RECENT ROOKS T n s CONSTITU~NTS OP WHEATAND WHEATPRODUCTS. C. H. Bailey, Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry and Director of the Agricultural Station, the University of Minnesota. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1944. 332 pp. 17 figs. 115 tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $6.50. As the author states in the introduction this monograph. Number 96 in the American Chemical Society Series, is a compilation of the significant facts and data relating t o the chemical substances present in wheat. The first chapter gives a remarkably comolete review of the earlv researches on wheat nroteins and gow into far mure detail than Oshorne or other earlier writers attempt~dto do. A particularly valu~blefeatureof thechaptcr is the tahle in e,hich are given the names npplicd to the numerous preparations of wheat proteins described by early workers, together with sufficient information about their solubility t o permit the reader t o form some sort of judgment as to what these preparations were. No one who has not tried t o read this early literature can appreciate the confusion in which the nomenclature was a t the time that Osharne began his researches nor fully grasp the value of the relatively simple system that he set up. The author has emphasized the clarification that Osborne made by dividing the main discussion into two parts, Wheal protcin research 1728-1895, and Osborne's researches on wheal proteins. It cannot he claimed that before Osborne all was dark and that after him all was light. But it is true that before his work was done there was little with which the student could feel satis6ed. whereas since his time research on the wheat proteins has progressed with ever-increasing effectiveness. On page 1, in the discussion of Beccari's classical paper on wheat gluten there is what the reviewer believes t o be a mistranslation of the original Latin. A translation of this paper was made either by Osborne himself or by one of his friends many years ago, the manuscript of which is preserved in the files of the reviewer's laboratory. Beccari's phrase concerning the behavior of gluten when kept in a warm moist place, somewhat delicately translated by Loenholdt and Bailey and quoted in the present chanter as "nutreiied strikinelv like a dead bodv." is found- in osdorne's t r k a t i o n to he, "rots and very stinkingly putrefies like a dead body,"-decidedly a more vigorous and memorable statement! The subsequent chapters deal successively with (2) the prolamins of wheat, (3) the glutelins, (4) the water- and salt-soluble proteins, (5) crude protein and crude gluten, (6) nucleic acid, (7) nonprotein nitrogen, (8) starch, (9) sugars, (10) gums, pentosans,hemicelluloses, and cellulose. (11) lipids, phmpholipids. and sterols, (12) minerals, (13) the halogens, sulfur, and selenium. (14) acidity. (15) wheat and flour pigments, and (16) vitamins of wheat and wheat products. Each chapter contains a digest of the more important papers that have appeared during the past two or three decades, with occasional briefer reference t o older literature where this seemed desirable mainly for historical reasons. Quantitative data are quoted liberally in tabular form and the progress of research is told in a narrative style illustrated by the work that is being described. The references to the literature are given as footnotes on each page, thus assisting the reader by making it unnecessary to turn repeatedly t o a collected bibliography a t the end of the chapter. The author has resisted the temptation t o include discussion and description of the analytical and other methods used, leaving these t o be looked up in the original by the student. The amount of scholarship and study that has gone into the preparation of this monograph is astonishing. As a rule, a specialist may be expected to have exhaustive knowledge of his field hut usually this field is restricted in subject matter. Dr. Bailey. however, proceeds from proteins t o lipids, t o carbohydrates, and to the inorganic components and the vitamins with apparently equal facility and grasp of the fundamentals. There is little reason to doubt that he is likewise a t home with the genetics, the agronomy, and the technology of the wheat plant.
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Certainly he has produced a volume well worthy t o take its place beside Osborne's monograph on the wheat proteins and one that will for many years serve as the point of departure for future students of the subject. I t is a reviewer's privilege t o point out things that he does not like. I n the present case these are few and of no great importance; however, there are real objections to the use in a modern book of the old-fashioned term "amid nitrogen" and "amid fraction" (in Chapter 7) without specific explanation of the meaning of this term as employed by the early investigators. To be sure, the term is enclosed in quotation marks when it first appears, and, in most other cases, the author is clearly quoting the usage of the investigator whose work is being discussed. But reports are included of studies in which substances other than asparagine have been identified in the protein-free aqueous extract and since by no means all of these are even amino acids, a student might well be puzzled. One may also object t o the frequent use of a figure followed by the plus-and-minus sign apparently to suggest the idea of "approximately." I t would be unfortunate if this practice became common. There is an accasional failure t o translate into its correct English equivalent the French term "dosage" (e. g., on p. 33). But with so much that is of permanent value included, these points are of little significance. None of the occasional printer's errors that were noted could lead to misunderstanding. The hook as a whole is not easy reading. I t is, as it should be, highly technical, and will doubtless find its chief use as the source of fundamental information for those concerned with the biochemistry of the wheat plant. The fa-ilure to include attempts t o interpret the occasionally contradictory results that have appeared was deliberate on the part of the author, as he states in the introduction, and is perhaps a wise measure since it throws upon the new investigator the responsibility for forming his own judgments of the achievements of others. He is thus encouraged t o assume an unbiased point of view in the interpretation of his own results. H. B. VICKERY CONNBCT~CVT AOPJCVLTORILEXPBRCIBNT STATION Nsw HAVBN.CONNHCT~CUT
GENERAL COLLEGE CHEMISTRY.M . Cannon Sneed, Professor of Chemistry, and J. L a i r Maynard, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, in the School of Chemistry, University of Minnesota. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, 1944. viii 861 pp. Illustrated. I l l tables. 15 X 21 cm. $3.75.
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According to the preface, "This text differs from 'General Inorganic Chemistry'by thesameauthorsin that thesubject matter is presented moresimply and in less detail; the text is designed for a first-year course in college chemistry, and should be readily assimilated by high-school graduates of average ability. I t consists of 44 chapters, several of which may be omitted without breaking the continuity of the treatment, notably thechapters on organic chemistry, colloids, and the transitional elements. Because of the outstanding importance of organic chemistry, two chapters are devoted to this subject; these serveonly t o point out its extent and usefulness. The chapters are designed for nanmajors rather than for majors in chemistry." Disregarding for the moment the merits of the book, the reviewer would like to point out that he feels the above quotation t o he misleading. The statement would lead one to believe that this hook, "General College Chemistry," is a much easier and toned-down version of the more voluminous "General Inorganic Chemistry." Actually, as a page-by-page comparison revealed, the chief difference between the two volumes is that with minor revisions the older book has been reset in smaller type and printed an thinner paper. Most of thefigures and illustrations have been retained. Up to Chapter 19 (the first 316 pages) the twovolumes are almost identical. I n same instances a few paragraphs have
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