Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

BOOK REVIEWS AND RE-EVALUATIONS Steroid Drugs. By Norman Applezweig. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company,Inc., 1962. Pp. ? v+742. $25.00. There were no steroid drugs when I began to learn about hormones, and I became a student ofendocrinology in time to know most ofthe pioneer steroid chembts. Over a happy period of about twenty years the dbcovery or synthesis of another hormonally active steroid was a major event, and almost anybody in the field could name and describe the structure and known biologic properties ofevery important steroid compound. Then came a spate ofnew compounds in amounts so great that everybody could have some; knowledge ofbiologic properties grew apace and it was found that every substance with hormone-like activity can affect the structure and function ofalmost every tbsue in the body when given in pharmacologic doses. Thb generalization goes beyond the facts, but it might be true. At least a decade ago I gave up trying to embrace all knowledge in the field and so looked askance at the size of Norman Applezweig's book under the title Steroid Drugs, which prombed all relevant information about them. Despite the appropriate size ofthe book—it has 742 pages—it was opened out ofcuriosity and my attention was held through the first 310 pages, up to the tables ofbiologically active steroids which take up the rest of the book. The author has written as though he finds the subject exciting, and he successfully communicates thb quality to the reader. The hbtory is there; it is quite a story. Processing ofsteroids and various syntheses are outlined. The physiology and pharmacology of the steroids and their medical uses are well described. There is discussion ofthe possible roles ofsteroids in the etiology ofdbease. A few details ofhistory are not fully accurate, and one could argue about other things that are said on the physiology and pharmacology ofsteroids, but in general I was pleased and amazed that one man can engulfso much information and write as though he relbhed it. Physicians, pharmacologbts, physiologbts , and chembts will find thb a useful book and more interesting than most. DwightJ. Ingle University ofChicago Silent Spring. By Rachel Carson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962. Pp. x+368. $5.oo. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, almost lyrical in its condemnation ofthe wholesale use ofchemical agents as insecticides and weed killers, has had the salutory effect ofstirring up the animals. It has evoked and provoked a multitude of reviews varying from the 531 ...