logy of the placenta; foetal respiration and circulation; changes in the maternal 

 organism; parturition; lactation; fertility; sex-determining factors; the life cycle. 

 Vol. Ill: endocrinology of mammalian reproduction. 



"THE ORGANIZATION OF CELLS AND OTHER ORGANISMS" 



1960 

 by L. Picken Clarendon Press 



661 pp., 113 text-figs., 34 pis. Oxford 



Price: 84 s. 



As stated by the author, this book is a work of compilation. In the reviewer's 

 opinion, however, it is much more than mere compilation. One of its most 

 important features is no doubt that the author has tried, wherever possible, to 

 illustrate the change and development of the concepts of cellular and macro- 

 molecular biology against an historical background. The author provides ample 

 justification for this trend of the book in his Introduction. The advantage of 

 this kind of approach becomes evident in particular in the first chapter, which 

 bears the same title as the book, and provides a modern and dynamic theoretical 

 framework for the factual material to be presented in the following chapters. 



The most immediately evident quality of the book is that it brings together 

 in one volume an amazing quantity of factual material, which up till now 

 was only to be found widely scattered througout the literature of several 

 different disciplines. This has, moreover, been done in such a way as to 

 provide a well integrated body of knowledge, instead of a mere enumeration. 



Chapters II to IX deal successively with viruses, certain Schizomycetes 

 (mainly bacteria), the nucleus, the cytoplasm, cytoplasmic particulates and 

 membrane-systems, fibrillar cytoplasmic structure, the cell surface and cell 

 membranes, and finally with extracellular materials and structures. Chapter X 

 (64 pages) is of special interest to embryologists: it is entitled "Becoming 

 multicellular as seen in the light of cell properties", and discusses such subjects 

 as changes in adhesive properties during the life cycle, the surface coat of the 

 amphibian egg, cleavage, gastrulation, the role of mucoproteins, cell affinity, 

 etc. 



The bibliography covers 77 pages. References to papers written in English 

 predominate. The author states that he has not aimed at completeness of the 

 bibliography. It is sufficient, however, to enable the reader to find his way into 

 the relevant literature. The bibliography serves at the same time as an author 

 index. 



The work is carefully illustrated with line drawings and photographic plates. 

 The majority of the text-figures were re-drawn. The book is concluded by an 

 extensive subject index. 



"OOGENESIS; 

 The storage of developmental information" 

 1961 

 by Chr. P. Raven Pergamon Press Ltd. 



(Vol. 10 of the International Series Oxford, London, New York, Paris 



of Monographs on Pure and Applied Price: 50 s. 



Biology, Div.: Zoology) 

 262 pp., 44 figs., 4 pis. 



This book represents a new approach to the problems of development and 

 heredity. 



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