To cover the vast range of modern biochemistry, Dr. Marcel Florkin and Dr. Elmer Stotz have edited a massive series entitled "Comprehensive Biochemistry," that embraces 29 volumes. Now, as a capstone, the editors are bringing out a historical survey, written by Dr. Florkin, that will eventually run to four more volumes, of which this book is the first.
Dr. Florkin is not only an eminent biochemist but also a noted medical historian, and a past president of the International Academy of the History of Medicine. His original intention was to limit the historical presentation to the modern period, starting in 1897. But to make this meaningful he had to present the earlier doctrines. History of more modern developments will, presumably, form the subject of the second, third, and fourth volumes, still to be published. In the present work Florkin divides the early history into two parts. The first discusses the