NEW BOOKS
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Studies i n Biophysics: The Critical Temperature of Serum (56”). By LECOMTE DC X O V Y . vi 185 pp. S e w York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1945. Price: $3.50. This book describes the effectslof heat-treatment on the properties 6f serum of the horse, rabbit, and other animals. Representative data from thousands of very careful measurements of visdosity, optical rotation and rotatory dispersion, light scattering, depolarization of scattered light, sedimentation of precipitates, electrical conductivity, pH, interfacial tension, interaction with ether, and ultraviolet-light absorption are cited to show t,hat above 56“ irreversible changes take place in serum, the more rapidly the higher the temperature. Some of the observed changes are interpreted as representing an increase in volume of protein molecules by hydration. Many readers probably will be skeptical of the enormous values of hydration deduced. Following recent theoretical developments to which the author has not referred, they may prefer to interpret increases in viscosity in terms of changes in shape, and increases in light scattering and depolarization in terms of aggregation. The introduction contains some interesting remarks concerning the author’s philosophy of experimentation. The style of the book is lucid and expressive. JOHS D. FERRY.
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Qualitative Inorganic Microanalysis. A Short Elementary Course. By R . BELCHERA N D CECILL . WILSON. 18 x 12 cm.; viii 68 pp. London, Yew I’ork, and Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company, 1946. Price: 2/6d. .Microanalytical methods have advantages over the well-known procedures of ordinary qualitative analysis,and not leastamongstthe benefits tostudents is the training in manual dexterity which is so valuable in experimental research. The authors describe in detail how the experimentalist can make very simply from glass tubing much of the apparatus required, and a chapter is devoted to the minutiae of its manipulation in a variety of tests. The scheme for the qualitative analysis of mixtures of the commoner cations is based on the use of hydrogen sulfide and the zirconium separation for phosphates. A procedure avoiding the use of hydrogen sulfide is also presented. The chapter of tests for acid radicals and the table of preliminary tests might well he expanded. The book contains twenty-eight excellent diagrams to which frequent references in the text would be facilitated by giving the numbers of the pages on which they appear, as well as the figure numbers. Errors are few, but “sulphite” is out of position near the bottom of the table on page 31. The book is good value for the money and should be in the hands of all who are learning and practising chemistry. J. G . A . GRIFFITHS.
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Science for Democracy. Edited and with an introduction by JEROME KATHANSON.170 pp. Morningside Heights, New York: King’s Crown Press, 1946. Price: $2.50. Especially during the war period many natural scientists have become more conscious thanever of the social implications of science. Throughscience mankind has gained control over man. No wonder that many scientists feel that it is their human duty to offer their aid in, the settlement of sociological problems of national and international scope. The book under discussion deals with the social implications of science, the social obligations of scientists, and the application of scientific methods to sociological problems. The book is a very timely one and should be a source of inspiration t o those scientists who are socially minded. The book is devoted t o the following topics: “Science in the Kational Economy; “The Challenge of Science t o Social Thinking;” “Does Private Industry Threaten Freedom of Scientific Research;” and “The Role of Science in the Determination of Democratic Policy.” As can be suspected from the titles, the book is partly of a philosophic and partly of a practical nature. The Introduction, by J. Nathanson, excels in clear statements. Some
