BOOK REVIEWS Su-ERo•r) DRuGs, by Norman Ap- plezweig. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York 36, N.Y. 1962. 742 pages, illustrated and indexed. Price $25. The first three hundred odd pages of this work are as exciting to read as a "who dunnit" thriller. Author Applezweig, as one of the steroid pioneers, knows who started what and where. His description of the steroid cartel created by Schering Kahlbaum, Ciba and Organon (all of Europe) the pioneering work of Russell Marker for Parke Davis and Co., with whom he fell out the development of Syntex in Mexico by Marker the synthesis of cortisone by the Merck researchers Searle's perfusion method of oxygenating steroids the Upjohn fermentation process the come lately companies like Pfizer, Glidden, General Mills, Prorex, Diosynth the replacement of Marker at Syntex by Rosenkranz when the former left the work of Windaus, Wieland, Butenandt (stu- dent of Windaus) and Ruzicka as the four Nobelists, are only a part of the many thrilling episodes clarified and tied together by the author. Then there is (or was) the "patent pool" consisting of Research Corp., Ciba, Organon and Schering to whom Merck paid royalties on its synthesis of cortisone, the gradual invasion of this field by other com- panies all this forms another fasci- nating facet of today's steroid pic- ture. The author does not confine his remarks to U.S. companies. His adventure covers the international scene. Further along are discussed the five main classes of therapeutic steroids: androgens, estrogens, pro- gestins, glucosteroids and mineral corticosteroids. The cosmetic ap- plication of steroids (page 274) is reviewed in five pages of the text. The author makes a significant in- dictment of the cosmetic industry with his statement, "Much of the failure to make use of the opportu- nities for the use of steroids in cosmetics must be laid at the door of the cosmetic manufacturers, who, perhaps through discouragement or timidity, have not used the knowl- edge available from modern steroid research." There are a few awkward sen- tences in this fascinating tale, as in the second paragraph on page 96. While insignificant, there is a dis- crepancy in the stated price of progesterone which "tumbled to $3.00 per gram .... "on page 12 while on page 24 the price tumbled "to less than $2.00 per gram .... " The references are all very recent, reflecting the newness of the major steroid developments. Most of the bibliography dates between 1950 and the present time, but a great many references are dated from 1955 to 1960. The section on steroids and cancer is well done (page 160). The de- velopment of antifertility agents from the progestins and the in- creasing usefulness of anabolic ster- oids are carefully documented. The section on the menstrual cycle is useful. The many tables, some 400 pages in all, follow from page 312 to 731. The structural formulas of 1409 245

246 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS steroids are given in about 300 pages. The balance of the tables classify the biologically active ster- oids using the author's coding sys- tem. Author Applezweig's work re- places nothing. But it does comple- ment such texts as Fieset and Fieser's famous tome on steroid chemistry.--M. G. DENAvARRE, BEAUTY COUNSELORS, INC. THE CHEMISTRY AND MANU- FACTURE OF COSMETICS, by Maison G. aleNavarre. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, N.J. 1962. Volume I, 389 pages Volume II, 413 pages both indexed and il- lustrated. Price $11.50 per volume. Volumes III and IV to follow. The title retained from the origi- nal edition may disappoint. So far, the manufacture of cosmetics is emphasized to a lesser degree than in the first effort. At this point the indications are that the coverage will be complete, uniquely lucid and amazingly up-to-date, considering the fluid state of the legal back- ground of the industry. The formu- lation ideas used in less conservative cosmetic environments are covered and should give this book broad in- ternational acceptance. The working cosmetic chemist and his semitechnical associates will find a well of information. The understanding built up by the 35 years of the modern cosmetic in- dustry is encapsulated by one of the industry's finest technical writers. Although of textbook quality, con- siderable astuteness in choosing col- laborators has brought a freshness of readability to a work which will con- tinue to be a standard reference for the cosmetic industry. No errors in proofreading were noticed. The use of basic reference data throughout the body of the work makes for greater reading in- terest. The author has succeeded in dividing this complex technology in such a way that each volume is, in its own field, a complete reference book. At the published price of $11.50 per volume, they are within the reach of both established and aspiring cosmetic scientists.--W. B. Dennis, Chemway Corp. THE PROFESSIONAL SCIENTIST: A STUDY or AMERICAN CHEMISTS, by A. L. Strauss and L. Rainwater. Aldine Publishing Company, Chi- cago 5, Ill. 1962. 282 pages, in- dexed. Price $6.00. Strauss and Rainwater, with their collaborators, present a study of the American chemist as he views himself and, to some extent, as he is viewed by others. The study was undertaken by Social Research, Inc., at the request of Albert L. Elder, 1960 president of the Ameri- can Chemical Society, and is an excellent sociological report on the status, expectations and characteris- tics of various divisions among chemists: research administrators, nonresearch administrators, Ph.D. researchers, non-Ph.D. researchers and bench chemists. The authors discuss the meaning of the term "profession," the ap- plication of which is a matter of disagreement within several oc- cupational groups, and examine the concern of chemists over their status as professionals. This concern is allied directly with attitudes to- ward physicians, who are generally believed to have greater prestige and higher income than chemists, as well as plans fi)r training, accredita- tion and certification, unionization and other controversial topics. The authors suggest that chemists must create a better public image of themselves. They indicate that the ACS, as the major scientific organi- zation in the field, should take the lead in publicizing a professional image of the chemist in a manner