In this book a distinguished scientist-historian offers a critical account of how biochemistry and molecular biology emerged as major scientific disciplines from the interplay of chemical and biological ideas and practice. Joseph S. Fruton traces the historical development of these disciplines from antiquity to the present time, examines their institutional settings, and discusses their impact on medical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural practice. Fruton considers how the development of chemical and biological knowledge has influenced the chemical study of enzymes, proteins, and nucleic acids and their biological role in such processes as fermentation, respiration, photosynthesis, motion, metabolic change, transmission and expression of hereditary characters, and the regulation of physiological pathways. He also considers the extent to which the development and application of reliable biochemical knowledge have been determined by social factors and by the personal qualities and philosophical preconceptions of the participants.