448 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS with the uptake and excretion of ele- ments, their essentiality and toxicity, and the occurrence of essential ele- ments in enzymes and other biologi- cally active molecules. The text of these chapters is a somewhat shallow presentation of the subject matter. (The chapter on "The Functions of the Essential Elements" is dispatched in fourteen pages liberally sprinkled with tabulated data.) However, each of these chapters, as well as the entire book, contains a wealth of quantitative data summarized in tabular form which should be of great value to anyone working in the field of inorganic biochemistry. There are very interesting chapters on the natural radioactivity of living or- ganisms and the contribution of ele- ments to the biological kingdom from enviromnental contamination by man and his devices. The last chapter is a very special feature of this book. The author has done a commendable job of sulnlnarizing the available data on the occurrence, function and toxicity of 90 elements found in plants and animals. The reference material that this book has to offer should not be over- looked by anyone concerned with the relationship of inorganic ions to bio- chemistry and cellular physiology. C^RL FE•,OER--Gillette Research In- stitute.

J. Soc. Cosmetic Chemists 19 449-460 (1968) ¸ 1968 Society of Cosmetic Chemists of Great Britain Metrication The Royal Society Conference of Editors, which took place in December 1967, after considering the role that scientific journals can play in connexion with the Government's policy of promoting the general adoption of the metric system in the United Kingdom, has made two main recommendations: 1. That the system of units known as SI should be adopted in all scientific and technical journals. 2. That, in order to keep to a minimum the difficulties that will inevitably arise during the period of transition, the change-over should be effected as quickly as possible. The Council of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists of Great Britain has since decided that SI units shall be adopted in the British editions of the Journal from January 1969. SI (which is the abbreviation in many languages for Syst•me Inter- national d'Unit6s) is an extension and refinement of the traditional metric system. It embodies features which make it logically superior to any other system as •vell as practically more convenient: it is rational, coherent and comprehensive. The metric system •vhich had spread to several countries in the aftermath of the French revolution, began to be adopted in scientific work in the United Kingdom in the last quarter of the 19th century. Its use extended more and more widely, although a few branches of science remain where Imperial 449