It might be asked if there is a need for yet another large review on
Intestinal Absorption, and the answer is that this is still a rapidly
expanding field of interest both from the medical and scientific points
of view. There is ample evidence for this in the number of papers which
continue to be published, and the bul- letin on Intestinal Absorption
issued by the Biomedical Infor- mation Project of the University of
Sheffield lists about 150 titles per month, and there is still no sign
of any diminution in this rate. There are in fact so many papers that
those interested in intestinal absorption have to be specialists in one
particular field, but must at the same time be aware of the general
deve- lopments in the subject as a whole. The last major review was the
excellent volume in the American Handbook published in 1968, already six
years ago, and indeed a number of the con- tributors to that volume have
taken part in the present work. Some observations made in the
introduction to a volume of the British Medical Bulletin on Intestinal
Absorption some years ago are still pertinent. Progress in the
experimental sciences is not continuous, but proceeds in phases of rapid
expansion alter- nating with periods of slower growth.