A Textbook of Histology

BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. By Alexander Gero. New York, The Blakiston Company, 1952. xvi + 340 pp. $5.00. This book is proposed to serve as a nexus between undergraduate organic chemistry and graduate or medical school biochemistry. An indication of its scope can be gained by a listing of the table of contents. There are two chapters on physical chemistry, single chapters on the electronic theory of organic chemistry, optical isomerism, protein chemistry, carbohydrate chemistry, lipid chemistry, steroids, isoprenoid compounds, aromatic compounds, heterocycles, biochemical reactions, chemical structure and physiological activity, research methods, syntheses of important compounds, and a final list and description of recommended textbooks and monographs for supplementary reading. The book is thus comprehensive. But it lacks depth; this is especially marked in the presentation of physical chemistry and the discussion of chemical structure and physiological activity. The author states in his preface that "this text is essentially a somewhat advanced organic chemistry." Although the book may suffer from this pretense, it does not suffer from such substance. J. P. G.