CONSULTING EDITORS STATEMENT 



Contemporary cytology is the meeting ground of molecular and 



cellular biology and is a correspondingly difficult subject for a book. 



Some authors bewilder the student with an array of thermodynamical 



formulas while others bore him with laborious accounts of what can be 



seen through the microscope. Professors Wilson and Morrison happily 



avoid both extremes without slighting either approach. No student who 



uses this book can fail to get a clear picture of the structure of the cell 



or is ever led to doubt that the cell is a living entity. These views are 



presented with great clarity in the first chapter on "The Cell Concept" 



and then exemplified by a discussion of the biochemistry of the cell, 



which leads naturally to consideration of the nature and interaction of 



the cytoplasmic organelles. There follows, as there must in a modern 



book, much on the structural and dynamic concepts of the role played 



by the nucleus, but this is never allowed to distort the student's view that 



he is learning about the cell as a functional entity. All this is done from 



the broadest possible point of view, so that neither the plant cell in 



general, nor the peculiar problems of the replication of genetic material 



in microorganisms, are neglected. The bibliography appended to each 



chapter refers the student both to classic accounts and to contemporary 



research, and there is a special annotated reading list at the end of the 



book for those who wish to go even more deeply into the subject. Finally, 



there is a chapter explaining the techniques of both optical and electron 



microscopy. 1 welcome this addition to the Reinhold Books in the 



Biological Sciences both as a text for the student and as a reference 



for the teacher. 



Peter Gray 



Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 



September, 1961 



