JEANNE MARTIN

Transactions British Mycological Society

Micro-organisms as Allies. By C. L. DUDDINGTON. (London: Faber andFaber, 1961.) Pp.256, 16 plates and 18 Text-figures. Price: 25S.

In this book Dr Duddington gives a comprehensive survey of the micro-organismsdomesticated by man, from the yeasts, the use of which in baking and wine-making isas old as civilization, to the moulds, the powers of which to produce penicillin or cortisoneare among the epics of modern scientific discovery. The introductory chapter providesan inventory of 'the livestock of industry '-yeasts, moulds and bacteria-and the restare devoted to a fuller treatment of each organism. This includes clear and simple detailsof its structure and relevant physiology with an historical account of its usage and culture.The yeasts have pride of place. Traditional methods and materials for brewing, wine­making, distillation and bread-making are fully described, as well as new industrialmethods for producing alcohol from wood. Modern methods of producing quantitiesof penicillin from vast cultures of mould, or lactic acid from cultures of bacteria, areadded to the old crafts of cheese and vinegar making. The historical perspective illustratesonce again the now familiar story of the incredible acceleration in technological achieve­ments during the last 20 years, in sharp contrast to the patient secret maturing of centuries­old crafts and cultures.

In aiming at a wide audience Dr Duddington has made one or two concessions topopularity-morals drawn or a teleogical slant imposed, or more rarely a misleadingover-simplification-which are perhaps unnecessary, especially as the story itself standson merit. The printed diagrams are rather poor and do less than they might to clarifythe text.

This is an informative and very readable book, which offers to the specialist in otherfields as well as to the layman an initiation into the mysteries of that exciting clinicalindustrial world where fungi and bacteria are harnessed more and more for the reliefof man's estate.

The Organisation of Cells and other Organisms. By L. E. R. PICKEN. (OxfordUniversity Press, 1960.) Pp. xxxvii+629, 34 plates, I 13 text-figures.Price: 84S.

In the opening words of his preface, Dr Picken says that his book may be regarded asa work of compilation addressed to postgraduate students and research workers; itcovers a wide field and, with characteristic modesty, the author pays generous tribute toexisting reviews of lesser scope; but, throughout its entire length, his book displays a levelof scholarship and a clarity of exposition to which such articles seldom, if ever, attain.

As indicated by its title, the book is largely concerned with the structure of cells. It isessentially a treatise on molecular anatomy, and as such will be hailed with enthusiasmby biologists in the prime of life with time and energy to have made, or to make, them­selves familiar with the principles ofX-ray analysis, solid geometry and enzyme chemistry.Dr Picken is convinced that virology, bacteriology and immunology should now formthe background knowledge of modern cytology; only then will it be possible to integratethe whole field ofrelevant material. Certainly without such a background it is impossibleto appreciate the richness of the feast which Dr Picken's book provides. It may be thatits full value will be even better appreciated in twenty years time than today. Each ofthe ten main chapters provides a masterly survey of the type of cell or organism con­cerned-and is written in a style which, to the reviewer at any rate, makes it unusuallypleasant to read.

But, like the authors of many great books, Dr Picken will be fortunate if he escapes allcriticism. Microbiology (nee Cytology) is a popular subject and the number of paperspublished every year increases logarithmically. A review may be seriously out of datein 2 or 3 years time and some people may doubt how far a single author can hope to siftthe wheat from the chaff over more than a very limited field. Such difficulties are in­escapable and anyone reading this book in the hope that it will provide a pleasanttable d'hote introduction to modern cytology may be disappointed; each chapter has itsown particular savour only to be appreciated by those with reasonably well-trainedappetites. But, before reading any of the main chapters there is much to be said for

Reviewsreading-and indeed re-reading-the 'Introduction' and 'Envoi' where the authordeals aesthetically and philosophically with what can otherwise become a rather steriledesert of factual knowledge.

It would be simple, but wrong, to subject this book to extravagant praise; it can, andwill, stand by its own merits. The text covers five hundred relatively large pages and thereare more than seventy pages of references. To complain about omissions would be un­reasonable; nevertheless, one is left with a feeling that such a detailed and masterlydescription of structure tends to mask a picture of the cell as a dynamic system. In otherfields of biology, structure and function have learnt to advance together with profit to allconcerned. It may be that Dr Picken feels that the study of cell dynamics is best deferreduntil our knowledge of macro-molecular structure has reached a later stage. He doesnot entirely neglect the physiological approach, but seems more interested in statics thandynamics-more interested in the form of architecture of a complex factory than in themachinery which transforms raw material and energy into final products. Perhaps, oneday, he will write a modern counterpart of Heber's Physikalische Chemie der Zelle undGetoebe.

The book is generously illustrated by half-tone plates many of which are, not un­naturally, reproductions of electron-micrographs; the majority are beyond criticism butothers-together with some parts of the text-depend for their validity on the demonstra­tion that the structures observed after fixation are a reliable guide to those present in theliving state. The word 'artefact' appears on strangely few occasions.

As one might expect, the standard of typography and the large majority of thediagrams are excellent, but was it beyond the wit of man to put the full legends of thethirty-four half-tone plates elsewhere than at the beginning of the book? These legendsare essential for an understanding of the plates and were it not for the intrinsic interestof the text, the inconvenience of constant back-referencing from text to plate and fromplate to legend would be well nigh insufferable.

Dr Picken's objective has been to produce a synthetic picture of the organization ofcells in terms of macro-molecular structure and texture. This he has achieved withconspicuous success. But he has done something more. He has shown that it is possibleto present a great wealth of scientific knowledge and yet convey deep feeling for theintrinsic beauty of living things. JAMES GRAY