Not So Long Ago

PERSPECTIVES IN BIOCHEMISTRY: Thirty-one essays presented to Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins by past and present members of his laboratory. Edited by Joseph Needham and David E. Green. Cambridge University Press, 1937. viii + 361 pp. $4.75. One of the chief difficulties that confronts the individual desirous of acquainting himself with the recent advances in biochemistry is the complexity of the terms in which these advances are cloaked. This book could be commended for the clarity of its expression and the simplicity of its presentation of many subjects usually incomprehensible to the uninitiated mind, for these reasons, if for no other. But such a reason would do poor justice both to the individual to whom the book is dedicated and also to his pupils whose contributions make up its content. The present volume celebrates the seventy-fifth birthday of Sir Frederick and must be a source of pride to him. Its contributors and his pupils include the name of one Nobel Laureate and many others whose work is regarded as most significant in the present fields of biochemistry. The scope embraced by these essays, ranging as it does from the social implications of biochemistry to essays upon molecular forces and flower pigments, is a further indication of the tremendous scope of biochemistry. This branch. of science in the period of Sir Frederick's life has impinged on all fields of biology and even a brief perusal of the present volume, leaves one with the impression that the full tide of its contributions to these sciences has not yet been reached. It is difficult to select any of the essays for particular comment. All are written by an authority in their particular subject, and a choice between any of them is more likely to be determined by the tastes of the reader than by any particular difference in quality. The reading of all these essays should be obligatory for all students of biochemistry; for those seeking information as to the present position and future possibilities of this science no better volume has appeared. -C. N. H. LONG.