GROWTH HORMONES IN PLANTS

Authorized English Translation of Die Wuchsstofftheorie by P. Boysen-Jensen. Translated and Revised by George S. Avery Jr. '24 and Paul R. Burkholder. McGraw-Hill Book Cos., New York, 1936. 268 p. $4.00.

This book is a scholarly, authoritative monograph in the general field of advanced physiological research. It will not be read with pleasure by a non-scientist but American students of physiology will greet it with enthusiasm and read it carefully. It makes available to English-reading people the full story of our most recent discoveries in the interesting topic of growth. Although dealing with this subject as it appears in the plant kingdom, this work will be the base for similar studies and discoveries in animals and man. Because of the comparative simplicity of their organs and internal relationships, the chemical substances which coordinate the growth processes in plants were discovered first. Workers in animal physiology have now begun to study the corresponding aspects of animal growth but for some time yet they must depend upon our knowledge of plant hormones for working hypotheses concerning the nature and mode of action of the similar or possibly identical hormones in animals.

Although based on a translation of the German text of the author, the present book looks and reads like a new one, thanks to the unstilted sentences, the improved arrangement of topics, the up-to-date treatment of each point and the summary at the end of each chapter. The combined author and subject index is entirely new; it too reflects the care with which this edition has been prepared.

The nature of the extensive revisions which Prof. Avery and his colleague have made over the original text can be stated briefly by saying that the subject matter and number of original papers covered by their additions are approximately equal to the total work that the author considered only about one year before. This has meant important changes in experimental methods, known properties of the hormones, and the theories of their formation and action.

A possible explanation, if any is needed, for the wholly acceptable and accurate presentation of this special branch of science is the personal experience of the translators with the subject. Starting with the observations and conclusions of the foreign author, a pioneer with the Wuchsstoffe idea, Profs. Avery and Borkholder could supply the story of the later developments in the field through their own work with the latest methods and close association with other workers in America. The result is another useful book in the famous McGraw-Hill series of biological texts.