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content; thermochemistry, including heats of reaction, of solution, of n e t t i n g etc.; weight a n d material balances in combustion processes a n d in miscellaneous chemical a n d metallurgical processes; calculations of crystallization, adsorption, a n d related processes; elementary treatment of entropy, free energy a n d fugacity a n d chemical equilibrium i n both ideal a n d non-ideal systems. T h e treatment is quantitative i n all cases, a n d niethpds of calculation are well illustrated b y many numerical examples. A collection of additional problems is given a t the end of each of the fourteen chapters. Several of the chapters are practically unchangcd from corresponding ones in the previous edition. Others have been reorganized t o give a more logical sequence. Nelv material added includes a treatment of the AIerkel enthalpy-concentration diagrams for binary solutioi;s; a section on conversion of units, symbols, a n d equation; a treatment of the thermochemistry of petroleum; a n d the introduction of chapters on free energy. entropy, a n d fugacity a s a basis for the subsequent treatment of chemical equilibrium which h a s been broadened t o include the calculation of equilibrium constants from free energy d a t a a n d application t o non-ideal gas equilibria. Room for the ne\?- material has been provided by omitting the chapter in the previous edition which treated distillation equilibria Anyone concerned with the quantitative application of physicochemical principles t o industrial problems could n o t fail t o find this a valuable source-hook for problem data. BARXETTF. DODGE.
Protoplasm. B y W I L L I ~ M SEIFRIZ F i r s t edition. 581 p p ; 27 chapters; 179 illustrations, Xew Y o r k : 31cGran-IIill Book Co.. Inc , 1936. Price: $6 00 A McGran--Hill Publication in the Agricultural a n d Botanical Sciences. Professor Seifriz is a versatile scientist. His work on emulsions. gels, a n d other colloid topics is well bnon-n among chemists and physicists, b u t they may not be a n a r e t h a t Professor Seifriz is a member of a botany department a n d is a n active investigator in botany a n d biology Professor Seifriz's general a t t i t u d e tom arc1 science, and, in particulai, his point of vien in his hook is typified by the quotation from Descartes with TT hicli he introduces his preface : " If. therefore, anyone nishes t o search o u t the t r u t h of things in serious earnest, he ought not t o select one special science; for all the sciences a r e conjoined u i t h each other a n d interdependent." T h e extent t o n hich Professor Seifriz lives u p t o his principles is vel1 illustrated by the titles of the chapters in his hook: namely, T h e Living Substance; T h e Cell; )lode1 Making; 11icrurgy; Tissue Culture; T h e Colloidal S t a t e ; Emulsions; Hydrophilic Sols a n d Gels; Surface Tension; Adsorption ; Osmosis; Imbibition; Viscosity; Elasticity; T h e Structure of Protoplasm a n d Organic Colloidal M a t t e r ; Permeability ; Acidity; Electrophysiology; Electrokinetics; R a d i a n t E n r r g y ; T h e Kblr of Water; Salts; Carbohydratrs; F a t s ; Proteins; Regulator). Substances; T h e Origin of Living AIatter. -4s indicated by these chapters, t h r scope of the book is by 110 means as restricted as i t s title might suggest In f a c t , a considerable numbei of the chapters cover the same ground. admittedly in a novel i t ay. a s iq covered in the avei age elem c n t a r y book on applications of physical chemistry t o biology. T h e hook abounds in literary quotations. bits of philosophy, a n d personal a n d historical i t r m s . I n his preface, Professor Seifriz states t h a t his book n as u r i t t e n for students in biology a n d medicine, a n d is not intended for his colleagues. I t is evident t h a t the author has striven t o make the book easy a n d entertaining t o read Being free of footnotes a n d references, the pages have a "clean" appearance, and. v i t h the many illustrations, make the book a s readable as a novel. Very little knowledge of chemist r y a n d physics a n d no knonledge of college mathematics is required of thc reader.
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I n f a c t , the reviewer feels t h a t the author h a s gone to extremes in simplifying his presentation a n d in avoiding numerical d a t a , curves, a n d mathematical equations. It does n o t speak well f o r the scientific ability of the biologist if he is awed b y graphs a n d simple equations. However, since most of the graphs a n d equations t h a t could have been used lvould coiicerii physicochemical m a t t e r s with which the average chemist would be familiar, their omission should n o t prevent the chemist or physicist from gaining a stimulating a n d comprehensible view of m a n y basic biological problems. T h e book presents a n interesting expression of how a broad-minded botanist looks a t his world. T h e spirit of the book m a y be illustrated b y a few quotations from the section on vitalism a n d mechanism: I n considering the vitalism a n d mechanism points of view, t h e author s t a t e s : “The experimental scientist is often loath t o t u r n t o the philosopher for a suggestion on the solution of his problems, b u t this would a p p e a r t o be the best way o u t of the present situation. Let us rather n o t deny mechanism or vitalism, b u t ask t h e philosopher t o tentatively i n t e r p r e t life for us. Philosophically inclined biologists see in emergent evolution a n escape . . . from the mechanistic-vitalistic No m a t t e r how much knowledge we m a y have of carbon, hydrogen, a n d , it viill avail us nothing in a n understanding of glucose. A whole is more t h a n the s u m of i t s p a r t s , n o t merely because of complexity, b u t because in the functional whole we have another type of syste Living m a t t e r is a mechanism ion or explanation; everything obeying all natural laws, b u t it is incapable of t h a t goes t o make u p a living system is mechanical, a n d the individual p a r t s of i t a r e definable, b u t the collective all is indefinable. . . . A philosophy wherein living m a t t e r is interpreted a s a n organized functional system is n o t only a n escape from a too rigid acceptance of either the mechanistic o r vitalistic concepts, b u t i t is also a n escape from the fatalistic a t t i t u d e of those who bemoan the harsh severity of experimental science. I ’ Unfortunately, the book is somewhat marred b y rather nunierous errors, a n d the unwary biological s t u d e n t is a p t t o gain rather unusual ideas about various physicochemical matters. To mention a few noticed in the section on Brownian motion, for i n s t a n c e : It is said t h a t Brown noticed the trembling motion of particles a b o u t 0.004-0.005 i n . in size, a n d on the next page, i t is said t h a t particles larger t h a n 1 p (0.00016in,) show no motion in water. Brownian motion does n o t cease a t a“definite maximum size”, a n d density is n o t a factor in Brownian motion. Figure 77 does n o t show the complete p a t h of a particle in Brownian motion, b u t only the positions of the particle a t fixed intervals of time. Larger particles do not exhibit a motion of greater amplitude than smaller particles. These a n d similar errors in other sections, the author will undoubtedly correct i n a second edition. E:. 0 . K R A E h f E K .
