An Introduction to the Study of Viruses

Abstract

At the time of writing this book, there has been no attempt to present the study of viruses as the separate discipline of-to use a bastard word-virology. Heretofore, the subject has been divided up into artificial compartments, plant viruses, animal viruses, and bacteriophages, as if there were no common bond between them. I have therefore attempted to survey the whole field, superficially no doubt, but in such a way that the relationships between these interesting agents may become clear to the student. In doing this I am aware that I am inviting criticism and that there may be little in common between, say, the viruses of vaccinia or psittacosis and some of the very small plant viruses. We can, however, follow Boycott's suggestion of a descending scale with the smallest organisms at one end and the protein molecule at the other. In between those limits, and perhaps overlapping at each end, lie the viruses, a heterogeneous collection no doubt but all showing-some characteristics in common. Like most modern scientific disciplines, but more so than some, the study of viruses becomes essentially a matter of team work because of its many contacts with other subjects and its wide ramifications through much of the field of natural science. This makes it a difficult matter for one writer to cover the field in an adequate, if only introductory, manner and a severe test of his comprehension of the subject. I have, nevertheless, written this book in the hope that it will be of use, not only to the 'Virologist," if such a person exists, but also to the biochemist, the biologist, the medical student and anyone else who is interested in that borderland country whose boundaries were described by Aristotle as "indistinct and doubtful." Grateful acknowledgment is due to my colleague, Dr. Roy Markham, for his constructive criticism of Chapters V to VIII, and for taking many o£ the photographs used in the illustrations.