General Genetics
The author's purpose was to give a simple account of a large amount of material with the hope of encouraging research on the infectious nature of cancer, which is clearly written and well organized, with schematic drawings and photographic illustrations which are an integral part of the text.
Abstract
To the student, perhaps the most important thing about this book is that it so clearly demonstrates the logical development of the major concepts and facts by experiment, hypothesis, and experiment. Not all aspects of respiration are included, but the basis is established for understanding the others. The manner of expression in this book is far superior to that found in most texts or scientific papers. It is not only economical and unambiguous, but has a certain elegance. The reviewer feels that from the point of view of content and style, one can obtain from this book a maximum amount of information for a given amount of concentration. rodent ulcer, "cancer granuloma," Hodgkin's disease, and mycosis fun-goides and is a different expression of a single infectious disease; these forms arise from tissue cells whose walls have been weakened by certain agents to permit invasion of the cancer mold fungus, the pleomorphic germ-virus. This is the author's definition and statement of the etiology of the disease. No significant evidence is offered to support these theses and no bibliography included. Analogy is frequently substituted for fact and facts are incorrect in many instances. There appears to be no order or plan of presentation; the material is fragmentary, scrambled, and often contradictory. The author's purpose was to give a simple account of a large amount of material with the hope of encouraging research on the infectious nature of cancer. The text introduces at first the concept of the gene from which the basic ideas of Mendelism and the chromosome theory of inheritance are developed. Sections on biochemical and developmental physiological genetics follow and the nature of the gene is then discussed again. The last part of the book is devoted to problems concerning genetics of populations, questions of evolution, and of applied genetics. The examples chosen are taken from the genetics of both plants and animals. The book is clearly written and well organized, with schematic drawings and photographic illustrations which are an integral part of the text. Each chapter is followed by a summary, a list of references and source material, and questions arranged in order of increasing complexity which are helpful both to student and teacher.