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reference libraries and all physiological libraries. Nost ecologists and many physiologists will find it a mine of information, Ross AIKEX GORTNER. T h e Chemistry of Antigens and Antibodies. By J. R. MARRACK.Medical Research Council Special Report No. 194. 16 x 25 em. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1934. Price: 2s. 6d. net. During the last decade there has been an ever-growing volume of literature dealing with the basic problems of immunity in terms of the fundamental sciences. Dr. J. R. Marrack has brought together in the small space of one hundred and thirty-four pages a fairly complete collection of the most important physicochemical researches which have directly contributed t o modern views concerning the nature of antigens, antibodies, and the antigen-antibody reaction. The first chapter is devoted t o certain physicochemical considerations and consists of a short and well-Iqritten survey of current views on the shapes and sizes of molecules, intermolecular forces, the structure of proteins, and the stability of suspensions. The recent evidence for and against the protein nature of antibodies is carefully reviewed in chapter 11, and later in the book the specificity of artificial protein antigens, which contain “determinative” chemical groupings, is lucidly discussed in terms of structural organic chemistry. To the chemist entering the field of immunology this monograph can be heartily recommended, for it gives a clear account of the physical and chemical studies which have served t o elucidate certain immunological reactions. To the more experienced immunologist i t ho has already realized the value of chemical concepts in the study of immunity, Dr. Marrack’s book will be especially acceptable since it contains, besides a thorough survey of the recent literature, many stimulating suggestions which will doubtless form the basis of future investigations. W. T. J. MORGAS.
A Textbook of Inorganic Chemistry. By FRITZ EPHRAIM.Second English edition by P. C. L. THORXE.24 x 16 cm.; xii 873 pp. London: Gurney and Jackson, 1933. Price 28/-. In the first English edition of this work, of eight hundred and five pages, the translator made some additions t o take account of English and American needs. The present edition includes much more material from the new German edition and some additions by the translator. The latter do not always go far enough. The section on Werner’s theory is very valuable and satisfactory, but the reference t o the new theory of the coordinate link is far too brief. The discussion of the hydrogenpalladium system leaves the subject with Hoitsema, and the newer work of Gillespie and Hall, Hanawalt, and others, is not mentioned, so that the section is quite out of date. A similar criticism could be made of the section on silicic acids, where only van Bemmelen’s work appears. The phase rule diagram of silica does not include two @-tridymites;only the old methods of preparing boron hydrides are given; and in many other places the text could usefully have been brought up t o date. The translation is satisfactory, although the names of Neumann and Hauck, correctly given in the German, appear as Wennann and Hanck on p. 325, hlayer instead of Mayes on p. 528, etc. The section on the thionic acids is too sketchy. The “very interesting addition compounds (nitro-metals)” of Sabatier and Senderens mentioned on p. 611, like the compounds NO: and H,O, on p. 637, have long since passed out of existence. . The book is one A hich advanced students will find very useful, but it is to be re-
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gretted that the revision by the translator has not been more drastic and satisfactory. The result is, in consequence, that some parts do not give a really modern presentation of the subject.
J. R.
PARTINGTON.
Chemische Technologie der Neuzeit. By OTTODAMMER AKD COLLABORATORS. Second enlarged edition in five volumes. Volume 11. Part ii. 27 x 19 cm.; xvi 888 pp. Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke, 1933. Price: unbound, 93 M;bound, 98 XI. The present volume of this very comprehensive work deals entirely with metals: iron and steel, gold, platinum metals, aluminum, magnesium, calcium, alkali metals, beryllium, mischmetall, nickel and cobalt, silver, copper, tin, antimony, zinc, cadmium, thallium, arsenic, mercury, bismuth, lead, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, uranium, manganese, rhenium, gallium, indium, and germanium. It will be seen that the rarer metals are included, but the treatment is sometimes rather brief; for example, only four and a half pages are devoted t o vanadium, and only five, one a table of analyses of ores, t o tungsten. The references t o literature in these sections are sometimes rather scanty. The information on the magnesium and beryllium alloys is disappointingly brief. The commoner metals are more fully dealt with, one hundred and ninety-two pages being devoted t o iron and steel, seventy-two t o copper, and eighty-eight t o lead. The various contributors have made a n attempt t o deal adequately with the material in the space available and have taken good account of modern literature, including English and American, and patents. I n so far as a single volume can give a satisfactory treatment of such a wide range of subjects, the present work gives a comprehensive and able survey of the field. It will need supplementing by special monographs when full information on details is required. The book is well printed and illustrated and contains many table8 of numerical information, including the properties of the metals. J. R. PARTISGTON.
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C. KOCH. Cloth; 15 x 23 cm.; Practical hfethods of Biochemistry. By FREDERICK 280 pp.; 17 fig. Baltimore: William Wood and Company, 1934. Price: viii $2.25. This is a laboratory manual in physiological chemistry, with especial reference t o medical school aspects. The author has for many years been in charge of the work in physiological chemistry a t the University of Chicago, and the present volume affords ample evidence that the experiments have been tried over and over again in class laboratories. The book is divided into three parts; I, The Chemistry of Cell Constituents, including chapters on carbohydrates, lipins, proteins, nucleoproteins and nucleic acids, and hydrogen-ion concentration; 11, The Chemistry of the Digestive Tract, with chapters on salivary digestion, gastric digestion, intestinal digestion and bile; and 111, The Blood and Urine, with chapters on blood and hemoglobin, the quantitative analysis of blood, the quantitative analysis of urine, and the chemical examination of urine in pathological conditions. The book contains an elaborate appendix of fifty-three pages in which explicit directions are given for the preparation of the various laboratory reagents. An adequate subject index closes the volume. In all, directions for two hundred and twenty-eight laboratory experiments are given. Most of these are for qualitative tests for various biochemical compounds. Numerous quantitative procedures are, however, included. Since the book is designed for a first course in medical biochemistry, but little use is made of physicochemical
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