happens to queuing theory, and to
pleased to find a résumé, though a somewhat disjointed one, by R. Syski
(U.S.) of the work of a pioneer in
played an important role)? One of the
the theory, Felix Pollaczek, who
as in a sense completed. What now
operations research (in which it has
most interesting aspects of the book under review is the light it casts on this
question.
In his introductory lecture, Philip
Morse (U:S.) suggests a promising
line of growth by effectively invoking
the Jacobi injunction: always invert. In
present uses of the theory, the input
and structure of the system are usually
taken as given, in some convenient
probability form, whether or not measurements or observations are available
to establish their relevance, In the inverse uses, the characters of the input
and structure would be inferred from
the output. Of course, an extensive
mathematical development, probably
more difficult to carry out than the
existing theory, is necessary.
In the third session of the conference,
J.
F.
C.
Kingman
(U.K.)
in
an invited paper examines the heavy-
traffic condition (that is, a condition
close to the limit of stability of the
system) with a view to finding an ap-
proximation of the performance of the
system (the distribution of delays)
which holds under more relaxed assumptions than the usual independence
ones. For a single server and orderof-arrival service, he finds a remark-
ably simple approximation. For many
servers and for other orders of service,
there is an open field for hardy in-
vestigators. Finally, in the closing session, T. L. Saaty (U.S.) offers many
nonmathematical remarks under the
title “Ordering disorderly queues.” The
matters he mentions range from improving the condition of waiting rooms
(more comfort) to improving the behavior of waiting people (more courtesy). In supermarkets, the multiple
checkout lines seem to him less efficient
and less equitable than a single line
with first-come, first-served service to
the idle checkers. Curiously, he does
not consider the question of whether
there may not be a critical queue size
beyond which order is impossible, that
is, beyond which the waiting line becomes a mob. It has been known for
some time that telephone operators
handling long-distance calls by ticket
inevitably pass from order-of-arrival
service to random service as the number waiting increases, and such transi-
tion in any service control may be expected to alter waiting behavior.
Aside from these glimpses into the
future, the technical reader will be
8 DECEMBER 1967
at
last receives the appreciation he deserves. The individual papers, which
cannot be given detailed notice here,
illustrate the variety of interesting uses
of the theory.
JOHN RIORDAN
Bell Telephone Laboratories,
Murray Gill, New Jersey
Antimicrobial Agents
Biosynthesis of Antibiotics, Vol. 1. J. F.
SNELL, Ed. Academic Press, New York,
1966. 246 pp., illus. $10.
It is historically fitting in a volume
devoted to the review of our knowledge of the biosynthesis of antibiotics
that the first group of antibiotics to be
discussed in depth is the penicillins
and cephalosporins. In an excellent
contribution, A. L. Demain reminds
us that penicillin “still remains the
most active and one of the least toxic”
antibiotics. Advances in the biochemistry of fermentation and production
methods are especially impressive when
one reads that in the early stages of
the development of penicillin it took
over a year to accumulate enough for
clinical trials. Today’s cultures produce 5 milligrams per milliliter. Evidence for the biosynthetic origins of
the -lactam-thiazolidine ring nucleus
common to all penicillins is reviewed.
It is particularly useful to have the associated pathways of sulfur and carbon synthesis in cysteine and other
pathways related to penicillin biosynthesis presented in parallel. A review
of the “new penicillins,” penicillinases,
and the biosynthesis of cephalosporin
C and its derivatives and mention of
the use of particulate fractions bypassing permeability difficulties all make
this chapter well worthwhile.
A concise and lucid chapter on the
status of the biosynthesis of the tetra-
cycline antibiotics is presented by R. H.
Turley and J. F, Snell. The use of
mutants in working out the probable
steps of formation of 7-chlortetracycline from 6-methylpretetramide is of
carbon atomsin the streptomycin molecule have been known for years, there
is still no knowledge of the manner
in which the individual units are linked
together by Streptomyces. However, a
clearer idea of the immediate precursors of the streptidine moiety and strep-
tose has emerged from recent studies.
J. D. Bullock reviews the biochemis-
try of the polyacetylenes, an interest-
ing group of fungal compounds which
have not reached the chemotherapeutic eminence of other antibiotics. The
macrolides represent the final’ group of
fascinating antibiotics covered in this
book, and although they are relative
“newcomers,” considerable progress in
the understanding of their chemistry
and biogenesis is evident from the
data given in the chapter by J. W.
Corcoran and M. Chick.
The chapter on the “Preparation of
radioactive antibiotics” is a useful
source of material, although it would
have been better placed at the end of
the volume so that the reader would
have first been informed about the
biosynthetic pathways. The volume is
well supplied with references and will
provide many with a very useful condensation of current knowledge in this
field.
MILTON R.J. SALTON
Department of Microbiology,
New York University School of
Medicine, New York 10016
Organic Compounds
Carbohydrate Chemistry. EUGENE A. DaVIDSON. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New
York, 1967. 447 pp., illus. $11.95.
The author indicates that a major
stimulus for this work has been the
need for a book on carbohydrate
chemistry in which the principles of
modern physical organic chemistry
are applied to the properties and
chemical reactions of the carbohydrates.
The principles of optical activity and
of the spectroscopic methods of nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared, and
optical rotatory dispersion, with some
applications to carbohydrates, are well
presented.
The
discussions
of NMR
interest; it is evident that other mutant-
and infrared are not illustrated with
reproductions of spectra and their in-
to naphthacenic intermediates can be
infrared absorption bands for some
important substituents are listed in ta-
selection techniques will be needed before the steps from acetate or malonate
worked out.
It is surprising that although the
chemistry and the major sources of
terpretation; the
faz values
and the
bles, however. Aspects of the biochemistry of carbohydrates, including pho1299