162
JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
hy a truly remarkshle series of beautiful eleotronmierograph~. The next two chapters deal with growth problems; Frey-Wyssling discusses that of the plant oell walls, while Brown, Reith, and Robinson study the growth of plant cells mainly in isolated fragments but also in intact organs. The final chapter by Preston discusses the hialogiaal units of cellulose structure derived from a study of the vesicles of Valonia. All chapters are concisely written by experts in their chosen fields and most of them are illustrated either by very clear diagrammatic tort figure8 or by mie~ophot,ographsand electronmicrographs on plat,es, the latter being among the best this reviewer has seen. Each paper has its own bibliography. The volume will appeal primarily to biologists, hut will be of great value also to those biochemists and biophysicists who wish to correlste their findings with structural elements. The only regrettable feature of the hook is that i t contains neither a n author nor 8. subject index. THEODOR YON BRAND NATIONAG I N B T I T ~OPE HEALTH B B E T E E RMARYLAND ~~.
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The oollection includes B number of personal items, among them a music manuscript of 48 pages in Lavoisier's hand; a passport issued to Lavoisier in 1792 granting him permission to go to Blois; a list, including Lavoisier's name (spelled Savoisier), of those condemned to death by the Tribunal; and a number of personal letters. Only one authentic portrait of Lavoisier is known. Painted by the famous Jacques-Loui~David, it hangs in t,he Rookefeller Institute fox. Medical Research. Many ot,hrr pictures, however, have been made, either as indiwct eapieb or as imseinstive eoneentions. Same 14 of them are included in the roll&ion, togethe;, with several bl.onee medals and the eommemorittivo French Stamp of 1943 marking the 200th anniversary of 1,avoisier's hirth. The generosity of Mr. Duveen in making this superb collection available, and the courtesy of the Grolier Club in presenting it for public exhibition and preparing the Catalogue is deeply a p p r a ciated by all those interested in the history of science. We need to be reminded again and again of the genius of this man whose last days were such a. tragic anticlimax. SIDNEY J. FRENCH
CATALOGUE OF PRINTED WORKS BY AND MEMORABILIA OF ANTOINE LAURENT LAVOISIER: 17431794
Printed in limited edition of 1000 copies for the Grolier Club by the George Grady Press and privately distributed. 70 pp. 14 X 22 om. Paper bound. $2. NOWHERE in the world is there a more complete private calleetian of the works of Antaine Lavoisier than that of Mr. Denis I. Duveen. Through Mr. Duveen's generosity, the Grolier Club was enabled to exhibit this collection t o the public in February and March, 1952. From the earliefit papers on meteorology through'his most significant scientific contributions, and not omitting his many contributions in the fields of economics, finance, agriculture, politics, sociology, education, and reform, the colleotion reveals again what we often forget-the amazing versatility and sound judgment in all fields exhibited by the "Father of Modern Chemistry." The papers on combustion start with the early work of Lavoisier, Macquer, and Cadet on heating the diamond, and cover all of the important contributions a t this significant period in Lavoisior's thinking through the high point of the Revolution reached in his "Mimoire sur Is. nature du principe qui se combine avec 1 s m5taux pendant leur calcination, et qui en rtugmente le poids." This paper, s. classic in the history of science, was published first in 1775 and later, in revised form taking into account Pricstley's discovery of dephlogistirated air, in 1778. Unique in thc collection is a first edition of "Trait4 5IBmentaire de ohemie," of which only three copies are known. Only recently has it Imcome apparent that the edition commonly regarded as the first was actually the second. Scielhsts know Lavoisier as a scientist. His writings and activities in ot,her fields, however, while overshadowed hy the revolution he a d l i r v ~ rin l science, entitle him to standing as a. contemporary thinker of distinction in $1 public fields. The collection includes some 20 papers in fields other than science. Among them is his "Reflexions sur I'instruction publique" a n the reorganization of the educational system, which document shows extrao~dinaryinsight into the problems of education in France. Indeed. Tallewsnd sent him his own draft on the suhiect., heeeine criticism. A&, his "De la richesse territorizle de Is. France" is a cont~.ihut,ianof highest order in the political economy of France. Many other papers in the exhibit on agriculture, h o e pitals, and his work in the Provincial Assembly of Orleans attest to his broad talents. I n 1792 he was offered the post of Ministre des Contributions Puhliques, ivhich in view of the troubled times, he promptly declined. That a man withsuchliberel views should become a victim of the contemporary hysteria which demanded liherat,ion or heads is st,ill an enigma.
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OPTICKS
Sir I s a a c Newton. Based an the fourth edition, London 1730. Foreword by Albert Einstein. Introduction by Sir Edmond Whittaker, Preface by I. Bernard Cohen. Dover Publications, 406 pp. 8 photographs. 56 figs. Inc., New York, 1952. cxv 6 tables, 11.5 X 17.5 cm. $1.90, paper hound; $3.95, cloth bound.
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after Newton's death, which had, however; been corrected and made ready for publication by Newton himself. It is dedicated to Marjorie Hope Nioolsan, "who uncovered the influence of the Opticks on 18th-century imagination." The foreword by Professor Einstein, two pages, and the introduction by Profes~or E. T. Whittsker, both written for the 1931 edition, are included in zhis volume. The~einelusionam e preceded by thelong preface, 40 pages, by Professor I. Bernard Cohen, and are followed by 8 detailed summary of the contents of the book proper, except for the last fifteen queries. This synopsis takes up 32 pages. The excellent preface by I. Bernard Cohen make8 this edition of the "Opticks" a most valuable addition t o the library of any physicist or chemist interested in the history of science in the late seventeenth oentury. Professor Cohen places the "Opticks"
writers of the ti&. More important than this; however, is the lengthy and discriminating comparison of the two great classics that came from the work of the mind and the hands of this intellectual giant, the "Principia" and the "Opticka". "While thc 'Principia' seemed the terminal point of an ancient line of inquiry, the 'Optieks,' with its newly discovered phenomena concerning colors and diffraction, clearly marked the beginning of a new direction in physical inquiry." As Professor Cohen remarks, the "Optieks" is "one of the most readable of all the great hooks in the history of physical science." Of particular interest to the chemist are certain of the Querien. Most of the experimental work on light reparted in the book was done in the early years of Newton's life in his lahamtory in Cambridge. It is often forgotten that Newton devoted a goodly partion of his time for more than 25 yeam to investigations in chemistry, mainly with metals, fire, and flames, and that this experimentd work parallels the investigations on prisms and lenses. Robert Hooke i n h n d o u pursued similarinvestigations. The ideas and personalities of these two greatest geniuses of seventeenthcentury l3n~l:~nd clashed. The first edition of the "Optirks"
