111s
NEW 1 1 0 0 K S
Electricity a d M a g i ~ l i s r r Jur i Ucgrce S l u d c u k . 6th kklit,ioii. Uy 8. G . S T A I ~ L I S G . 22 s 14 cm.; v and 630 pp. London: Longsinans, Green niid eo., 1937. Price: 12s. 6d. The virtues of Starling’s standard work on electricity and iiiagiietism arc too \vcll known to require commendation, and the fact that during the twenty-five years of its cxistence there have appeared no less than six editioiis and seven new impressions, affords some indication of its popularity. In the present edition the book appears in a rathcr inore elaborate guise with bolder type and a modified title; but the major iniprovement lies in the omission of matter t h a t has become of less importance and the substitution of additional inaterial concerned with what, for lack of a better term, is usually described as “modern physics.” While in the first three quarters of the book, n-liich is devoted t o classical electricity and magnetism, there is inueh evidence of careful treatment and logical proof, the remaining three chapters have in one or two places left the impression that thoroughness of treatment has been sacrificed to the exigencies of space. Students of chemistry offering physics as a subsidiary subject will find in this edition an up-to-date account of electricity which amply covers their present requircineiits and will subsequently prove of valuc for refcrcncc.
E. J. IROSS.
M a n in a Cherrzical World. By A . CI~ESSY ~IORRISON 23. x 16.5 cni.; xiv
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292 pp. S e w York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1937. Price: $3.00. This book is intended “to impress the inan in the strect with the fact that the chemical industries of the United States render a service that touches practirally every activity in which he engages,” p. ix. “Chlorine has for many years provided a germ-free water; but, until the advent of activated carbon, many waters-although quite safe for drinking purposes-were a t times unpalatable as compared with clear spring water,” p. 38. “ I n addition to the preventive vaccine which has practically wiped out smallpox among the plagues of mankind, similar treatments havc been developed, and are produced i n quantity, which act with the utmost certainty in preventing tetanus, hydrophobia, diphtheria, and, in livestock, canine distemper, rabies, and hog cholera. There are numerous other diseases-scarlet fever, the cvommon cold, and spinal meningitis-for which similar treatments are partially successful,” p. 19. “Cocaine has bad qualities as well as good, among which is the property of making addicts of those who use i t . . . . The result of combined research of chemistry a n d medicine \vas materialized finally b y the chcmical indust,ry into L: substance known as procaine or novocaine, xhose sole characteristic is the deadening of certain sensory nerves to pain,” p. 63. “Despite the centuries of experience of the race in the treatinriit of human diseases, there are now known but a inere handful of specific curative medicines. The first of these (and the one on which our whole theory of specific curatives is based) was Elirlich found that a the cure of malarial fever by the administration of quininc certain type of organic compound of arsenic was effective in destroying the parasite of syphilis. . . . Insulin, adrenalin, pituitrin, and thyroxin are typical of thc glandular principles used extensively in modern therapy for the cure of diseases caused by their deficiency. In a very similar way i t has lately bceri shown th:tt pernicious anaemia may he cured [?] by introducing into thc systcm thc c,xtr:ic,t, of fwsh c:tlvcs’ livers,” 1,. 6.5.
“Careful study of iiiscct l i f e rcvcb:ils ilia{ otic of thcir inost vulncrai~lcIwirits is thr pcculiarity of their breathing apparatus. I n d c w ; the fact that nature failed to provide them with lungs, but rather distributed thcir breathing apparatus over thr
