NEW BOOKS Trait6 de Radioactivitg. B y Mme. P . Curie. Vol. I . 17 X 26 cm; p p xiii 426; Vol. 11, p p . 548. Paris: Gaulhier-Villars, 1910. Price: 30 francs. -The subject is presented under the following heads: ions and electrons; methods of studying and measuring radioactivity; radioactivity of uranium, thorium and minerals; the new radioactive substances; short-term radioactivity, induced radioactivity, etc. ; radioactive gases or emanations; induced radioactivity; theory of the transformations of radioactive substances; nature of the radiations; different phenomena noted in presence of radioactive substances; evolution of heat from radioactive substances; uranium and its descendants; radium and its descendants, polonium; thorium and its descendants; actinium and its descendants, production of radium-ionium and the relations between the radioactive substances; radioactivity of the earth and the air. Mme. Curie accepts Rutherford’s theory of the gradual degradation of the radioactive substances. On p. 136 exception is taken t o the loose use of the term radioactivity. Phosphorus emits light, and ionizes the surrounding air t o some extent; but it should not be considered as radioactive in the sense in which we apply the word to uranium or thorium because the phosphorus oxidizes and because the ions produced are very much larger than those produced by the Rontgen or Becquerel rays. The hydration and dehydration of quinine sulphate is not a n atomic property of anything and therefore the effects produced should not be classed as radioactive. Zinc gives out negative ions when exposed to ultraviolet light; but Mme. Curie will not class zinc among the radioactive metals. She bars incandescent substances even though they emit ultraviolet rays of very short wave length. The power of affecting a photographic plate is not accepted as a criterion of radioactivity. ‘ I T he substances which are called radioactive are those which emit Becquerel rays spontaneously, the emission being defended on definite kinds of atoms. The spontaneity of the emission and its atomic character are the essential characteristics of radioactivity. “The radioactivity of the compounds of uranium and thorium seems t o be permanent. There are substances known, however, which come under the preceding definition of radioactive substances and which appear not t o have a permanent radioactivity. Polonium is a case in point. It has not yet been isolated but mixtures of it with inactive substances have been obtained. The radioactivity of these mixtures disappears gradually and is a function of the time. We cannot therefore consider the permanency of the radioactivity as a n essential characteristic. According t o the modern theories of radioactivity, we nevertheless consider radioactivity as a n inseparable property of the substance displaying it. If the radioactivity disappears we conclude t h a t the substance itself has disappeared. From this point of view the radioactive elements are composed of instable atoms which are destroyed by emitting Becquerel rays, thus giving rise to other atoms with a lower atomic weight. The radioactivity is more permanent, the lower the rate of decomposition.” The chapter on the nature of the radiations takes up about half the second
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volume. The results as to the effect of temperature on radioactivity seem a bit contradictory. P. Curie found no change when the radioactive substance was cooled to the temperature of liquid air. This has been confirmed by Dewar for a range of temperature from 1 5 0 O to - z 5 5 O (liquid hydrogen). At high temperatures, other results are obtained, p. z 14. “If radium is heated to a high temperature it continues to be radioactive. When barium chloride, containing radium, has just been melted a t about 800°, it is radioactive and luminous. A prolonged heating a t a high temperature causes a temporary decrease in the radioactivity of the substance. The decrease is considerable and may amount to 75 percent of the total radiation; the relative decrease being less for the rays which are readily adsorbed than for the more penetrating ones, these latter being pretty thoroughly cut out by heating. I n course of time the radiation assumes the intensity and characteristics which it had before the heating, the time necessary being about a month.” In the chapter on the different phenomena noted in presence of radioactive substances, Mme. Curie discusses the phenomena of luminescence, the ionizaWilder D . Bancroft tion of gases, the decomposition of water, etc.
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Nephritis. B y Mailin H . Fischer. 14 X 20 cm; p p . 198. New Y o r k : John Waley d Son, 191z.-The subject is classified under the headings: the albuminuria; the morphological changes in the kidney; the disturbances in secretion in nephritis; on the treatment of nephritis. The term nephritis is used to mean the non-purulent inflammations of the kidney. The general conclusion, to which the author comes, is stated early in the book, p. z . “All the changes that characterize nephritis are due t o a common cause-the abnormal production or accumulation of acid in the cells of the kidney. To the action of this acid on the colloidal structures that make up the kidney are due the albuminuria, the specific morphological changes noted in the kidneys, the associated production of casts, the quantitative variations in the amount of urine secreted, the quantitative variations in the amount of dissolved substances secreted, etc.” On p. 5 the author states his conviction that “albuminuria results whenever conditions are offered in the body which permit the solid colloidal mcmbrane that separates the blood from the urine to go into solution in the urine.” The passage on the physicochemical structure of the kidney, p. 5, is worth quoting in full. “The system that is involved in the production of urine consists in the main of three parts or phases-the blood, the urinary membrane, and the urine. “The blood consists of a liquid portion in which are floating various nucleated and non-nucleated cells. These cells are fairly solid colloid structures, that in their general properties are often said to be ‘jelly-like,’ a characterization that really fits them very well, for in their general biological behavior they are not unlike a stiffened gelatine, for example, but the liquid portion of the blood is also essentially colloid in character, only the colloids here are in a fluid state. It corresponds, say, with a ‘solution’ of gelatine or of albumin or globulin. Present in both the liquid and the solid portions of the blood are normally a number of salts and various non-electrolytes which play an important part in maintaining the normal state of the colloids that are found here. For the
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sake of brevity we will ordinarily, in this paper, refer to the whole blood as a single phase, and so as one of the phases making up the ordinary secretory system. We need not especially emphasize the fact that taken strictly this is not correct: there really exist several phases within the blood itself. “Under the urinary membrane we will include all the structures that lie between the blood on the one side and the urine on the other. The urinary membrane as we will use the term is made up of all the different cells that are found between the blood on the one side and the urine on, the other, together with their various intercellular substances. The whole constitutes a fairly firm structure to which we may again apply the term ‘ jelly-like.’ In the terms of physical chemistry this membrane consists of a mixture of various emulsion colloids in the solid or gel state. We find present here also, as in all the body tissues, various electrolytes and non-electrolytes. This membrane has not the same composition everywhere. Not only does histological evidence show a striking difference in the character of the cells that make up the different parts of the urinary membrane (different cell structure in the glomeruli, convoluted and straight tubules, etc.), but so does physiological evidence (adsorption of dyes). So this membrane also is itself composed of several phases, but unless specially noted we will simply refer to the whole as the second phase of our secretory system. “The third phase of our secretory system is formed by the urine. As is well known this is, under normal conditions, an aqueous solution of various crystalloids-electrolytes and non-electrolytes. Colloidal material is present in only very small amount and consists of that trace of albumin already referred to that is found in normal urine, together with some mucin, etc., derived from the urinary tract. When the urine becomes albuminous, as in nephritis, this colloid content rises. As we have said, this is because in albuminuria the albumin of the urinary membrane goes into ‘solution’ in the urine; the solid colloidal urinary membrane (a gel) becomes a sol.” The experiments on the effect of basket ball, p. 44, are interesting as are also those on cloudy swelling, p. 7 7 , and those, p. 88, on the voluntary production of hyaline or of granular casts. On p. 53 we read that “albuminuria is the constant accompaniment of salt stavvatian, be this a complete salt starvation or only such a partial one as is induced by completely eliminating the sodium chloride from the food. Under this same heading is to be classed the albuminuria consequent upon the excessLve consumption of water low in salts. The latter mashes the salts out of the body and so leads indirectly to the same state as that induced by a lack of salts in the diet. The effect of a salt-free diet is twofold. In the first place i t leads to the accumulation of acids in the tissues. Other things being equal, we have on this basis alone therefore a reason for the albumin going into solution (and so an albuminuria) when salts are withheld from the diet. But the salts act in yet another way. We found, in detailing the cxperiments on the solution of fibrin and of gelatin in acids, that this tendency of the colloidal gels to go into solution in a given concentration of acid is greatly inhibited through the presence of all salts, even neutral salts incapable of an effect which might be construed as due t o a mere neutralization of the acid. Through the withdrawal of salts from the tissues, whether by salt starvation or through leaching these out with water,
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we favor therefore the tendency of the proteins to go into solution in two ways: not only do we render possible an abnormal production or accumulation of acids in the tissues, but we take away a t the same time the effect of the salts in reducing the tendency of the colloids t o go into solution in such acids as may be abnormally present, or those which, like carbon dioxide, are normally produced in the tissues.” The reviewer is not qualified t o pass upon medical questions but the author has certainly written a n interesting book. Wilder D. Bancroft Die Kolloide in Biologie und Medizin. B y H . Bechhold. 16 X 23 cm; p p . Dresden: Theodor Steinkopff, 1912. Price: 14 marks.-The author begins with seven chapters on the general properties of colloids; then come five chapters on the biocolloids, the sub-heads being carbohydrates, lipoids, albuminoids, foods and beverages, enzymes, serums. The third section of the book deals with the organism as a colloidal system, while the last part of the book is devoted to toxicology and pharmacology. There are a great many interesting things in the book, such as: centrifuging collargol or caseine, p. 5; the structure of jellies, p. 9 ; ultra-filtration of emulsions, p. 15; adsorption of fatty acids, p. 2 7 ; displacement of adsorbed enzymes, p. 2 7 ; dyeing of naphthalene, p. 29; composition of blood cells and of serum, p. 32; separation of albumoses, p. 35; molecular weight of albumin, p. 38; diffusion of colloids into colloids, p. 50; membranes permeable t o fats, p . 55; ageing of gelatine, p. 67; antagonism of different cations, pp. 75, 2 2 1 , 352; coagulation of white of egg, p. 75; the dissolving of agar-agar, p. 125; action of proteids in increasing the solubility of salts, p. 136; cash value of better cooking, p. 153; ageing of condensed milk, p. 159; formation of wood, p. 2 2 9 ; excitation by ions, p. 27 I ;resorption in the intestines, p. 294; emulsification of olive oil with albumin, p. 326; positive and negative ferric oxide, p . 358; adsorption and fixation of mercury, p. 371 ; technique of staining tissues, p. 387. The author has made extensive use of Fischer’s hypothesis as to the nonexistence of cell walls. Attractive though this hypothesis is in some respects, W . D. B. it is not deemed by the biologists to be in accord with facts.
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Legons sur les Hypotheses cosmogoniques. B y H . Poincad. 16 X 25 cm; p p . x m + 279. Paris: A . Herman% et Fils, I ~ I I .Price: $~.zg.-The subject is discussed under the following heads: Kant’s hypothesis; Laplace’s hypothesis; Faye’s hypothesis; the hypothesis of du Ligondks; See’s hypothesis; theory of G. H. Darwin; the source of the solar heat; theories of Lockyer, Schuster and Arrhenius; the Milky Way and the theory of gases; See’s explanation of the formation of spiral nebulae; Belot’s hypothesis. The author’s own summing up of the relative status of the different hypotheses is to be found in the preface. “After this sketch, people doubtless expect me to draw some conclusions and that embarrasses me. The more one studies the problem of the origin of the stars, the less one feels inclined to be dogmatic. Each one of the theories proposed is very satisfactory to a certain extent. Some account for certain facts admirably; others have a wider scope but are e i t k r somewhat more vague as t o detail or give us a definiteness which is clearly illusory. ‘ I If i t were merely a question of the solar system, I should adopt Laplace’s
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old hypothesis. It needs very few changes to make it satisfactory. As there are a number of stellar systems, i t is necessary to take a broader point of view, in which case the hypothesis of Laplace must either be abandoned completely or must be modified so as to be only a special case, applicable merely to the solar system, of a more general hypothesis which would apply to the universe and would account for each star being where and what t is. “Our data are insufficient for this and there is stil much to be done in the way of making observations. Do Kapteyn’s two streams of stars really exist and are there others? What are the nebulae and especially what are the spiral nebulae? Are they a t enormous distances outside of the Milky Way and are they themselves Milky Ways seen from far off? I n spite of their spectra, is it theoretically impossible to resolve them into masses of true stars; must we accept Bohlin’s measurements as to the parallax of the nebula of Andromeda and the conclusions which See draws from them that, while this celestial object is doubtless composed of suns, the suns are no larger than the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter? Is it possible to maintain that our solar system has developed from one of the types of nebulae with which we are familiar, the spiral, planetary, or annular for instance? We cannot attempt to answer this last question until we know more about the nature, distance and dimensions of the nebulae. “There is one point which strikes everybody, the spiral form of certain nebulae. This occurs too often to be merely a matter of chance. Consequently any cosmogonic theory is incomplete which does not take account of this phenomenon and yet not one of them is satisfactory on this point, and the explanation which I once gave is no better than the others. We have as yet no Wilder D . Bancroft final theory as to the development of the universe.” An Experimental Course of Physical Chemistry. Part I. Statical Experi228. Londolz: ments. B y James Frederick Spencer. 12 X 19 cm; p p . xiv G. Bell & Sons, 1911. Price: 3/6.-In the preface we read that “ a n experience of teaching physical chemistry, extending over several years, has shown the author that unless the student actually performs physico-chemical experiments and verifies physico-chemical laws for himself in the laboratory, he is a p t t o regard the subject from too academic a standpoint. He may become interested in its principles either for their own sake, or for the purpose of passing a n examination, but he does not consider i t necessary t h a t he should concern himself with its practical side. This, obviously, can only lead to a very one-sided and incomplete conception of the subject. This work has been written, therefore, to provide the student of physical chemistry with a guide, which shall enable him t o carry out for himself the simpler physico-chemical operations.” This sounds well; but will not stand examination. I t is hardly to be believed that the author thinks that he has discovered the advantages of laboratory practice. The reviewer is not at all clear what the author has in mind when he refers to the practical side of physical chemistry. It would have been simpler and more interesting if the author had said frankly t h a t he wished to write a book and that this was the book he had written. The headings of the chapters are: interpretation of results; determination
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of weight, volume and temperature ; thermostats and constant temperature ovens; manipulation of gases; density; atomicity; molecular weights in solution; solubility; siscosity and surface tension; polarimetry; spectroscopy; refractivity; thermal measurements. pl’ilder D . Bancroft Gesammelte Werke. By IValther Ritz. (Publides par la Socz‘dtd suisse de 541. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, I ~ I I . Price. Physique.) 16 X 25 cm; p p . xxii paper, 18 francs.-Walther Ritz was a young Swiss physicist who died in 1909 a t the age of thirty-one. The few working years which this gave were even less actually owing to the fact that Ritz could only work a t intervals during the last four or five years of his life. In spite of these handicaps the work done by Ritz was so brilliant that the Swiss Physical Society has decided very wisely to publish the collected works in a special volume. The papers in this volume fall naturally into three groups: those dealing with series spectra; those with the theory of electrodynamics; and those dealing with the solutions of problems involving partial differential equations. It is a IVilder D. Bancroft monumental record for one so young.
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Le Mouvement. By J . Andrade. 15 X 23 cm; p p . vi 328. Paris: Felix Alcan, I ~ I I . Price: 6 francs.-In the preface the author says: “There are some general facts which are of importance to the study of the concepts of time or space and to the physical measurement of these values. These facts have been studied for a long time by philosophers and geometricians; they must now become a part of all scientific professions and must be adapted t o the needs of technical education, needs still scarcely understood in our school work; it has seemed to me that a realistic intuition might throw a new light on these facts, apparently as old as the world.” What the author has done is to present his subject as the work of individual men, sacrificing thereby something of polish; but gaining a good deal in interest. The four divisions of his subject are: number and extension, the concepts of geometry; motion and the concepts of force; the measurement of extensions; Tl‘dder D. Rancroft the mechanical measurements of time. Untersuchung und Nachweis organischer Farbstoff e auf spektroskopischem Wege. By Jaroskzv Formaizek and Eugen Grandmougin. 17 X 25 cm; p p . 164. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1 9 x 1 . Price: I O ’ marks.-The first volume was reviewed (13, 738) over two years ago. This first part of the second volume contains chapters on the handling of the spectroscope, on the spectroscopic study of dyes and on the spectroscopic investigation of mixtures of dyes by themselves, in fibers, or in foods and drinks. The authors classify the green dyes in six groups, giving the typical spectra for each group. They also give a list of the green dyes together with an account of the way in which they behave with the more common reagents. The same thing is done for the blue dyes except that they are classified in five groups instead of in six. 11,’ilder D. Bancroft
