RECENT BOOKS LIFE AND EXPERIENCES OF A BENGALI CHEMIST,VOLUME11. P. C. Rdy. Chuckervertty, Chatterjee & Co., Ltd., Calcutta, 1935. viii 469 pp. 14 X 21 cm. 6s.
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The f i s t volume was largely chemistry and the space given to politics was not unreasonably large. The second volume is devoted almost completely t o savage attacks on English rule in India. I t should have been called "Political Opinions of a Bengali Chemist." One can sympathize with the author's feeling that English should be used less and the vernacular more. "The last occasion when I sat on the jury box, i. e.,before I hadcompletedmy sixtieth year, there was a sessions case of which I was chosen foreman. The judge was a Bengali and a former pupil of mine. Theaccused was a Bengali; the Advocate General, the Standing Counsel were all Bengali barristers, besides an Eurasian barrister, who of course knew Bengali. There was the farce of the evidence in each case being translated by the Court interpreter before it could he 'heard' by the judge and the jurors. This had the effect of protracting the trial to an unusual length," p. 63. One wonders whether there may not be another side to the criticisms in regard to railway embankments, p. 156. "The floods of this year in Orissa and Midnapore, and water-logging in the suburban area of Calcutta illustrate the disastrous results of the government policy in regard to canal embankments. The root cause is the same, namely obstruction t o natural passages of water on il:-x~ut of embankments raised for setting up cheap lines of commun~ations. Canals are sketched out on a man in stmight lines. Nu c u n 4 ~ m t i u nis yivrn to the drainage of the surrounding lsnrli Some h i r e garrs HW kept for drain in^ flood water but they are eichrr in~dequilteor inop?rative; and mostly the canal leads and embankments are designed in such a way that the sluice gates are mere eyewash, for they cannot receive the drainage from the surrounding lauds-they are not designed t o do so." The author claims, p. 243, that famines and pestilences "which levy such a huge toll every year in ill-fated Bengal were scarcely known six decades ago; somehow or other they have synchronized with British rule. Tuberculosis has no doubt been endemic in India from time immemorial; i t is mentioned as Raja Yakshh in the ancient Ayurvcdic works but its victims were few and confined chiefly t o old age; whereas this scourge is now spreading like wild-fire." "As has been shown above, the spread of malaria has followed in the wake of drainage obstruction due to railway embankments. Dr. Bentley, while laying stress upon this aspect, has not hesitated to call i t also hunwr disease. Malnutrition. which brines on dpbilirated conrtitutionxr~ddepriver the victim of recistingpowrr. is equally responsible for the havoc of malaria and tubcrrulosis. Water famine has also followrd in thc wake of the British rule." ~
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OP PHYSIOLOOICAL CHEMISTRY.Arthur K. AndcrESSENTIALS son, The Pennsylvania State College. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1935. v 257 pp. 31 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $2.75 net.
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The author has undertaken a difficult task, i. e.. to present the more important facts of biochemistry as related t o the animal body in a form which will be understandable t o students with limited preparation in chemistry and biology. He states it as his opinion that a thorough knowledge of the chemistry of biological compounds is a prerequisite to an understanding of biochemistry. He therefore emuhasizes the chemistrv of the carbohvdrates. lipids, and proteins more than is usually done in elementary books in this field. I n a preliminary chapter on physical chemistry the author has,
in the judgment of this reviewer, presented simply and clearly those principles that students must understand before the essentials of physiological chemistry mean anything to them. The text presupposes some sort of course in organic chemistry, but the chapters on carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are presented in such fashion that even with very little previous training the essential facts about the chemistry of these compounds may be understood. References, while not numerous, are well selected. We believe that in the chapter on blood the part on Respiration and Alkali Reserve could be improved. Altogether the book is readable and teachable. I t will orobablv take its e lace as a
AND PHILOSOPHY IN TEE A HISTORYoa SCIENCE,TECHNOLOGY, XVITH& XVIITXCENTURIES.A . Wolf, Professor and Senator, University of London, Head of the Department of History and Methods of Science, Former Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, Fellow of University College, London, Coeditor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica; with the coaperation of Dr. F. Dannemenn, Professor in the University of Bonn, and MI. A . Armitage, of University College, London. The Macmillan Company, New York City, 1935. xxviii 692 pp. 316 illustrations. 15.3 X 24.7 cm. $7.00.
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This book contains a comprehensive account of the growth of natural knowledee durine the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. of the practical nppli~~atione which were made of that knowledge. and of the rontrmporanrous philosuphicd speculations nllirh were based upon it or somehow arose in runiequcncc of It. These last are especially important for a proper understanding of the history of science. Locke's doctrine of primary qualities, for example, had much t o do with preparing a way for the chemical revolution accomplished by Lavoisier, with producing a state of mind for which quantitative considerations based upon measurements of weight were of the greatest significance. The book is truly an account of European history during the sixteenth and seventeenth c e n t u r i e s n o t political history, for the kings of the time, the battles, and territorial boundaries a5ect us scarcely more than does last year's snow-but real history in being an account of what men were thinking, doing, and hoping t o do. I t contains chapters on a number of subjects which have not been treated heretofore in the histories of science. We are particularly glad t o see those on exploration, on psychology, and on the social sciences. It is altogether a well-rounded book. Although "its primary aim . . . is to meet the needs of the serious student," i t is easy and interesting t o read, good for the perspective of the cultivated individual, and gaod for the nat-yet-serious student who, if he picks it up, is likely t o come back t o it again. The subjects of the chapters are as fallows: I. Modern Science; 11. The Copernican Revolution; 111. Galileo Galilei; IV. Scientific Academies; V. Scientific Instruments; VI. The Progress of Astronomy: Tycho Brahe and Kepler; VII. The Newtonian Synthesis; VIII. Astronomers and Observatories in the Age of Newton; IX. Mathematics; X. Mechanics; XI. Physics: Light; XI. Heat, Sound; XIII. Magnetism and Electricity; XIV. Meteorology; XV. Chemistry; XVI. Geology; XVII. Geography: Exploration, Cartography, Treatises; XVIII. The Biological Sciences: Botany, ZaMogy, Anatomy and Physiology, Microscopic Biology; XIX. Medicine; XX. Technology: Science and Technology, Agriculture, Textiles; XXI. Building Materials: XXII. Minine " and Metalhum. ". . Mechanical Eneineerbg; XXIII. Thc Stcnm Fnginc, hluchnn~calCalculafurs; XXTV I'sycholupy; XXY. The Swial Science,; XXI'I Philosophy
