An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry

One of the fascinations about Nature is her extraordinary versatility and ingenuity. This is emphasized by the author in pointing out some of the chemical and physical devices whereby the needs of various types of living organisms are adapted to their environment. The book is small, but the scope is broad. There are chapters on the biochemical adjustments correlated with the change from marine to land forms, and others on the distinctive patterns of nitrogen metabolism of various types of animals. The different respiratory and other pigments of biological interest are clearly discussed and the essential uniformity of the chemistry of muscular contraction is emphasized. The material is accurate and up-to-date and is cogently, at times somewhat whimsically, presented. This delightful book can be read in an hour; however, the intellectual stimulation and the impetus to speculation engendered by its perusal will remain with the reader for a long time. Professor Meakins has successfully accomplished the "audacious" task which he set for himself: "to assist the student and practitioner in solving the numerous puzzles and problems witlh which they are daily confronted." The volume is comprehensive and up-to-date in respect to the body of medical knowledge presented, the text is smootlhly written and the author's judgments and opinions which vitalize most of the chapters are contemporaneously valid. The text is abundantly illustrated and, on the whole, the illustrations are well selected. The inclusion of numerous reproductions of pathological specimens, gross and microscopic, supplies the clinically-minded reader with a vivid reminder of the processes that underlie the symptoms of disease. Of the color plates, the original ones are uniformly inferior to the borrowed ones. The sections on treatment which conclude the descriptions of the various disease entities are particularly felicitous. Dubious formulae and lengthy