The Second International Congress on Photosynthesis Research took place in Stresa, Italy during June 24-29, 1971; two centuries after the discovery of Photosynthesis by Joseph Priestley in 1971. This important anniversary was celebrated at the Congress by a learned account of Priestley's life and fundamental discoveries given by Professor Robin HILL, F. R. S. Professor HILL's lecture opens the first of the three volumes which contains the contributions presented at the Congress. The manuscripts have been distributed into three volumes. Volume I con tains contributions in the areas of primary reactions and electron transport; Volume II ion transport and photophosphorylation, and Volume III carbon assimilation, regulatory phenomena, developmental aspects, and from the two special sessions of the Congress devoted to evolution and photorespiration. It is realized that this division is necessarily somewhat arbitrary since many contributions relate to more than one of the above mentioned titles. However, the large number of contributions (over 3000 typed pages) made it impossible to publish the proceedings in less than three volumes. The printing of these volumes and the organization of the Congress were made possible by a contribution from the Consigio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy. The generous support of the Istituto Lombardo Acca demia di Scienze e Lettere to the publication of these proceedings is gratefully acknowledged. The editors wish to express their appreciation to all the scientists who contributed the results of the investigations, for their coopera tion; and to Drs.

"Who discovered photosynthesis? Not many people know. Jan IngenHousz' name has been forgotten, his life and works have disappeared in the mists of time. Still, the tale of his scientific endeavour shows science in action. Not only does it open up an undisclosed chapter of the history of science, it is an ideal (as under researched) episode in the history of science that can help to shine some light on the ingredients and processes that shape the development of science. This paves the way for a fresh multidimensional approach in the philosophy of science: towards an "ecology of science"."--P. [4] of cover.

The Symposium 'Genetic Aspects of Photosynthesis' was sponsored by the Insti tute of Plant Physiology and Biophysics of the Tajik Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Councils of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. on the problem of photosynthesis, genetics and selection, and also by the N.I. Vavilov All-Union Society of Geneticists and Selectionists. The Symposium took place in Dushanbe on October 17-24, 1972. 223 scientists attended, including 209 participants from different parts of the Soviet Union and 14 honoured guests from Australia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, German Democratic Republic, Hungary and the U.S.A. They represented various fields of biological sciences: molecular biology, bio chemistry, genetics, cytology, radiobiology, biophysics, plant physiology, and selection. The chairmen of the ten symposial sessions were the leading Soviet scientists, B.L. ASTAUROV, A. A. NICHIPOROVICH, A. A. SHLYK, Yu. S. NASYROV, V. B. ,EVSTIGNEEV, O. V. ZALENSKI!, B. F. VANYUSHlN, N. P. VOSKRE SENSKA Y A, S. V. TAGEEV A and K. V. KVITKO. There were 57 speakers, and a further 40 experimental papers on the problems of genetic control of photosyn thesis were displayed on an exhibition of scientific research. Two special round table evening sessions were devoted to discussions on the mechanisms of the C 3 and C pathways of photosynthetic carbon metabolism and the structure of pho 4 tosynthetic membranes. The symposial sessions were concluded by a general dis cussion on the genetics of photosynthesis.