Life and Disease Edited by Dwight J. Ingle (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Life andDisease. Edited by DwightJ. Ingle. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1963. Pp. xi-f441 . $8.50. This book is a collection oftwenty-six reflective and imaginative essays selected from perspectives in biology and medicine. In the Preface the editor emphasizes that theory and experiment are inseparable elements ofscience, in that there can be no theory without data to inspire it,just as there can be no experiment unless there is a hypothesis to motivate it. The contributors include H.J. Müller, M. Calvin, S. A. Waksman, F. M. Burnet, C. Heymans,J. C. Eccles, and A. Szent-Györgyi. The articles are grouped under seven headings —evolution, infection, metabolism, the circulatory system, cancer, the nervous system , and the "temple oflife." There can be no doubt that the importance in biology oftheoretical thought has increased rapidly during the past fifteen years. While theoreticalphysics became established long ago as the result ofits fundamental contributions to many branches ofphysics, nonexperimental theoretical attempts in biology were looked upon by an earlier generation as fruitless speculations, as soon as they attempted more than an immediate explanation of experimental observations. The change which has come about may be ascribed to two major circumstances. One is the view now gaining wide recognition that the assembling of facts proceeding at an ever-increasing tempo must be accompanied by attempts to correlate them and to bring them into a coherent system. The other is the outstanding success ofsome ofthe "theoretical" attempts in biology. One ofthese is the Crick-Watson model ofthe structure ofDNA. Although originating from experimental data, the concept went far beyond the mere interpretation ofmeasurements and rapidlyjustified itself as one of the most fruitful theoretical contributions to biology. Another highly promising theoretical contribution, again springing from grounds prepared by experimental observations, are the "models" ofMonod andJacob on the regulation ofgene expression —the development of their concepts of structural genes, regulator genes, gene repressors, and the operon, first formulated in i960. These have proved an inspiring guide and promise to be ofno less importance than the Crick-Watson model. Both have done exactly what a good theory should do. They brought order and coherence inwhat was a bewildering chaos offacts, and suggested and guided further experimentation. Worthwhile theoretical contributions are infinitely more difficult to achieve than worthwhile experimental ones, and the number ofsuccessful theoretical physicists and chemists has always been small compared with the number ofsuccessful experimentalists. The theoretical difficulties in biology are certainly no less great. They may well be even greater because theoretical physics and chemistry contain a mathematical element which can be subjected to checks. No analogous checks are available in biology. 251 So it is to be expected that the ultimate value ofthe various contributions to this book will vary a great deal. Careful selection, however, has ensured that all the papers are well worthwhile because they stimulate reflection, show how creative genius works—for all contributors have the credential ofhaving made important experimental contributions to science—and provide absorbing reading matter. H. A. Krebs University ofOxford Nerve, Brain and Memory Modeh (Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 2). Edited by N. Wiener andJ. P. Schade. New York: Elsevier Pub. Co., 1963. Pp. viii-f-280. $15.00. It can be argued that ifwe are ever going to understand our own brains it will have to be withinthe framework ofa mathematical model. This is probably true, but at thepresent time the mathematics upon which such a model must be based has yet to be invented. This book is a collection oftwenty papers by a group ofspecialists who are concerned with the attempt to construct a useful formal model for the work ofthe nervous system. In its present stage ofdevelopment, this concern finds itselflimited to the elaboration ofa public language and the statement ofa set ofproblems to be solved. The papers were presented at a conference on cybernetics of the nervous system held in Amsterdam in April, 1962. The major interest at this conference was simulation ofthe mechanics and outputs ofthe nervous system. This is perhaps one reason why there is so little emphasis on the biology, biochemistry, and biophysics ofthe brain. Most ofthe participants are well known to those who work...