INTRODUCTION XVU 



of effort to this, since we feel that an anomaly really is something we would 

 expect if we knew the system or mechanism better, or as Henry Miller 

 has said in the " Tropic of Capricorn," " confusion is a word we have in- 

 vented for an order which is not understood." I have thus brought up 

 certain so-called anomalies, not only for their interest but again because 

 they often stimulate deeper investigation, although at present they may 

 to some only confuse the picture. 



Many of the results have been put into tabular form, first because this 

 is the most efficient way of presenting certain types of data, second because 

 such simple observations are often the sole information on the inhibitors 

 provided in the reports, third because this allows a more convenient com- 

 parison of results (e.g., for those interested in possible phylogenetic rela- 

 tionships, for which reason the source organisms have usually been given 

 in the classic taxonomic sequence, or for studying the variability in re- 

 sponses on a comparative basis), fourth because this is the clearest way 

 to provide information from which specificity may be evaluated, and fifth 

 because these tables may serve as reference sources for those interested in 

 the actions of a particular inhibitor on a certain enzyme or organism. 

 There is much more in these tables than anyone can assimilate or under- 

 stand or interpret today, but it is these data which could possibly con- 

 tribute to some idea or concept if placed against the proper experience or 

 background. Nothing makes some data look more miserable or incomplete 

 than putting them in tables, but perhaps this is an asset, since it shows 

 what is missing, what should have been done, and what more there is to 

 do. A great deal of information could not be included in the tables, for, 

 although some of them look formidably long, they represent only a frac- 

 tion of what is available in reports. One tries to include only that which 

 is important, but the definition of this word becomes more difficult as one 

 applies it. There are so many very specialized and unique enzymes being 

 isolated and studied these days that it becomes more of a problem each 

 year to determine which of the enzymes are generally significant. An en- 

 zyme which at first sight might seem esoteric, if for no other reason than 

 its gargantuan name, implying a specificity of catalysis incommensurate 

 with anything but a very limited role in metabolism, may well be of great 

 importance in a particular pathway, a pathway perhaps as yet undiscover- 

 ed. Every enzyme is of some importance to some organism or tissue, or it 

 would not be there. And we often take a limited viewpoint; one of the 

 numerous enzymes in the pathway of steroid biosynthesis is recognized as 

 important in cholesterol or adrenal corticoid formation, but it may be equal- 

 ly important to some microorganism in producing steroids which function 



