Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

what he thinks clearly, briefly, and sometimes with such certainty as to inhibit any argument. This exposition of his views on the subject includes 22 chapters of about six pages each. Occasionally he advises the reader to stop and think. His book raises far more questions than it answers, but certainly does not offer questions as answers. An example is the question, "Should we stop training lawyers because an occasional one becomes a crook?" There can be no doubt about the answer to that question, but a significant question is, "When do we change the training of lawyers—after what percentage becomes a crook?" As one reads this book, one becomes impressed that the author is saying facts that ought to be said again and again. The book is not a reference work, but it surely is all that it claims to be in the way of a guide to clear thinking. Because there are so few situations in life in which absolutism is the governing control, there are so many millions of situations loaded with inexactitudes that lead to arguments. Ingle's first title to his book is, "Is It Really So?" Unfortunately, the answer to that question is still what it always has been, phrased the way most of the people who use the phrase would give the answer—"It ain't so!" Morris Fishbein 5454 South Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60615 Californium-252 in Teaching and Research. By E. J. Hall and H. H. Rossi. International Atomic Energy Agency, Technical Report Series, no. 159. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency, 1974. Pp. 141. $7.00. Californium is one of many artificially produced transuranic elements formed by successive neutron capture in uranium. The isotope californium-252 was initially created in the explosion of the first man-detonated thermonuclear device , in November 1952 in the south Pacific. Later, it was produced in a nuclear reactor in Idaho and now in South Carolina and Tennessee. It is also being made in the Soviet Union. The property of californium-252 that makes it a unique agent for applications in industry, education, and biomedical research is its high rate of spontaneous fissions with the concomitant release of neutrons. The number of neutrons emitted per second per gram of californium-252 is 2.3 x 10:2, making it the most intense, compact, reproducible, and portable source of neutrons known. In 1968, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (now the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration) inaugurated a program of loaning sources of californium-252 to various groups for investigation of its usefulness. In 1971, the loan program was extended to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, so that californium-252 sources could be made available to universities and other institutions of IAEA member states for use in educational programs. Dr. I. Lerch, formerly project leader for the loan program, commissioned E. J. Hall and H. H. Rossi to write a "how-to-do-it" primer on the radiobiology, dosimetry, and microdosimetry of californium-252 which could serve to guide students and others interested in these fields. 314 Book Reviews The book is divided into an instructional syllabus (part 1) and a laboratory manual (part 2) and contains appendices and references. The instructional syllabus deals with the topics of interaction of radiation with matter; dosimetry, including microdosimetry; biological test systems; relative biological effectiveness (RBE), compared with standard radiation sources, including radium; effect of molecular oxygen and the oxygen-enhancement ratio (OER); cell age and its relation to radiosensitivity; and radiation effects on biological systems and repair of sublethal damage, as well as radiation protection. The material on dosimetry and microdosimetry is presented in a concise, tightly written form. Therefore the reader is advised to review the literature cited in the references as well. The various chapters on radiobiology are clearly presented, with numerous graphs to explain the various functional relationships, such as the dependence of RBE on neutron dose and dose rate. The chapter on the effect of molecular oxygen deals with a very important problem that is encountered in radiobiology and has important implications for radiation therapy. Regrettably, the authors refer in this chapter only to experiments done with neutrons...