book will be to the graduate student looking ance.
ance. Attention is also focused on the role of phy given at the end of each chapter is well for a general introduction to give a basic microbial allelochemicals in invertebrate referenced. t
grounding in macrophage biology and a lot ecology. H.'J. Smith
of now historical references. Taken together, these chapters present John Stewart some novel, interesting, and thought- Geological Maps. Their Solution and provoking material that should prove ge- Interpretation. By T. BoRon. Pp. 144. nuinely valuable to anyone researching in- Cambridge University Press. 1989. Industrial Inorganic Chemistry. By W. sect/plant interactions. They will also appeal, Hardback s US$47.50; paperback BOchner, R. Sch/iebs, G. Winter, and K. in prescribed doses, to final-year under- s H. BOcheL Pp. 614. VCH graduate students. This is not, however, a Verlagsgesellschaft, Weinheim. 1989. Geological maps are a widely used means of well structured book. The 'Conceptual DM 145.00, s communicating interpreted geological in- Framework' and the somewhat illogical This book fills an important niche in its formation. They are two-dimensional repre- arrangement of sections and chapters is a not sector. Industrial scientists and engineers, sentations of the complex and imperfectly always successful attempt to link together academics, and students can be recom- known three-dimensional Earth. The ability papers of disparate content. mended to turn to it with reasonable con- to envisage geological structures in three In summary, Barbosa and Letourneau is fidence that the most important areas are dimensions is therefore essential to the an entertaining and worthwhile read but described - with but a few omissions - with understanding of geological maps. The book should be approached with a healthy cynic- coverage ranging from adequate to author- develops a geometrical understanding of ism and a wilful disregard for the more itative. The traditional heavy inorganic in- folds, faults, and unconformities by present- idiosyncratic usages of the English language. dustries are described; the strong acids and ing exercises utilizing boreholes, block dia- 1. D. Hodkhtson bases, nitrogen, phosphorus, halides, etc. grams, cross-sections, dip information, stra- Each of the principal metals - including tigraphy, "traditional' idealized problem alkali and alkaline earths, aluminium, chro- Essentials of Medicinal Chemistry. 2nd maps, and British Geological Survey maps. mium and silicon - has a chapter. In addi- Edn. By Andrejus Korolkovas. Pp. 1204. While basically pictorial, the book is some- tion, chemically-based products are de- Wiley, Chichester. 1988. s times short on textual explanation (e.g. scribed including silicates, inorganic fibres, This book consists of seven parts - introduc- answers to Map 27) and block diagrams constructional materials, special products: tion (basic principles of drug design and illustrating the relationship between dipping e.g. pigments and nuclear chemistry. action), psychopharmacological agents, beds and topography would have been useful Although some modern high-technology inclusions. The approach adopted is deliber- pharmacodynamic agents, chemotherapeutic products are treated - e.g. silicon carbide - agents, drugs for metabolic diseases and ately elementary and no opportunity is pro- others such as silicon nitrides are absent. endocrine function, vitamins and hormones, vided to develop interpretative skills in fields Another omission is a chapter on the chemi- and miscellaneous agents. such as environmental or hydrocarbon geolo- cally-related aspects of the electronics indus- Several single-volume texts arc available gy. Although it may compete with other try. The translation is generally of a high in medicinal chemistry with their different more sophisticated books, by concentrating standard, athough occasional lapses occur, as emphasis and treatment of the many aspects on practical work it occupies its own niche. It in the use of some German mineral names. of the interdisciplinary area covered by the probably is unique in offering worked solu- The layout of the text is unusual: parallel subject, i.e. synthesis, design, mode of ac- tions to the exercises. This book provides an columns give the main text, tables, etc. while tion, drug-receptor binding (structure- opportunity for the spatially 'dyslexic" to key words are given in a wide marginal activity relationships) as well as pharmacody- learn elementary map interpretation and to column. The book is to be recommended for namics (metabolism) and side effects. This practice the skill in both idealized and realis- those seeking a broad overview as well as book covers nearly all these aspects for diffe- tic exercises. It will bewelcomed by those specific guidance. rent groups of drugs, using a division based struggling to grasp the complexities of the on pharmacological action rather than geological map. F. P. Glasser biochemical mechanism. Within each divi- Michael Browne sion (or sub-division) specific diseases/ Novel Aspects of Insect-Plant ailments are considered from the stand-point Interactions. Edited by Pedro Barbosa of history of drug development; types of Australian Science in the Making. Edited and Deborah K. Letoorneau. Pp. 362. drugs in use; their mechanism of action; and by R. 14/.Home. Pp. 413. Cambridge Wiley-lnterscience, Chichester. 1988. individual drug profiles embracing nomen- University Press. 1989. s s clature, source (synthesis), properties, bio- US$65.00. The subject matter of this book is more transformation, incompatibilities, bioavaila- This volume, sponsored by the Australian specialized than the title might suggest. It bility, dosage, storage, and assay. Academy of Science in celebration of the deals primarily with the role of allelochemic- This book is a useful reference book, bicentenary of Australia's first settlement by als in the interrelationships between insects rather than a course book in medicinal che- Europeans, addresses the theme: q~ian's and plants. The editors argue that the typical mistry, although it has several minor short- attempts to understand Nature in an Austra- food web, which characterizes any ecological comings. The drug profiles tend to deal with lian environment'. That might seem to prom- community, is paralleled by an analogous well-established drugs rather than newer en- ise analysis of how the sciences of Nature network of chemically mediated interactions trants to the clinic. Certain information on developed in a region already, if only vague- between the participating species. Thus to established drugs or those in clinical trials/ ly, known to Europeans before 1788 as a seat understand fully the structure of the com- newly introduced is not included. For exam- of novelty. But, apart from aboriginal in- munity we must appreciate the nature, ple, bupivacaine is not now used in Bier's habitants' conceptions of Nature and early scope, and scale of these chemical interac- block; sulphasalazine has been replaced by observations of these people by Europeans, tions. The book sets out, therefore, to ex- suitably formulated 5-amino-salicylic acid; the authors of this collection of essays tend to plore these possible relationships. new anticoagulant drugs (thrombin inhibi- reveal other concerns. Their emphases are The chapters, written by different authors, tors) and pyridoxal phosphate-dependent en- on debts to western culture in Australian cover a diversity of topics ranging from the zyme inhibitors are absent. colonial society, on distant authority and role of plant allelochemicals in host selection The book is well written and produced, translated squabbles, on patronage and orga- by entomophagous insects and the sequester- although many terms used are North Amer- nizations. Yet how different were circumst- ing of chemicals by insects for mimicrfl ican in origin. The text is relatively free from ances for scientific enterprise in colonial Au- defencc to the possible role of these chemic- errors e . g . p . 582, pyrethric acid; p. 893, V stralia from those in other such remote out- als in the development of insecticide resist- VI; p. 920, Langerhans; and the bibliogra- posts last century? Did not a more striking