The book is an excellent review of some fascinating entities and should find a place on the bookshelf of ail who have any interest in eukaryotic genome structure and function, and control.

J. J. B. Gill

The Chemistry of Antitumor Antibiotics. Vol. 2. By Wiliam A. Remers, Pp. 290. Wiiey Interscience, Chichester, 1988. f31.95.

The first volume of this title was published in 1979. Over the last nine years, many new antitumour antibiotics have been discovered and evaluated. Natural products have con- tinued to provide an increasing source of new types of compounds from which to design and build novel anticancer agents.

This book has seven chapters, each de- voted to the discovery, isolation, character- ization, structure, elucidation, mode of ac- tion, synthesis, and structure activity rela- tionships of a specific antibiotic group. The chapters are devoted to antibiotics related to Streptomycin, Pyrrolo-(1.4)benzo- diazepines, Saframycin analogues, Naph- tharidinomycin, CC-1065 (an Upjohn inter- calator), Nogalomycin and reiated com- pounds. and Streptonigrin analogues.

The book is primarily designed for chem- ists actively engaged in basic research work with these agents. It is extremely informative and very well written. It contains many use- ful references to source material and, where available. gives a concise description of the biological activity. it is highly commended for any medical research laboratory working in this field.

B. Iv. Fox

The Domestic Cat: The Biology of its Behaviour. Edited by Dennis C. Turner and Patrick Bateson. Pp. 222. Cambridge University Press. 1989. Hardback f35.00, US$59.50; paperback f 15.00, US$22.95.

Cats do not exactly get a bad press, but they are trivialized in calendars, cartoons. and poor books on pet care. It is thus a relief to have a serious. accessible, and authoritative book on some aspects of their behaviour. Cats serve as a useful model for a species adapting to a massive increase in characteris- tie population density and require serious study for this, if no other, reason. This book covers most aspects of cat behaviour. The world is not yet apparently ready for a study of feline senility. but parent-offspring rela- tions, hunting behaviour, spatial organiza- tion, domestication. and mating patterns are dealt with in well-researched chapters. However, as in any multiauthor symposium volume. there is variability not so much in quality as in style. The chapters mentioned above are mostly based on data from samples of cats. but in other areas the coverage, while not without insight, is based on odd, solitary, or anecdotal observations. If, as Leyhausen (the doyen of cat ethologists) states in con- cluding his chapter, cat behaviour is a prom- ising epitome for mammalian behaviour in

general, then observations of ‘natural be- haviour’ based on small samples of highly affiliated cats are prone to misinterpretation and observer bias and should be treated with extreme caution. The book is aimed at a wide audience, I hope that all readers are able to sort the science from supposition. The book is robustly bound even in paper- back, well referenced, and has an adequate index.

Andrew T. Lbyd

On Lampreys and Fishes: A Memorial Anthology in Honor of Vadim 5. Vladykov. Edited by Don E. McAllister and Edward Kott. Pp. 16.2. Kluwer Academic Pubfishers, Dordrecht. 1988. Dfl 165.00, US$83.00, f48.00.

knew Professor Vtadykov and his work. Thelma Wi~~~~~s

This attractive, well-illustrated volume has

Science and Religion - Baden Powell

been assembled as a tribute to the late, eminent Czechoslovakian-born Canadian- naturalized ichthyologist Vadim Vladykov

and the Anglican debate, 1800-1860. By

by his colleagues McAllister and Kott. It contains a short and affectionately written

Pietro Corsi. Pp. -346. Cambridge

biography of Professor Vladykov which con- veys to the reader the sense of an energetic,

Univesity Press. 1988. f32.50, US$54.50.

assiduous, original scientist who earned the

In his latest book on science and religion,

respect and affection of colleagues, even if he could be at times quite difficult. The

Pietro Corsi argues that a study of the life

volume also contains important original pap- ers on the biology and systematics of lam- preys and other fishes by Kott. Renaud, Vladykov (posthumously), Beamish, Med- land, Lanteigne. Kottelat, Chu, McAllister, Coad, Holcik, Papahn, McCauley, and Thomson, and an essay by Rubec on the need for conservation and management of Philippine coral reefs. There is a full bib- liography of Vladykov’s publications, and both subject and species indices. The book should be of particular interest to those who

actually an attempt by Baden Powell to stress principles and to get to the fundamental problems of an issue.

This is an exceptionally well-documented book which will have its largest readership among other scholars who are generally in- terested in early 19th century Anglicanism, or more specifically in Baden Powell himself, the Oxford Noetics, or the philosophy and methodology of science. Dr Corsi is a skilled researcher who writes readable English and who, although writing a scholarly mono- graph, has nevertheless kept it interesting.

G. S. Din&s

A Companion to the Physical Sciences.

. . .

By David Knight. Pp. 177. Rout/edge, Chapman & Hall, Andover. 1989. f 19.95.

manner, it becomes an excellent jntroduction

At last, someone has produced an interest- ing, lucid guide to physical science that is

to science for laypeople. The entries on

also humorous. It is actually four books

‘science’,

rolled into one. On one level. it is a diction-

‘sciences’ and ‘scientist’ are parti-

ary of science, which is comprehensible to laypeople, but is not always sufficiently de-

cularly useful. To sum up, this book is easy

tailed to explain fully the topic under discus- sion. For a complete explanation of, say,

to read, humorous, and a product of one

‘light’ or ‘magnetism’, one would have to consult a more conventional (and larger)

man’s love of physical science. It also has a

encyclopedia of science. On another level, it is a dictionary of the history and philosophy

very usefui name index. On the other hand,

of science, often giving brief references to the scholarly literature. This is the strongest

the entries are not suf~ciently detailed for it

aspect of David Knight’s book and will hope- fully attract many people to the history of

to serve as a conventional dictionary of scien-

science. It is also a compendium of wry,

ce. The references are somewhat hit and

often tongue-in-cheek, humour for scientists. For examples, see the entries on ‘referee’, ‘review’ and ‘administration’. The best way to read this book is to dip into it. and skip from entry to entry. Approached in this

and work of Baden Powell (1796-1860) com- mands some rethinking of what we currently

miss. ‘Publishers’ and ‘religion and science’

hold as a true historical understanding of the have several references each, whereas the

first half of the 19th century. His thesis is that key entry on ‘science’ has none. Similarly,

Baden Powell was himself one of the more everyone will be able to find omissions, for

active protagonists of the day, yet his con- example, kinetics, mechanics, and polymer.

tribution is neglected because of what has Nevertheless, this book is warmly recom-

been considered by scholars as his lack of mended to everyone who wants to under-

originality when compared to the likes of stand what science is about, or to find out

Stewart. Whately, Copleston, Mill, and Col- more about the history and philosophy of

eridge. In his conclusion, Dr Corsi suggests science. School teachers will find it particu-

that this could be due to the fact that Baden larly useful.

Peter Morri5 Powell saw himself as an Angiican intellec- tual and Christian apologist, and understood these roles to consist of thinkers who de- voted ‘leisurely attention to major issues Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of The

discussed by specialists, and who evaluated Royal Society. Vol. 34. Pp. 1009. The

the bearing and tendency of current debates Royal Society, London. 7988. f78.00 UK,

with respect to religious beliefs’. This is to f83.00 overseas.

say that what might look to the modern One of the wonders of the Royal Society is scholar to be a lack of attention to detail was the longevity of its Fellows. Of the 29 whose

145