This book consists of a correlation and systematization of the literature on the chemical and physical properties of the sterids. It is intended as a companion to the volume entitled "The Chemistry of the Bile Acids and Related Substances," which was previously published by the author, the two volumes being independent but, at the same time, overlapping in many respects.
The present volume consists of eleven chapters, which include a brief historical survey of sterid chemistry and of methods of structural research and an exhaustive discussion of the chemical and physical characteristics of the sterids. The author has included much on the hormones of sterid constitution. There is a lengthy classified catalog of the sterids and their derivatives, containing their structural formulas, systematic designations, melting points, data on optical activity and other physical constants, as well as information on their occurrence, formation and synthesis, to which are added accounts of