2006
JOURNAL OF CHB:MICAL EDUCATION
value, particularly to the better grade student, since it challenges his ability t o think independently and to make practical use of knowledge already gained. Mechanically the b w k is well arranged as t o subject matter, well printed, and m i t e free from errors.
NOVEMBER, 1932
ous processes of nitrogen fixation. Under the chapter headings descriptive of given methods is found usually another historical account of the commercial development. capacities, and costs, hut quite properly the major attention is given to the fundamental reactions involved and their improvement or greater completeness. I n dealing with ammonia synthesis, there is presented a n admirable discussion of the Fixed Nitrogen. H-Y A. , C m ~ r s . kinetic relations involved in this process. Editor, with the collaboration of F. E. together with the surface conditions of the ALLISON.J. R. DILLEY,W. L. EDWARDS. catalysts used. It is likely that these P. H. EMMETT,E. W. GUERNSEY. P. E. pages in the future will he repeatedly and HOWARD, H. J. KIUSE, N. W. KRASE. eagerly scanned by the technologists who C. H. KUNSMAN.ALBERT R. MERZ, are charged with the operation of ammonia WIEBE. plants. The teacher and casual scientist WILLIAM H. ROSS,AND RICHARD will likewise turn t o them for a fuller American Chemical Sodety Monomaph satisfaction of the queries that arise from Series, No. 59. The Chemical Catalog Company, New York City. 1932. 517 the remarkable development of this phase pp. 82 Fig. 111 Tables. 15 X 23 of industry. Two chapters are devoted to what cm. S12.W. ordinarily constitutes material given in This is a comprehensive treatise dealing works of reference. Yiz., the physical with the distribution of the earth's total properties of the six gases encountered in nitrogen and the exposition of the scientific facts and theories of nitrogen fixation. nitrogen fixation and high-pressure technic. The technologist will, no doubt, welcome Inasmuch as the authors have a t some its indusion while the general reader will time been connected with the Fixed page i t over. The chapter dealing with Nitrogen Research Laboratory (U. S. + synthesis of urea is an excellent treatise the Dept. of Agriculture), i t is in a sense a of an interesting product that promises to summary of the work that has been done use a part of the by-product carbon or reviewed in the activities of the laharadioxide of the Haber-Bosch process. tory. This alone is sufficient t o vouch far The concluding chapters of the b w k are its thoroughness and completeness. concerned with the commercial outlets or The sixteen chapters may very well be divided into three sections The first four applications of fined nitrogen. Synthetic chapters constitute an introduction t o the fertilizers are discussed in detail, flow main theme of nitrogen fixation. They sheets and sketches of the processes are deal with the sources of nitrogen com- given, and the reader may gain an excellent perspective of the expanding field into pounds, its fixation by living organisms, the winning of it from natural deposits, which these products are now going. Its future promise is unfolded in a statistical and its recovery from the distillation of chapter dealing with thegrowth, costs. and coal. The discussion of nitrogen fixation is prices prevailing in the industry. The book is a real contribution to approached historically with a description of the commercial development of the chemical technology. It is surprisingly various processes used in the past or now free from repetition when one considers Dr. Curtis' statement that the editorial in use. Considerable space is given t o the methods available for studying the prerogative was lightly used. In the activity of gases and of catalyst surfaces further exercise of the popular interest in nitrogen fixation and in the promised which play an important part in the vari~
VOL.9. No. 11
RECENT
growth of this industry the authors have rendered a distinct service. H. K. BENSON U ~ l v s n s r r vor.w*snrworox s e * m e , WAS".
Annual Review of Biochemistry. Volume 1. JAMES MURRAY LUCK,Editor, Stanford University. Stanford University Press, Stanford University. California. 724 pp. 15 X 22 cm. 1932. vii 15.00.
+
The literature of the natural sciences has gmwn so fast in recent years as a rcsult of productive research in all fields of scientific activity that most of us find ourselves buried today in the midst of technical and scientific journals. New publications are being created yearly to meet the demand of specialists. I n fact. science has become so specialized that researchers and teachers find themselves ~uhmerged in an accumulating pile of scientific papers, and a5 a result it is now absolutely impossible t o keep abreast of the times. One is practically compelled under present-day conditions to restrict his reading very closely t o the confines of his own special field of work. Furthermore, as science progresses there is no indication that this condition will be greatly improved in the futwe. Ror these reasons any reliable contribution of the character of the one under review is welcomed by every worker in science. It is an extensive survey of a rapidly expanding field of scientific activity covering many border lines of human interest, and the review s w e s as a scientific clearing house, so to speak, for the mijrdination of the results of the many researches in biochemistry. The most significant contributions to the various subjects discussed have been reported by authors who have made important contributions, and have been distinguished for the character of their personal researches. While it is to be expected in such a review, covering so extensive a line of activities, that some omissions might be detected, the attention has been centered
BOOKS
2007
largely upon selected topics considered of major importance and significance, and it is the opinion of the reviewer that the survey is sufficiently comprehensive to properly cover the major lines of work. Some idea of the scope of the work reviewed by the different collaborators is indicated by the following list of subjects discussed: permeability, biological oxidations and reductions, enzymes, chemistry of fats, lipins and sterols, amino acids and ' pmteins, metabolism of sulfur and phosphorus, carbohydrates and glycosides, nutrition, vitamins, hormones, chemistry of muscle, liver, and bile, the brain and nerves, animal and plant pigments, ternenes, saponins, chemistry of bacteria, immuno-chemistry,and biachemistryof fungi. The review has been made possible by the advice and eoijpeperation of a group of workers in this country and abroad. Acknowledgment is made in the preface of the book of a generous subsidy covering three years of the Review bv Mr. Francis Garvan and The chemicai Foundation, and also for financial assistance from Dr. Richard J. Block. All the contributions are a Ksponse to a wide request for help and the editors have experienced difficulty i' in restricting their review t o its present size. While such spontaneous coaperation is admirable, it does not seem necessary or practical to devote so much space yearly to such a review number. There is great danger here of duplication of effort. Biochemistry and organic ehemistry are today so closely interlocked that many items in the present review might well have been omitted and more completely discussed in a review of organic chemistry. For example, the chapter by Professor H. Fischer and II. W. Neumann does not do justice to a development in organic synthesis which is recognized as a classic contribution in organic chemistry. The chapter by Professors Karrer and Helfenstein on plant pigments is another ease and is strictly a report of a development in pure organic chemistry, and does not necessarily find its true place in a biochemical review.
