This volume is the last in the series comprising "Water-A Comprehensive
Treatise. " It was originally planned to combine aqueous solutions of
macro- molecules and disperse systems in one volume, but largely because
of the extensive coverage required by recent developments in aqueous
solutions of proteins and synthetic polymers I decided to separate
topics dealing with water in disperse systems. The systems treated in
the present volume are of a complex nature so that the theoretical
frameworks established earlier in Volume 1 and utilized in Volumes 2 and
3 cannot at the present time be applied. On the other hand the systems
discussed in Volumes 4 and 5 in particular, border on the many
biological and technological areas where important attributes are
related to the common factor-water. Included among such diverse problem
areas are food processing and preservation, cryopreservation, paper and
textile finishing, membrane processes, hemodynamics, etc. It is to be
hoped that in days to come some of the results and principles discussed
in these five volumes can be applied to improve our understanding of the
complex in- teractions in medically and industrially important spheres
of scientific ac- tivity. An age seems to have passed since the concept
of creating this treatise was first discussed, and since work began on
Volume 1, much has happened in the science of Water; some of the recent
developments were highlighted at this year's Gordon Research Conference
in Plymouth, N. H.
