The concept for a treatise covering selected natural polymer systems was initiated during a national meeting in cell biology in 1978. The challenge to the editor was to organize a book dealing principally but not exclusively with cellulose. A brief background may help to provide the reader with information to understand the reasons for the specific selections within this volume. better During the past decade, we have witnessed significant changes in the sciences as well as the day-to-day life styles of our citizens. It will not be forgotten that during the early seventies, a significant...