The Atom Story, Being the Story of the Atom and the Human Race

necessary the same systematic treatment that has been given the metabolism of bacteria, fungi, and the higher plants. The book is divided into eight chapters including an introduction and summary. There are sections on respiration, photosynthesis, the occurrence and distribution of pigments, heterotrophic nutrition, requirements for amino acids, vitamins, and other growth factors, and nitrogen metabolism, including nitrogen fixation. The formation and nature of algal carbohydrates , proteins, lipids, and sterols are reviewed, and the differences are considered in relation to phylogeny. One chapter is concerned with the effect of growth conditions in culture or in nature upon the quantity and composition of these end products. This book will be of value to the student of algal ecology and physiology as well as to the comparative biochemist or physiologist. The saying that good things come in small packages might well apply to this modestly dimensioned British contribution to the chemotherapeutic field. With a proper scorn for superfluity and based on the premise that "the action of chemical substances upon microbes and man and, in turn, the reactions of host and parasite to chemicals form a triangular relationship," Dr. Collier has in the space of 230 pages dealt admirably with his subject. The foreword by Sir Alexander Fleming initiates what proves to be the mood of the entire work, i.e., that while an adequate discussion of chemotherapy necessarily includes elucidation of basic pripciples and incorporation of all latest pertinent information, yet, to be complete, historical and developmental aspects must not be overlooked. The book is divided roughly into three areas. The first deals chiefly with general considerations such as "The Problem of Getting the Chemical to the Microbe" and "The Development of Resistance"; the second discusses the various chemical agents individually, while the third takes up the problem of the chemotherapy of specific diseases. Its diminutive size notwithstanding, this book should be a valuable addition to any medical library. The Atom Story, to quote from its jacket, "is the first complete and balanced book on the Atom in the language of the layman." Balance is given to the book by the fact that it is not concerned solely with the atomic bomb but with the historical evolution of atomic theory from Democritus to the present, and indeed, with the future of atomic power in peace and war. The book, therefore, really has three sections: the history of atomic theory up 145