VOL.6, No. 1
RECENTBOORS
After presenting an introductory chapter dealing with the present-day concept of biochemistry, a hrief review of the theoretical aspects of catalysis reactions in biochemical change and a review of the significance of pH, the author then plunges into a discussion of the chemistry of his subject under the following chapters. (a) Food-Stuffs, Their Derivatives and Related Szrbrtances. Here is given a brief review of our present-day ideas regarding carbohydrates, lipoids, and proteins. (b) The Chemistry o f Digestion, the Circulation, and the Ercreto. A review of the importance of bacteria, chemical activity in lower organisms, and the chemistry of blood, respiration, and excreta. (c) Intermediate Metabolism. Including a review of the chemistry of tissues, intracellular synthesis, products of intermediate metabolism, and the vitamins. ( d ) The Chemistry of Reproduction; The Chemical Contmlling Agencies of the Organism. A review of the agents gorerning and coardinating metabolic professes. (c) Q~tantitative Metabolism. ( j ) Addenda. A brief review of the present status of the chemistry of immunology and the importance of biochemical processes utilized in industry and their introduction to pharmacy. As might be predicted, the author has only touched upon elementary features of a very broad and rapidly growing field of science. The subject matter embraced under the term "Biochemistry" has today assumed such proportions that an author is called upon t o exercise much skill in selecting chapters suitable for a condensed text of this character. The author has, however, done quite well, and has contributed a sequence of data which should be stimulating t o a medical student interested in following up research in this science. It is not a book that follows the ordinary logical procedure usually associated with such texts, and the author has adopted a dogmatic treatment which is really stimulating. The text will, undoubtedly, serve a useful purpose. The author's work reveals t o the student in
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medicine that the subject of biochemistry no longer presents confusion, and he is made to see a definite picture of the chemical processes of life and death. BEAT B. JOHNSON YALEUNIVERSITY Colloid Chemistry. THE SVRDBERG, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Upsala. American Chemical Society Monograph Series No. 16. Second edition. Revised and enlarged in collaboration with Arne Tiselius, Research Assistant in Physical Chemistry, University of Upsala. The Chemical Catalog Company, Inc., New York City, 1928. 302 pp. with 167 figures. 15 X 23 cm. $5.50. In this, the second edition of the wellknown monograph of Professor Svedberg, the author has attempted t o give a general survey of colloid chemistry. The hook has heen considerably enlarged over the first edition, which contained 250 pages of subject matter. Forty pages of text have been added while there are fifty-two additional figures. A fine description of the ultra centrifuge as used by the author in his colloid investigations features the new edition. The value of x-ray analysis in this field and the recognition of the importance of Donnan potentials constitute the principal additions t o the subject matter. The usefulness of the book has been much increased by giving references t o the original work in footnotes on the respective pages, instead of placing the complete bibliography a t the end of the book. Following a short introduction and history of the subject one finds the content of the hook divided into four parts as follows: I. The Formation of the Colloid Particle. 11. The Colloid Particle as a Molecular Kinetic Unit. I n this section are discussed the size and shape of the particle as well as its Brownian movement. 111. The Colloid Particle Regarded as a Micell. Under this heading the particle
is considered with its surrounding field, its absorbed ions and molecules. IV. The Aging and Destrudion of the Colloid Particle. Because of the scarcity of information in this field one page only is devoted t o this subject. The author logically develops his subject from the standpoint of the colloid particle as the central point in colloid chemistry. From this point of view the book is perhaps the best presentation of the subject which we have. Investigations carried out in the author's labaratory constitute the chief part of the experimental work used to illustrate the text. One thus obtains a rather complete picture of the investigations of Professor Svedberg. The teacher of chemistry who has a knowledge of physical chemistry will be able t o acquire a fine picture of the field of colloid chemistry. More and mare teachers of chemistry will find it to their advantage to understand the fundamental principles of this field. L. H. R s v s n s o ~ oa MINNESOTA UNIVERSITY Sekai Kwagaku-shi (Universal History of Chemistry). R o n m o NAKASEKO(in the Japanese language). Kaniya Book 571 Store, Kyoto, Japan, 1927. v pp. 31 photogravure plates. 14 X 21.7 cm. Price, 6 yen.
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The present review relates to a book which the "reviewer" has under his hand and wishes keenly that he were able t o read. Let i t serve to call attention to the beautiful volume--and t o the evidence which it supplies of a growing interest in the history of chemistry. The book covers the whole history of chemistry and contains thirty portraits of eminent chemists, of whom seven are Japanese and two are American (Ira Remsen and Russell H. Chittenden). Describing as it does the classic researches of chemistry, i t will surely supply an enormous stimulus t o chemical study and research in Japan. The first section, pp. 1-106, deals with the history of chemistry in Japan, the second, pp. 107-158, with the
history of Chinese chemistry, and the two make the book more complete than any which is available t o Occidental students. We should like to know more-much more--about the history of chemistry in Japan and China. It is goad to know that something is in print on the subject, though printed in Japanese. Let us hope that the author will some day supply us with an English translation-r, better yet, with a book devoted to an even fuller treatment of the history of Japanese and Chinese chemistry. An excellent review of the book by Muccioli is published (in Italian) in Archiwio d i .%WZ'Q delkz Sciensa, 9, 37942 TENNEY L. DAVIS (1928). INSTITUIX MASSACHUSETTS oa TECHNOLQCY BOOKS RECEIVED--LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. NOVEMBER 15 TO DECEMBER 15,1928 Avalle, Edoardo, I combustibili liquidi per i motori endotermici. Processo della combustion-Combustibili liquidi derivati dalle sostanze vegetali-Gli alcooli come carburanti-Combustibili liquidi dai carboni fossili, dalle ligniti, torbe, asfalti, bitumi e schisti. I1 processo Bergius. Pracesso di cracking. Milano, C. Tamburini f u Carnillo, 1928. xiv, 407 p. incl. illus., tables, diagrs. pl. 25 cm. Badger, Walter Lucius and E. M. Baker, Inorganic chemical technology. 1st ed. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1928. vii, 228 pp. incl., illus., tables, diagrs. 23'/* cm. $2.50. Boord, Cecil Ernest, Laboratory outlines for organic chemistry. Columbus, The Ohio State University Press, 1928. 52 pp. 23cm. Bradbury, Robert Hart, Laboratory studies in chemistry t o accompany the rev. ed. of A first book in chemistry. New York, D. Appleton and Co., 1928. xii, 198 pp. incl., front., illus. 19'/2 cm. Bragg, William Henry, An introduction t o crystal analysis. London, G. Bell and
