feel that alcoholism can be discussed aside from and independent of a medical model. Until physicians can set forth with clarity and goodwill the positions they have taken in using a medical model for alcoholism and can develop and expound it better than they have, there will be frustration. The medical model at best will be incompletely understood. At worst it will continue to be misunderstood, producing a state worse than ignorance. William B. Bean, M.D. University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, Texas Bilayer Lipid Membranes (BLM): Theory and Practice. By H. Ti Tien. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1974. Pp. 655. $39.50. Bilayer lipid membranes (black lipid films) were introduced almost 13 years ago as an experimental tool for studying membrane phenomena. The description of the system and its fascinating properties can be considered a milestone that marks the beginning of the logarithmic growth of membrane research which took place in the intervening years. Several other developments which followed closely are of equal importance for the present state of our knowledge in the field. These include Bangham's description of lipid vesicles (liposomes) as model membranes, the application of several physical techniques by Chapman, Luzzati's X-ray diffraction work, and, more recently, the use of spin labels by McConnell and others. Although it is very difficult to evaluate the relative importance of these contributions, it is clear that the initial description of bilayer lipid membranes stimulated a large number of physicochemically oriented investigators to enter the field of membranes. Furthermore, the system still provides a valuable tool for reconstituting biological membrane functions, after the successful separation and characterization of specific membrane components by an increasing number of biochemists who have finally entered the field. The book under review, Bilayer Lipid Membranes (BLM): Theory and Practice , is a lucid description of the main properties and past uses of the system of black lipid films. Its author, Dr. H. Ti Tien, was a member of the original group ofinvestigators that developed the system, which included, in addition, P. Mueller , D. O. Rudin, and W. C. Wescott. A historical account of the influences that were instrumental in the development of the system is given by Tien in the first chapter: "In the late 1950's while Rudin and his associates were investigating the ion specificity of lipid monolayers and the Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers, two inspiring publications appeared which exerted great influence on the thinking of the early workers and altered the course of their research. The first was a reprint of C. V. Boy's classic book on soap bubbles, and the second a volume dedicated to N. K. Adam in which A. S. C. Laurence recounted the highlights of the development of monolayers, soap films and colloid chemistry. ... It was simply decided to attempt to form a black lipid film in aqueous solution, by extending the methods used in black soap film work as described by Mysels and colleagues." Bilayer Lipid Membranes consists of 655 pages of offset typescript devoted almost entirely to black lipid films. The literature coverage reaches up to 1973, but it essentially stops at 1972 and consequently does not contain many important Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Summer 1975 | 575 developments of the last two years. The most important material of the book can be usefully divided into three sections: (1) theory and general properties of black lipid films (180 pp.); (2) studies of specialized functions such as excitability, photosensitivity, etc. (260 pp.); and (3) details of experimental methods and technical information on apparatus, etc. (105 pp.). Finally, there is a bibliography of 625 references of work on lipid membranes. This bibliography is in addition to the reference list given after each chapter. In total, the work represents a very useful and well-written description of the now-classic work on black lipid films, with special emphasis on the author's own work on photoelectric phenomena and numerous technical details not usually found in books. Black lipid films are a physiochemically interesting entity, but their importance is related to their relevance as models for biological membrane functions. An attempt was made to relate the properties of the black lipid films to biological membrane functions...