one, and the cellular to the supracellular . The examples in Parts IV and V 

 show that this problem can be formulated and in some cases solved using the 

 methods we have introduced" 



The authors show that Boltzmann's order principle does not apply to dis- 

 sipative structures, and that for these to appear it is necessary that small 

 fluctuations are amplified and stabilised (cf. Turing). The role of fluctua- 

 tions is studied in part III. This is probably the part of the theory where 

 recent progress has been most spectacular. However, the approach combines 

 both stochastic and deterministic elements in the time evolution of the 

 macroscopic system; the deterministic elements suffice at points far from 

 bifurcation and are treated in part II. The thermodynamic background is kept 

 at a minimum and is treated in part I. 



Part IV has chapters on self-organisation in chemical reactions, on regu- 

 latory processes at the subcellular level (with much emphasis on metabolic 

 oscillations) , on regulatory processes at the cellular level (with a section 

 on cell division) , and on cellular differentiation and pattern formation. 

 One of the main goals of the latter chapter (which occupies 20 pages) is to 

 analyse the origin of positional information, in other words, the onset of 

 polarity in a morphogenetic field. The discussion is largely in terms of 

 cell communication by means of diffusion of morphogens through the cytoplasm, 

 although it is recognised that membrane-bound phenomena may also have to be 

 invoked. Applications to morphogenesis in Hydra and Acetabularia are briefly 

 discussed. 



Although what is said about morphogenesis in this book is clearly of a 

 preliminary nature, my uneducated intuition tells me that the approach of the 

 Brussels school may well profoundly affect our ways of thinking about pattern 

 formation and, more generally, about the problems of biological organisation 

 at the supramolecular level. 



10. 



A.I.ZOTIN, ed. 1976. THERMODYNAMICS OF BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES; general condi- 

 tions, constitutional processes, dissipative structures, some evolutionary 

 problems (in Russian) 

 Publ. House Nauka, Moscow. 278 pp., 70 figs., 17 tabs. R 1.41 



Collection of papers in 7 sections: General thermodynamic problems 

 (authors: Lamprecht, Presnov, Zotin) ; Qualitative phenomenological theories 

 of development (Konoplev, Presnov, Zotin, Zotina) ; Quantitative phenomenol- 

 ogical theories of development (Konoplev, Lamprecht, Presnov, Prokofev, 

 Shagimordanov, Valter, Zotin, Zotina) ; Heat production in living systems 

 (a.o. in development) (Bretel, Grudnitski j , Lamprecht, Lor, Nikolskaya, 

 Sajadi, Schaarschmidt, Zotin); Energetic developmental processes (Nikolskaya, 

 Ozernyuk, Radzinskaya, Vladimirova) ; Dissipative structures (Lamprecht, S.S. 

 Vasilev, V.A.Vasilev, Zotin); Probability of state and regulation of biolog- 

 ical systems (Grudnitski j , Konoplev, Ozernyuk, Sokolov, Zotin); 26-page bib- 

 liography (20 pp. Russian until '76, 6 pp. non-Russian until about '74). 



Symposium reports 



11. 



S. A. LEVIN, ed. 1977. SOME MATHEMATICAL QUESTIONS IN BIOLOGY. VIII 



Amer. Math. Soc, Providence. Lectures on Mathematics in the Life Sciences, 



vol.9. VI, 186 pp., 35 figs. $ 14.40 (paper) 



Two papers in this symposium report are of direct interest to our readers. 

 The paper by S.Kauffman on dynamic models of the mitotic cycle has been 

 published previously in Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol.13. It deals 

 particularly with the author's "limit cycle model" developed for Physarum 

 polycephalim. 



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