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ate chapters. Part 3 deals with the origin and diversity of life, with a general chapter on taxonomy and phylogeny and separate accounts of microorganisms, fungi and plants and animals. Part 4 deals exten- sively with the strategy of evolution, fin- ishingwith sociobiology and human evolu- tion and the text ends with a short Part 5 entitled ‘Alternate Futures’, which makes sure that the reader does not forget that the evolution of the earth and of human affairs has not stopped.

There is a glossary and an adequate index but no list of references and it is clear that the book is intended to be com- plete in itself for a certain type of reader. It is attractively produced and should cer- tainly find a ready market. The Honours student will, it is hoped, wish to learn a little more about how all this information was acquired.

J. W. S. PRINGLE

J. W. S. Pringle F.R.S. is Prqfessor of Zoology, at Oxford University, Oxford, V. K.

Genetics for all or none Genmanipulation und Gentherapie by W. Klingmiiller, published by Springer- Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg. New York, 1976. DM38.- (approx. $15.60)

The title of this book is quite accurate - W. Klingmiiller has written about recent progress in genetics with gene therapy and the saleable products of gene manipula- tion always in mind. He wrote the book ‘not only for colleagues and students but also for the educated layman, even the politician’. He warns the reader ‘he might have to think while reading’.

The book begins with a short introduc- tion to ‘the structure and function of the genetic material’ citing five German text- books, three German reviews by the au- thor and one article by Kornberg junior. The second chapter deals with ‘directed mutagenesis’. It lacks a clear statement

that mutations are random. It contains descriptions of mutagen specificity and hotspots as ‘almost’ examples of directed mutagenesis or gene therapy. Furthermore a few details are wrong or misleading: nitrosoguanidine is said to create trans- versions; a figure describing the action of nitrite on adenine, guanine and cytosine shows three out of six formulae wrong or misleading; two of the Q beta replicase subunits are said to ‘correspond’ to the elongation factors Tu and Ts and finally the central dogma is said not to allow RNA to replicate.

The main part of the book contains chapters dealing with the isolation of genes, transformation, plasmids, expres- sion of heterologous DNA, the nifoperon, cell-cell hybridization in plant and animal cells and the use of animal viruses for gene therapy. The strong point of the book is the generally accurate description of the many experiments in these chapters. Here the narrative style is terse and accurate. The bibliography is also quite good. How- ever, critical discussions are missing for example in the murky field of transforma- tion of ducks, petunias, fibroblasts or calli.

The book ends with a chapter ‘Gene therapy in the focus of public interest’. Here the author discusses the future and dangers of genetic engineering. The last figure of the book is a reproduction of the cover of a German magazine showing three young ladies sitting naked in a glass jar. Klingmiiller comments : ‘Friihliche Wissenschaft, Retortenbabys aus der Sicht des Optimisten’.

It seems to me that the book is much too detailed for non-biologists (let alone politicians) but not sophisticated enough for biologists interested in the field. Before the book gets translated the author might have to choose to rewrite it for just one group of readers.

B. MijLLER-HILL

B. Miiller-Hill is Professor at the Institut,fiir Genetik. Vniversittit zu KCln, West Germany.

Traditional practicals Experimental Biochemistry by John M. Clark Jr. and Robert L. Switzer, published by Freeman and Com- oany, Ltd., 1977. E6.50 (approx. $26.85) (335 pages)

Many of those faced with the chore of preparing and running laboratory classes will be glad of the help provided by these authors.

Intended for purchase as a lab-book by students of chemistry, biochemistry and biology undertaking practical biochem- istry, the book describes a course of ex- perimental work for degree students. After an initial chapter on the basic aspects of photometry, chromatography, isotopes, :lectrophoresis and centrifugation, further chapters cover experiments in enzymol- ogy, amino acids and proteins, carbo- hydrates, lipids and membranes, nucleic acids and metabolism. The sources of material for the 31 experiments range over commercially-available chemicals and materials (14), bacteria (S), labora- tory animals (3), slaughterhouse material (3) and plant material (2).

Liquid scintillation counting, polyacryl- amide gel electrophoresis and gradient centrifugation are among the techniques covered, but a substantial proportion of the experiments require reasonably simple apparatus. A good deal of emphasis is placed on the characterisation of naturally- occurring materials, after appropriate sep- aration and analysis in the preliminary stages. There are also, however, experi- ments in molecular biology which include the isolation of DNA, and of transfer RNAs (which are then assayed for speci- ficity for amino acids); and experiments in protein and RNA biosynthesis, together with others covering membrane transport, electron transport and photosynthesis. All in all, therefore, the course offered by this book provides a wide-ranging and thor- ough preparation for a first degree in a biochemistry-based subject.

Each chapter includes a good summary of the theoretical background to the tech- niques and areas explored. The appendices contain considerable detail on the prepara- tion of materials and solutions, and there are numerous other tables of useful infor- mation appropriate to a bench handbook, so that it may well be, as the authors claim, that many students find this a use- ful companion in the early stages of their research careers. There is no doubt also that teachers charged with the task of preparing laboratory classes, but who do not wish necessarily to recommend the book to their students, will find it a valu- able source of detail and ideas.

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In one sense, though, the concept of the course offered is entirely classical, in that it appears to aim to rehearse the student in the performance of techniques, which do not lead to a result which contributes to the solution of a more general problem. This approach can be somewhat tedious for the student, whose laboratory work is considerably enlivened if the practicals are arranged within small projects, perhaps in- volving the collaboration of several groups of students, and with a limited but clear problem demanding solution, and a defi- nite intellectual challenge. Without doubt the teacher could, with a little ingenuity, use the techniques and experiments de- scribed in the book as the basis for pro- viding projects of this kind, but it would be helpful if, as the authors work towards the preparation of the next edition, they considered the possibility of making a con- tribution to such ideas.

A. D. SMITH

A. D. Smith is Senior lecturer in Biochemistry at the Courtauld Institute of’ Biochemistry, The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London. U.K.

The last word on the frog Frog Neurobiology : a Handbook edited by R. Llincis and W. Precht, pub- lished by Springer- Verlag, Berlin, Heidel- berg, New York, 1977. $184.50 (xvi+ 1046 pages)

This mammoth, extravagantly-produced handbook contains 36 review chapters with 711 illustrations, all dealing with the amphibian nervous system. The rationale for producing this volume, according to the editors, was to ‘assemble as much as possible of the information available on frog neurobiology’. In this, they have al- most succeeded.

The beginning, and the best, section of the handbook is devoted to several excel- lent articles on the peripheral nervous system. This is followed by chapters on each of the seven senses, the different regions of the central nervous system, endocrinology, and the autonomic ner- vous system, and ends with a useful sum- mary on technical procedures for handling the frog. There are, however, several topics which are conspicuously missing from this handbook. For example, the book does not cover the embryological processes by which the nervous system is formed ; nor does it mention any of the studies on the formation of selective nerve connections during regeneration. Despite such gaps, it is truly a compendious summary of what is known about the amphibian nervous system.

The authors of this handbook are all

leading specialists in their fields, and the chapters they have contributed are, with a few exceptions, accurate, lucid and well-illustrated. Each chapter can serve both as a comprehensive introduction to a subject and a convenient work of refer- ence. Sections are organised in a logical sequence, and, where the same Geld is covered by several chapters, repetition is kept to minimum. For all these attributes, the editors and the contributors are to be highly commended.

But was the combined effort of these talented scientists worthwhile in producing a book restricted to frog neurobiology? The publisher’s wisdom in producing a handbook such as this must be ques- tioned. It is true that the frog is one of the species most frequently used for neuro- biological experiments, but not because its nervous system has any unique interest to us. The chief reason for studying the frog, aside from its availability, is that its brain reveals many fundamental features of the human brain without the numerous com- plications which obscure these funda- mentals in higher vertebrates. In other words, what is important is to compare and contrast the fundamentals uncovered in the frog with the elaborations of these

principles in other species. In this sense, there is no frog neurobiology, except for the publisher’s excuse to bring out a book as thick as the London telephone directory. Moreover, there is inevitably a long delay between the completion of manuscripts and publication of such a large book. The references in this book date only to early 1974, and the book is already 4 years out-of-date.

However, by far the most serious objec- tion for publishing a book like this is its price. Who, except Arab frog neurobiol- ogists, can afford to pay the exhorbitant price the publisher is demanding for it? In spite of all the effort and time expended by the editors and contributors, many of those who are not fortunate enough to re- ceive a free copy will probably not have access to it. Springer-Verlag, hopefully, will not repeat this folly by producing ‘Rat Neurobiology’, ‘Cat Neurobiology’, ‘Monkey Neurobiology’, and so on .

SHIN-HO CHUNG

Shin-Ho Chung is a member of the scientific staff‘ of the Nationalinstitute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, U.K.

Scanning electron micrograph of thefine hair cells of thepressure receptors (saccular ciliary tufts) in the vestibular system qf a,frog’s ear (FB=filamentous base, RC=receptor cell, K= kinocilium, S=steriocilia). (Taken from Frog Neurobiology: A Handbook edited by R. Llinas and W. Precht and reproduced by permission of Springer- Verlag.)