PREFACE
The aim of this Treatise on Comparative Biochemistry is to provide
a sound, critical, and provocative summary of present knowledge in the
field. Although comparative biochemistry is the most recent approach
to the study of biology, its domain is vast because it seeks to compare
the physicochemical properties of every form of life. In this sense it
includes all of biochemistry—not only those aspects common to life in
general, but also the unique physicochemical manifestations which are
characteristic of each of the several million species of living organisms
comprising the phylogenetic scale. Biological diversity is inherently as
interesting to comparative biochemistry as biological unity. Furthermore, comparative biochemistry is concerned not only with contemporary life, but with life of all ages reaching back to origins; it views
evolution in terms of molecular rather than morphological changes.
Several excellent pioneer monographs on comparative biochemistry
have been published but none is more than an introduction to the field.
This certainly is no criticism, because the time and scholarship required
by a single author to survey critically the whole subject would surely
dwarf the effort expended by Darwin himself on the much more meager
information which provided the foundations for the "Origin of Species"
one hundred years ago. Consequently, each phase of Comparative Biochemistry has been written by an author critically selected for his competence in the subject with which he deals.
The organization of the Treatise has been of particular importance
and concern because only systematic division of the field into wellrelated groups of subjects can provide a framework for comprehensive
treatment of the whole subject with minimum overlap between chapters. In our concern for the integrity of the Treatise's organization and
its utility to the reader, we have preferred to delay publication of individual volumes rather than have chapters appear out of their organizational context. However, when delay of this kind has occurred, every
effort has been made by the Publishers to give authors the opportunity
to incorporate the most recent information in their chapters.
The authors contributing to this Treatise have had a particularly
difficult task. In most instances their chapters have been pioneering
efforts. The chemists among them have had to approach their topics, in
part, from the unfamiliar ground of comparative biology, while the
biologists have had to consider molecular dynamics more closely than
they might otherwise have done. In the effort to achieve over-all consistency of purpose and outlook, many writers have patiently revised
vii
The aim of this Treatise on Comparative Biochemistry is to provide
a sound, critical, and provocative summary of present knowledge in the
field. Although comparative biochemistry is the most recent approach
to the study of biology, its domain is vast because it seeks to compare
the physicochemical properties of every form of life. In this sense it
includes all of biochemistry—not only those aspects common to life in
general, but also the unique physicochemical manifestations which are
characteristic of each of the several million species of living organisms
comprising the phylogenetic scale. Biological diversity is inherently as
interesting to comparative biochemistry as biological unity. Furthermore, comparative biochemistry is concerned not only with contemporary life, but with life of all ages reaching back to origins; it views
evolution in terms of molecular rather than morphological changes.
Several excellent pioneer monographs on comparative biochemistry
have been published but none is more than an introduction to the field.
This certainly is no criticism, because the time and scholarship required
by a single author to survey critically the whole subject would surely
dwarf the effort expended by Darwin himself on the much more meager
information which provided the foundations for the "Origin of Species"
one hundred years ago. Consequently, each phase of Comparative Biochemistry has been written by an author critically selected for his competence in the subject with which he deals.
The organization of the Treatise has been of particular importance
and concern because only systematic division of the field into wellrelated groups of subjects can provide a framework for comprehensive
treatment of the whole subject with minimum overlap between chapters. In our concern for the integrity of the Treatise's organization and
its utility to the reader, we have preferred to delay publication of individual volumes rather than have chapters appear out of their organizational context. However, when delay of this kind has occurred, every
effort has been made by the Publishers to give authors the opportunity
to incorporate the most recent information in their chapters.
The authors contributing to this Treatise have had a particularly
difficult task. In most instances their chapters have been pioneering
efforts. The chemists among them have had to approach their topics, in
part, from the unfamiliar ground of comparative biology, while the
biologists have had to consider molecular dynamics more closely than
they might otherwise have done. In the effort to achieve over-all consistency of purpose and outlook, many writers have patiently revised
vii