viii
PREFACE
their chapters. They all have had to brace themselves against the oversimplifying attractions of biochemical unity with the austerities of biochemical diversity.
In order to provide a systematic comparison of the biochemical
phenomena of life throughout the phylogenetic scale, which has been
our objective, the Treatise has been organized in the following manner:
Volumes I and II are primarily concerned with the biological transformations of free energy. Volume I deals with the sources of biologically useful free energy, while Volume II describes how this free energy
is utilized to support function. The structures of the principal classes of
metabolites, their distribution, and the comparative enzymology of
their biogenesis and metabolism are the subjects of Volumes III and IV.
The comparative biochemistry of organized reaction systems and the
biological functions dependent upon these systems are discussed in
Volumes V and VI.
The chapter on Comparative Biochemistry of Photosynthesis, by
Professor E. C. Wassink, which was scheduled to appear in Volume I,
will be published in a later volume.
The Editors were saddened by the deaths of three distinguished
contributors, Professor E. Newton Harvey of Princeton University, Professor C. Fromageot of the University of Paris, and Professor W. Bergmann of Yale University. They possessed unique commands of their
fields of interest, and we are fortunate to be able to include their chapters on comparative aspects of bioluminescence, inorganic metabolism,
and steroid distribution.
We wish to record our gratitude to the staff of our Publishers, Academic Press, for warm support and professional assistance throughout
the preparation of the Treatise. They have made the task of editing far
less onerous than it might have been. One of us (H. S. M.) wishes to
thank Professor Sir Alexander Todd for the hospitality of his Department at the University of Cambridge during the editing of Volumes I
and II, and Professor E. S. West of Portland, and Mr. T. N. Morris,
M.A., of Cottenham, Cambs., for helpful editorial suggestions.
MARCEL FLORKIN
Lidge, Belgium
HOWARD S. MASON
Fortfond, Oregon and
Cambridge, England
May, 1960
PREFACE
their chapters. They all have had to brace themselves against the oversimplifying attractions of biochemical unity with the austerities of biochemical diversity.
In order to provide a systematic comparison of the biochemical
phenomena of life throughout the phylogenetic scale, which has been
our objective, the Treatise has been organized in the following manner:
Volumes I and II are primarily concerned with the biological transformations of free energy. Volume I deals with the sources of biologically useful free energy, while Volume II describes how this free energy
is utilized to support function. The structures of the principal classes of
metabolites, their distribution, and the comparative enzymology of
their biogenesis and metabolism are the subjects of Volumes III and IV.
The comparative biochemistry of organized reaction systems and the
biological functions dependent upon these systems are discussed in
Volumes V and VI.
The chapter on Comparative Biochemistry of Photosynthesis, by
Professor E. C. Wassink, which was scheduled to appear in Volume I,
will be published in a later volume.
The Editors were saddened by the deaths of three distinguished
contributors, Professor E. Newton Harvey of Princeton University, Professor C. Fromageot of the University of Paris, and Professor W. Bergmann of Yale University. They possessed unique commands of their
fields of interest, and we are fortunate to be able to include their chapters on comparative aspects of bioluminescence, inorganic metabolism,
and steroid distribution.
We wish to record our gratitude to the staff of our Publishers, Academic Press, for warm support and professional assistance throughout
the preparation of the Treatise. They have made the task of editing far
less onerous than it might have been. One of us (H. S. M.) wishes to
thank Professor Sir Alexander Todd for the hospitality of his Department at the University of Cambridge during the editing of Volumes I
and II, and Professor E. S. West of Portland, and Mr. T. N. Morris,
M.A., of Cottenham, Cambs., for helpful editorial suggestions.
MARCEL FLORKIN
Lidge, Belgium
HOWARD S. MASON
Fortfond, Oregon and
Cambridge, England
May, 1960