Comprises the proceedings of a symposium held at the Ciba Foundation, March 1988. Contributors present an international, interdisciplinary approach to the biology and biological chemistry of cyanide and related compounds. Addressed are the microbial metabolism of HCN and organic nitrile compounds, cyanogenesis in higher plants, qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis of cyanogenic glycosides, and detoxification of hydrogen cyanide by animals.