Great Experiments in Biology

While both these source books are more than adequate, Great Experiments in Biology is, by and large, the better of the two. Great Experiments contains 63 excerpts or complete papers and Classics of Biology, 75. Gabriel and Fogel have made the better selection and have organized their work better than Pi-Sufier, but the latter has written more adequate introductions to his various sections. Both books concentrate on nineteenth and twentieth century biology, having about 85 per cent of their items from this period. Galen, one of the greatest experimental biologists, is not represented in either and, more surprisingly perhaps, neither is Harvey. Several of the works excerpted in Pi-Sufier's books are certainly not "classics"-a criticism which cannot be leveled at Gabriel and Fogel. Any biologist who has more than a technician's interest in biology will find either book enjoyable and useful, but for students, Great Experimtents in Biology is undoubtedly superior. FREDERICK G. KILGOUR