Oxidations and Reductions in the Animal Body

Abstract

THE complex chemical compounds taken as food by animals are not brought by a single reaction of oxidation to their final states of water, carbon dioxide, and urea. They pass through many intermediate stages, which are of great interest and importance, not only from the purely chemical aspect, but also on account of the fact that many of them play a part in the production of substances which have a profound influence on physiological processes. It is the object of Dr. Dakin's monograph to describe these intermediate stages, and the reader may be satisfied that he will obtain the latest information on the subject. The book is to be highly recommended. It has a good index and a complete bibliography. The section on carbohydrates has been almost entirely rewritten since the previous edition. The description of oxidations which can proceed with the aid of water without free oxygen is of interest in itself, but such processes are of subsidiary importance in the higher animals, since these cannot exist without free oxygen.

Oxidations and Reductions in the Animal Body.

By Dr. H. D. Dakin. Second edition. (Monographs on Biochemistry.) Pp. ix + 176. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1922.) 6s. net.