teach the material presented in this textbook, and its pertinence to clinical problems, in more detail , with emphasis on the chemical aspects during the preclinical years and on the pathophysiological viewpoint during the clinical portions ofthe medical curriculum. Rachmiel Levine Michael Reese Hospital Chicago, Illinois Heredity Counseling. Edited by Helen G. Hammons. New York: Hoeber-Harper, 1959. Pp. XV+112. $4.00. In the burgeoning field of medical genetics, two broad subdivisions may be distinguished : the basic science area of genetics in medical research, and the clinical aspects of human genetics. Although the former offers the greater potential for spectacular future advances, the latter is ofimmediate interest to practitioners and is the topic ofthis book, which represents a symposium sponsored by the American Eugenics Society. In Part I, hopefully entitled "Genetics in Medical Practice,"J. Warkany comments on the difficulty ofreliable parental counseling in pediatrics in view ofthe etiological heterogeneity ofcertain malformations and mental retardations. Carl Witkop briefly but comprehensively reviews heritable dental abnormalities; then Dyson, Witkop, and Butters give an anecdotal account ofthe role ofpublichealth nurses in the study ofheritable diseases in a population isolate. Finally, Victor McKusick discusses cardiovascular diseases, which seem to depend on...