Recent Books Sir Isaac Newton, 1727-1927. A Bicentenary Evaluation of His Work. A Series of Papers Prepared under the Auspices of the History of Science Society in Collaboration with the American Astronomical Society, the American Mathematical Society, the American Physical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and Various Other Organizations. Edited by F. E. BRASCE. Introduction by Dnvro EuOENB SMITH. The Williams and Wilkins Company. Baltimore. 1928. ix 351 pages. 15.8 X 23.5 cm. $5.00.
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The thirteen chapters which compose this volume describe the fields of Newton's activities "in language that appeals t o educated readers in general rather than merely to a small number of highly trained scholars." They "set before us an intellectual symposium which allows us t o f o m a broader idea of his remarkable gifts." Working, speculating, experimenting, writing, as he did, in so many fields of endeavor, an account of his activities supplies a general picture of the state of science in the latter part of the seventeenth and in the early eighteenth centuries. The book is very readable and will give pleasure t o those who cannot view the past as over and done with, who like to view things synthetically and in a state of flux. Science is one; progress is one. Newton, the greatest English thinker of his time, is no mere statue frozen forever in the Hall of Fame. He is great a t the present moment if measured by the standard hv which all men of science must f, the eventually he judged-hecause develo~mentswhich have followed from his work, great because of the things which he started. The thirteen papers here brought together were originally read a t a meeting held in New York City. November 25
and 26, 1927, in commemoration of the bicentenary of the death of Newton, under the auspices of the History of Science Society-Newton in the Light of Modern Criticism, David E q e n e Smith. Newton and Optics, Dayton C. Miller. Newton's Philosophy of Gravitation with Special Reference to Modern Relativity Ideas, George David Birkhof. Newton's Influence upon the Development of Astrophysics, William Wallace Campbell. Newton's Dynamics, Michael Idmrrsky Pupin. Newton as an Experimental Philosopher, Paul R. Heyl. Developments Following from Newton's Work, Ernest W. Brmun. Newton's Twenty Years' Delay in Announcing the Law of Gravitation, Florian Cajori. Newton's Fluxions, Florian Cajori. Newton's Work in Alchemy and Chemistry, Lyman C. New&. Newton's Place in the History of Religious Thought, George S. Brett. Newton in the Mint, George E . Roberts. Newton's First Critical Disciple in the American Colonies-John Winthrap, Fred-
erick E . B r a s d . Newton's interest in chemistry was very much like that of any other cultivated philosopher of his time. Professor Newell concludes "that although Newton did many chemical and alchemical experiments continuously for about thirty-five years (1661-1696) in his laboratory beside the great gate of Trinity College a t Cambridge, his chief purpose does not seem t o have been the transmutation of base metals into fine gold but rather a diligent search for a great principle which would transform disconnected chemical pbenomena into a philosophical system." The book is beautifully printed, and the publishers may well he proud of it. The two-page section a t the end of the volume, headed "Sans Tache" and giving credit by name to each of the workers concerned
with the manufacture of the book, is an innovation introduced by these publishers which might well he adopted by others. TENNEY I,. DAVIS The Modem Calorimeter. WALTERP. WHITE, Ph.D., Physicist in the Geophysical Laboratory of the Camegie Institution of Washington. Number 42 in the American Chemical Society Monograph Series. The Chemical Catalog Company, Inc., New York City. 194 pages. 18 cuts and diagrams. 23 X 15 an. $4.00 net. This book presupposes a fair knowledge of calorimetric technic. Exact details as to procedure and dimensions of apparatus are in general not included. Abundant literature references cover these ~ o i n t s very fully. "Considerable portions of it are devoted to estimates and computations concerning the attainable precision or reliability of various methods or designs in calorimetry." As a matter of fact, the prime purpose of the book is t o give a unified account of recent progress in the matter of precise calorimetry. The important contributions of Richards, Dickinson. Bami, .. and the author are discussed very thoroughly. Dr. White's discussion of the errors of calorimeters and methods is a masterpiece. Those who should evaluate the precision of measurements even in other fields, will do well to familiarize themselves with it. The chapter headings are Outline of Subject; The Fundamental Processes and Measurements; Methods in General; Particular Methods; Particular Apparatus; Applications t o Calorimeter Design and the Planning of Installations. The book does not include a discussion of the flow method and of some improved methods of mixing in thermochemical measurements. The reviewer regrets that Dr. White does not discuss the errors of the measuring devices in use. However, this can scarcely be considered adverse criticism since the author's aim is to discuss the calorimeter and not the thennometer.
To sum up: the b w k fnlSls its avowed purpose: i t makes available much valuable data not found in the literature; it should be indispensable t o the advanced student and research worker in calorimetry. M. HARWG MALCOLM Monographs on Biochemistry: Creatine and Creatinine. ANDRPW HUNTER. Longmans, Green & Co., New York 281 pp. and London, 1928. vii 15.5 X 24.5 cm. $5.00.
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I t is always an important event in biochemistry when a new monograph under the general editorship of Plimmer and Hopkins comes out. All have been good; this one is superlatively so. Hunter has rendered a notable service to the science of biochemistry and metaholism in writing this timely, scholarly, and readable monograph on creatine and creatinine. I t is a happy coincidence that we should get a t this time so clear s picture of what has been accomplished during the last twenty-five years on the important yet elusive problem represented by these two products; because the mntrihutions of a t least the immediate future are likely to represent new lines of work which scarcely could have been done in the past. While the chief interest attaching t o creatine and ereatinine lies in their hiological significance and relationship, the first three of the nine chapters into which the book is divided deal with the discovery and chemistry of creatine and creatirsne, including their synthesis, preparation and analytical determination. These three chapters, and the fourth on the biological distribution of neatine and creatinine, the author refers to as descriptive and comparatively easy t o write, hut they represent a very thorough sifting of much widely scattered literature, and should be of great value both t o students and to mature investigators. The remaining five chapters deal broadly with the biological origin and metabolic significance of creatine and
