1. BOOK REVIEWS
Practical Clinical Biochemistry
HAROLD VARLRY. New York, Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1954, 558 pp.,
$6.50.
The author describes in 28 chapters procedures for all analyses required from a
clinical chemistry laboratory, including clinical microscopy and the determina-
tion of the basal metabolic rate (Chapters VII and XX). The text contains 70
graphs and illustrations, almost all of very instructive character, also numerous
tables and structural formulas in a little more than 500 pages of text. By pains-
taking compilation, the author has achieved a comprehensive description of
technics, which include most of the more modern methods. In addition to the
more commonly performed procedures, a large number, not usually found in
routine manuals, are included, such as inulin and thiosulfate clearance tests,
paper electrophoresis of serum proteins, choline esterase, serum copper, and
pyruvic acid. Several alternatives for the analysis of a substance are frequently
presented with the author’s indications as to their individual usefulness.
The arrangement of the chapters is logical rather than systematic, as some
chapters deal with groups of chemical entities, such as “The Plasma Proteins,”
“Chlorides, Sodium and Potassium,” “Vitamins,” “Hormones,” while others
deal with disease or dysfunction, for example, “Chemical Tests in Kidney
Disease” and “Tests in Liver and Biliary Tract Disease.” The same lack of
pedantry is apparent in the organization of the subtitles. The description of
every method is regularly followed by a few paragraphs with the author’s
extremely sound interpretations of the results. Each chapter concludes with a
judiciously selected bibliography.
The prothrombin method described in Chapter XIV yields normal values of
around 30 seconds rather than the usual figure of about 14 seconds, possibly
owing to the selection of human brain rather than rabbit or horse liver as source
for the thromboplastin. The instruments described for exemplification of photo-
electric colorimetry and flame photometry (Chapters I and XVIII) are of
British make. Besides such differences due to regional usage there are several
points where this writer disagrees with statements and evaluations and where
he misses some recent accessions to the armamentarium of clinical chemistry.
This is of course to be expected in such a rapidly developing discipline, and
Varley’s book is altogether a most useful volume. Its strongest features are un-
doubtedly its comprehensiveness and the clear, unambiguous style in which
technics and calculations are described.
The book will form an excellent basis for instruction in laboratory courses in
routine chemistry for technicians and medical students. it is more than the
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2. Vol. 1, No. 3, 1955 BOOK REVIEWS 219
usual phrase of approval by a reviewer when we say that no clinical laboratory
should be without it, although the text may be a little too much for junior
technicians working without chemical direction, say, in a physician’s office.
Mt. Sinai Hospital, N. Y. HARRY SoBoA
The Lipids: Their Chemistry and Biochemistry
Volume II.: Biochemistry (Digestion, Absorption, Transport and
Storage)
HARRY J. DEUEL, JR. New York, Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1955,
919 pp., $25.00.
Dr. Deuel’s work of the past eight years started out to encompass two volumes.
Volume I, dealing with the chemistry of the lipids, is the most comprehensive
work on the subject to date. Volume II, which was to include the biochemical
data, had to be divided into two volumes as the past few years has seen a tre-
mendous increase in investigations and published data in this fertile field of
study. This first volume on the biochemistry of lipids discusses four topics,
Digestion, Absorption, Transport, and Storage. The next volume will include
Biosynthesis, Metabolism, Oxidation, and Nutritional Value.
Once again, as in the first volume, the author has done an excellent work
in the organization of the subject. The chapter heads are broken down into a
multitude of subheads and further divisions that bring the data into sharp
focus for the reader. This interesting approach can be seen from the following
example: Chapter II, The Digestion and Absorption of Fats in the Gastrointestinal
Tract, is divided into 9 major heads. Heading 2, Enzymes Concerned with the
Digestion of Lipids, has 3 subheads, Lipases, Esterases, and Other Lipid-hy-
drolyzing Enzymes. These subheads are further divided into the specific points
of discussion so that there is a definite portion of the discussion devoted to a
specific topic, as Cholinesterases in Blood, Cholinesterases in Brain and Nervous
Tissue, etc. It is by strict adherence to this excellent outline of the subject that
Dr. Deuel has provided a source book that does not scatter the subject and
makes for ready rapid reference.
Under the author’s presentation of blood lipids is found a most complete
discussion of lipid alterations in disease and organ dysfunction. Animal ex-
perimentation studies as well as data from clinical medicine are presented.
Parts of this discussion are carried further under another heading, Lipid Storage
under Abnormal Conditions.
Lipid Distribution in Specific Tissues also discusses data from investigations
concerned with animal material used as food, such as eggs and milk.
What has been said of Dr. Deuel’s first volume can be repeated for Volume
II. The book is well written. When one views the amount of material contained
in its 919 pages, one realizes that the author has presented the subject matter
without being verbose, yet has kept good continuity and reader interest. This
work will greatly influence research in the field because in even casual reading
