~NA~ru~~~vo~~~-~~~~4~Ju~t~v~~~~3~-----------------------iB~0~0~K~R~EV~IFEVVVVSS-----------------------------------------'93 for the reader to accept the veracity of the marvellous picture of the molecular basis observers, even though why one should Protein in the of this disease and the hope for a cure. believe them is unclear. picture The metaphor that likens haemoglobin In Chapter 9, Shackley hypothesizes that to the hydrogen atom is apt, in large the Mongolian ''wildmen'', the Almas, are Wayne A. Hendrickson measure, because so much is known about a surviving Neanderthal population. This the molecular structure of this protein. But is one of the more interesting parts of the Hemoglobin: Structure, Function, the wealth of information in a three­ book, since the Neanderthals are a well­ Evolution, and PathoiOI!Y. dimensional structure must be com­ known biological group. It therefore pro­ By Richard E. Dickerson and Irving Geis. prehended for it to have an impact. This vides an opportunity to evaluate the Benjamin/Cummings: 1983. Pp./76. book makes that possible for thoroughness of Shackley's scholarship $34.95, £22.45. haemoglobin. Dickerson's enviable ease and hence a framework against which to with words and Geis's word-saving judge her evaluations of "wild men" pictures clear away the clutter and focus stories. What, then, is her "evidence" that MAx PERUTZ describes haemoglobin as our attention on essentials. Consequently, the Almas of Mongolia are Neanderthals? the hydrogen atom of biology. Indeed, this we see fields ranging from evolution to It consists entirely of Middle Palaeolithic­ protein does serve as the model for a broad medicine illuminated by the structure of like tools in areas of Mongolia (none illus­ reach of biological sciences and has also haemoglobin. We await more in the same trated or described in detail), which local been the proving ground for countless vein from this outstanding partnership people say are made by "wildmen" in the techniques. Because haemoglobin plays when they reach the original goal of nearby mountains. Not only is this shaky such a central role in science and in life, updating their 1969book. D evidence upon which to base such an hypo­ Dickerson and Geis quite naturally chose it thesis, but it bespeaks ignorance of the to illustrate principles of protein structure, Wayne A. Hendrickson is a Research Bio­ associations of Upper Pleistocene lithic function and evolution when they set out to physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, industries with human biological forms. revise their first book, The Structure and Washington, DC. Shackley is apparently unaware that ana­ Action of Proteins (Benjamin, 1969). The tomically modern human beings, as well as example became the subject, and the Neanderthals, are associated with Middle planned reviSion evolved into Palaeolithic industries in the Crimea and Hemoglobin. After Waterman the Near East. The presence of such lithics Readers of the previous book will in Mongolia, therefore, does not document recognize much of the material in the early E. Naylor the existence of Neanderthals, whatever stages of this one. However, nearly the geological ages of the implements might everything in the last three quarters is fresh, The Biology of Crustacea. Vols 1-3 of a be. including a beautifully illustrated projected ten-volume series. In addition, the density of misinform­ description of the mechanism of allosteric Editor-in-chief Dorothy E. Bliss. ation on the Neanderthals is appalling. It action in haemoglobin as well as out­ Academic: 1982/1983. Vol. 1 pp.318, appears that Shackley does not realize that standing sections on globin evolution and $38.50, £25. 60; Vol.2 pp.440, $49.50, two adult Neanderthal partial skeletons on abnormal human haemoglobins. In £32.80; Vol.3 pp.480, $59, £39. were found at Spy, not one (p.l41), that general, the clear exposition and they were excavated in 1886, not about wonderfully comprehensible views here of A LITTLE over 20 years ago The Physiology 1866 (p.l41), that Boule estimated the the three-dimensional structures of of Crustacea, edited by T. H. Waterman, cranial capacity of La Chapelle-aux-Saints haemoglobins and myoglobins provide an was published by Academic Press. It was a 1 to be 1,620 cc, not 1,450 cc (p.143), that excellent complement to the stereographic two-volume work which synthesized and there is no evidence for rickets or other details in the Fermi and Perutz's Atlas (for stimulated the study of crustacean biology specific dietary deficiencies in any of the review see Nature 302, 362; 1983). in a manner which has been of fundamental known Neanderthal specimens (p.146), Molecular evolution is one of importance for the development of the that Neanderthal halluces were of the same Dickerson's major interests and the subject. Now, as a measure of the success relative length as ours (p.l48), and that corresponding section is probably the 1 of that publication, it is argued that to Skhul 5 is not a Neanderthal but a robust, strongest in the book. Thorough coverage produce an up-dated review under the early anatomically modern human (p.l59). of sequence variability in the globins is broader title of The Biology of Crustacea, These may appear to be detailed points of backed up by a lucid discussion of it is necessary to plan for ten volumes, with little importance, but they illustrate mutation rates and evolutionary theory. (It almost a hundred contributors and eight Shackley's disregard for factual accuracy. is a pity that Perutz's recent work on editors. All are easily verifiable, unlike her claims species adaptation came too late to be The past two decades have undoubtedly about "wildmen". included.) One also finds a fascinating witnessed a remarkable growth of know­ Shackley's lack of competence in human description of haemoglobin gene structure ledge in many areas of crustacean biology. palaeontology and palaeolithic archaeology and its relationship to changes in The study of interrelationships through does not lead one to have much confidence expression during pre- and post-natal comparisons of living forms has been in her other opinions. Thus, this book is development. There is, however, a failing advanced by fuller evaluation of the Class merely another contribution by an with respect to invertebrate haemoglobins. Cephalocarida, discovered only a few years individual already convinced that One gains the impression that the cited before The Physiology of Crustacea was "wildmen" exist. D monomeric examples are typical when, in published in 1960, and the recent discovery fact, giant extracellular haemoglobins are of the Class Remipedia in 1980. Evidence Erik Trinkaus is in the Department of commonplace. from the fossil record has also increased Anthropology at the University ofNew Mexico, The mutant haemoglobins, a subject markedly with new fossil finds of late Albuquerque. closely related to evolution, are also Palaeozoic forms and the application of admirably covered. This part of the book X-ray techniques to the head and limb Flora of Australia. The second volume in flows from the aetiology of thalassaemias structure of trilobites, thus clarifying their this series to be released (Vol. 8, Lecythidales to a comprehensive table of known point relationships with Crustacea. Significant to Batales) has recently been issued. Price is mutations in human haemoglobin. But the advances have been made in the study of hbk $A34, pbk $A29; postage is $A5. For highlight is sickle-cell anaemia. Here Geis's crustacean embryology, with evidence emer­ review of Vol. 1 in the series and details of talents as an illustrator again come to the ging of modified spiral cleavage and of the publisher see Nature 296, 275; 1982. fore. Both the text and the figures convey a constancy in the fate map of the blastula © 1983 Nature Publishing Group.