Bücher von D.F. Horrobin

The two subjects which have been previously widely covered, the roles of prolactin in lactation and in rat mammary cancer, are presented relatively briefly though with a full list of references.

The study of the normal function of the animal and human organisms and of the diseases which disturb that normal func tion is largely the study of control mechanisms.

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of living organisms, of the ways in which food is used to serve all the many needs of the body. Energy is required for digestion, and for the functioning of the kidney, the liver, the brain and all the other organs in the body.

Broadly speaking the important feature which distinguishes plants is that they can manufacture most of the substances they require by trapping and using various forms of outside energy, in particular the energy of sunlight.

But animals must obtain their energy from the complex materials which they take in as food. The energy is released by the process known as oxidation (burning), in which food is broken down and combined with oxygen to release all the energy which is required.