SEPTEMBER, 1954
501
and R. L. Hardin in Chapter 14. Attention is directed mainly to hemoglobin and its derivatives, although other respiratory proteins are not omitted. W. E. Van Heyningen writes Chapter 15 on the action of toxic proteins found in snake venoms and elaborated by certain plants and bacteria. In Chapter 16 the proteins in milk are discussed bv ~" T. L. McMeekin and in Chanter 17 the methods of nrevaration, composition, and properti& of egg proteins are p&ented by R. C. Warner. The late work on seed proteins, that has fallowed the classical investigationa of Osborne, is renewed by 6. Brohult and E. Sandegren (Chapter 18). The title of Chapter 19 is, "Proteins and protein metabolism in plants." I n this chapter F. C. Steward and J. F. Thompson disouss protein synthesis in the growing plant and the relationship between protein-N, carbohydrates, and nonprotein constituents, particularly asparagine and glntamine, during various phases of plant cell activity. The effect of the mineral supply on pr* k i n formation in plants is also considered. The final chapter (Chapter 20) by C. H. Li summarizes in excellent fashion the present knowledge of the protein hormones. The format of this volume is similar to that of the earlier members of this series. Extensive literature references, many as late as 1953, appear as footnotes. There seem to be few typographical errors, though this reviewer noted some on page 547 and page 642. The reference on page 650 to Kendall's isolation of thyroxin should be 1919, not 1951. The high quality of the contents of these volumes and their obvious value to anyone interested in the proteins should place them on the shelves of all workers in biochemistry. Unfortunately, this will not happen. Their high cost will he beyond the means of many. F. A. CAJORI
S ~ v LARE r CITT.UTAH
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IMIDAZOLE AND ITS DERIVATIVES. PART I
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THE COLLECTED PAPERS OF PETER 1. W. DEBYE
Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1954. xxi 4- 700 pp. 21 X 28.5 cm. Illustrated. $9.SO.
IN1939 a statue was erected in the town of Maastricht in Holland in honor of its famous son, Peter J. W. Dehye. On the occasion of his seventieth birthday on March 24, 1954, Debye's pupils, friends, and publishers have erected a monument more durable than bronze by printing a volume containing a selection of his classical papers. The selection has been made by the author himself, and the wide scope of these fundamentally important papers bear8 witness of the versatility of one of the greatest physical chemists of our time. The articles have been arranged in subject groups, uiz., X-ray Scattering, Electrolytes, Dipole Moments, Light Scattering, and Miscellaneous. Those originally published in German and Dutch have been translated into English. To place the papers in the proper context and to indicate some of the developments they initiated, a brief survey accompanies each one of the first four groups (authors: R. M. Fuoss, H. Mark, and C. P. Smyth).
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HENRY EYRING U ~ l r i l F c a Or l~~
Klaus Hofmann, Professor of Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Pittsburgh. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1953. xviii 447 pages. 6 figs. 32 tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. Single volume price, $13.50. Subscription price, $12.25.
U W I V E ~ ~OF I TCOLORADO T SCROOLOF M E D ~ N E DenvEa. Comnmo
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surfaces. I t eives the work of 19 author8 in 14 cba~terswith the rrqvtious uf 45 disrusssnrs. A brief diseuasion of tlac problems prescntcd by surfnces by Dr. 1'. 1'. Ewahl is followel by Dr. Conrers Herring, irr which he corrsidem such matters as mrface tension, neck growth, surface volume equilibrium, etc. He emphasizes the macroscopic ft~ctors that driven system toward equilibrium rather than the moleculi~r nature of the rate processes themselves. Ewald and Juretsche then discuss the atomic theorv of surface enerw .., in fundamental terns. Weyl empharirer the importanre of pohrirahility of surfare ions in detprmininr the a ~ t r i n g o aurfnw; f and, through that, n ~ r imyrurr:mt y ymprrtiw of the lnrterial. "'l'l~c k4l~eziurrof solids," by Iloudrrr and T h x , revonl. a variety of inrrrmting crpcrinicnts. llow molceular strurture influenrrk vrystnl strurture is inwrrstingly told i n a chapter by Wells. Buckles sers little connection 1wtu.een thc rnaerorco~ie crystal spirals &d screw dislocations. He opens up a varietiof interesting questions concerning crystal growth. "Enitoxv" hv Seiffert: "Adsorotion" bv Emmett and bv Whc&, ; ' ~ a t b ~ y s iby'noudilrt,' s~~ '.\dsorl;tion" I n Hill, a& "Spinal Catnlysis" hy Sehrvnbb, ltoth, Crintzu, ~ n d hvrnki~ are 311 chapters which the surfwe chrmia~will pnrfit In. nnJ nil1 enjoy. This book deserves careful study.
STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF SOLID SURFACES
Edited by Robert Gomer and Cyril Stanley Smith. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1953. mi 491 pp. 192 figs. 21 tables. 14.5 X 22 cm. $8.50.
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Tars book is the report of a conference organized by the Committee on Solids of the National Research Council. It presents an impressive effort to get a t the fundamentals of the theory of
THIS monommh is the sixth of a ~roiectedseries of annroximately thirtyiaiumes concerned with'vaiious topics in thd h e m istry of heterocyclic compounds. The present volume is Part 1 of a. two-volume set concerned with the five-membered heterocyclic ring system containing two nitrogen atoms and known as imidazole. Part I1 is not yet available and it ie the intention of the publisher that Part I1 cover imidazole~condensed with ring systems other than the benzene ring. The material in the present volume (Part I ) is arranged in two main sections. Section 1 contains 324 pages and discusses in eight chapters the following topics: general properties and structure of the imidazoles; the alkyl- and arylimidasoles; the oxyand bydroxyimidazoles and their sulfur analogues; the halogenoimidazoles; the nitro-, srylaeo-, and rtminaimidszoles; the imidazolecarhoxylicand snlfonic acids; the imidazolines, 2-imidazolidones, 2-imidazolidinethiones, 2-iminoimidaeolidines, and imidazolidincs; and the benzimidazoles. The first of these chapters is concerned largely with an interpretation of the physical and chemical properties of the imidazole ring in terms of the molecular structure of the ring. The seven chapters which follow are conoerned with the methods of synthesis and the properties of the types of compounds indicated. The author bas discussed rather carefully and critically the soape and relative value of the various synthetic methods. A thorough command of the imidaeale literature is apparent here. The properties and chemical reactions of each group of imidasole derivatives are also adequately discussed. Theauthor has chosen tointerpret many of the reactions of imidazoles in terms of resonance structures, transition states, and electron migrations. The thoughtful reader will, of course, be cautious about the acceptance of these interpretat i o n ~ss anything more than useful ideas and will continue to make a careful distinction between the experimental fact that a substance has a particular observable property or undergoes a particular reaction and an explanation of that fact. The mechanistic concepts used in this book have already proven to be
