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RECENT BOOKS
Emphasis on mechanics may have led the author t o select some items for his tests that were more satisfactory from the standpoint of "mechanics" than from the standpoint of chemistry. I n item 18 of Form A the student is expected t o write that aluminum hydroxide is formed from action of sodium hydroxide on aluminum chloride. Under ordinary conditions the product from this equation is sodium aluminate. I n another item the student is asked t o write the formula for sodium oxide as N a O This is not an error but i t brings in an unusual compound. These illustrate the types of situations that so frequently develop in chemistry when too much emphasis is given to "mechanics." This investigator has done a careful and extensive study of the errors that pupils make and the information in his report has much of value for high-school teachers of chemistry. S. RALPHPOWERS T B ~ C H B R S COLLECH
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The Glycosides. E. F. ARMSTRONG, D.Sc., Ph.D.. LL.D.. F.R.S., and K. F. ARMSTRONG, B.A., BSc. Longmans, Green and Co., New York City, 1931. vii 123 pp. 15.5 X 24 cm. $4.25.
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This newest addition to the series of monographs on biochemistry, edited by R. H. A. Plimmer and F. G. Hopkins, should perhaps be entitled "The Natural Glycosides." for even the chapter on synthesis is concerned with this phase of the more general subject. Following a chapter which is devoted t o a discussion of the origins of the sugars and glycosides. there is a detailed description of the occurrence, properties, and structure of the various natural glycosides. These are divided by the authors into groups entitled Phenols, Hydroxyanthraquinones, and Hydroxycoumarins; Anthoxanthins and Anthocyanins; Digitalis, Strophanthin, Saponin; Mustard Oils, Cyanophoric Glycosides, Nucleosides, Indian, Pentosides. A chapter is devoted t o the methods which
have been evolved for the synthesis of glycosides (including both chemical and enzyme syntheses), and another chapter t o the uronic acids, including the pectins. Final chapters discuss the function of glycosides in plants and the utilization of carbohydrates in plants. A complete bibliography is appended. Considering the field which is covered by this monograph the authors have produced an extremely comprehensive volume. The book is well arranged, and the many formulas which are included are valuable, particularly t o one not thoroughly familiar with the-field, for clarity both of structure and of nomenclature. I t may he remarked that certain of the opinions expressed in Chapter I appear to be open to question. Furthermore. the final chapter on utilization of carbohydrates in plants, though interesting, seems t o have but little relation t o the rest of the material. The field covered is so specialized that the monograph is probably not adapted for use as a textbook, but as a reference work it should prove extremely valuable. A. L RAYMOND TAB ROCKE%ELLBR INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL
RESEARCH
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Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemistry, 1931. Volume XXVIII. The Chemical Society, London, England. Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd., Bungay, 443 pp. Suffolk. England, 1932. xii 13.5 X 20.5 cm.
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This volume is quite similar to its predecessors and presents an international view of the progress of theoretical chemistry in the specific fields of which i t treats. It contains the following reports:
General end Physical Chemistry. By C. N. HINSHELWOOD. Inorganic Chemistry. By H. BASSRTT. Organic Chemistry: Part I. Aliphatic Division. By E. H. FARMER. Part 11. Homocyclic Division. By G. M. BENNETTAND J. W. BAKER.
