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
