In 1976 I wrote a monograph on lysosomes (Lysosomes: A Survey, Springer-
Verlag, Vienna) that was intended as an up-to-date, comprehensive
survey. Whatever success I may have achieved then in fulfilling that
intention, even the effort now would be foolhardy. The literature has
grown so rapidly in the past decade that I certainly could not even read
all of the essential papers, let alone understand and analyze them. My
goal here, therefore, is simply to introduce the major features of
lysosomes at a level I hope will be useful both to I;ldvanced students
and to researchers interested in obtaining a broad background. This is
in keeping with the design of the Cellular Organelles series: the series
is more a set of advanced texts than of review monographs. This design
carries with it the decision not to support each point by refer- ences
to the original literature. I apologize for the injustice involved in
such a decision but feel that in any event it would be impossibly
unwieldy to cite, adequately and in a balanced manner, the contributions
of the vast network of researchers responsible for the information upon
which I draw.