Progress in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry

PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS AND BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. By J. A. V. Butler and J. T. Randall, Eds. New York, Academic Press, Inc., 1950. viii + 279 pp. $6.80. This is the first of another "advances" series in the somewhat ill-defined field of biophysics. Generally speaking, the term biophysics includes two fields. One may be described as the application of physical concepts and methods of thought to fundamental biological problems. The other is the application of physical instrumentation to biological problems of any nature -the chief departments being electronic measurements and tracer studies. The editors have happily taken the first to be the true realm of biophysics and have compiled a series of nine papers, one from a Swedish and the remainder from English laboratories. By the editors' own division the papers may be divided into two categories: first, the physical study of biological molecules, and secondly, the investigation of grosser structure, as nerve and muscle. The first three papers are concerned with properties of solutions of large molecules, macromolecular structure, and the scattering of light and X-rays by solutions of proteins. They are closely written and contain considerable theoretical material. Three papers deal with instrumentation: phase-microscopy, biological assay with soft X-rays, and local refractrometry. The last is entirelv theoretical; it is rather obtusely written and requires considerable physical sophistication. A rather rambling and heavily documented paper surveys the subject of bioelectric potentials. The mechanical properties of fibers and muscles are related from a thermodynamic point of view to those of plastics and rubber. The most interesting paper from the medical viewpoint is a compilation of data on the tolerance of man for radioactive isotopes. This is the only chapter which requires no physical preparation, and it is a useful reference for types and energies of emitted particles and metabolic fate of the commoner natural and artificial radioisotopes. Tracer studies are omitted from this collection of the grounds of sufficient coverage elsewhere, as for example, Advances in Biological and Medical Physics. The papers selected for this issue are diverse. It is the professed aim to cover the many topics of biophysics systematically in succeeding volumes. Such treatment will be welcomed by the biophysicist, who must now search for his literature sandwiched in the publications of other disciplines.