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NEW BOOKS
tarian ends. I t was perhaps his conservatism which prevented his carrying through the plan he began SO well for the adoption of the metric system in the L-nited States. Had he persevered to success in this it ~ r o u l dhave been a contribution of equal merit to his support of the Len-is-Clark expedition or to the founding of the Lniversity of Virginia. What statesman of the future irill be equal to the task, n-hich has nm- become truly Herculean? Dr. Browne’s long services to the Department of lgriculture have especially fitted him to appreciate Jefferson’s ideas applicable to agriculture, horticultwe, animal husbandry, soil conservation, botany, etc. It is noteworthy t h a t . although he lived through the period i n which Lavoisier revolutionized chemistry and overthre1r the phlogiston theory. Jefferson never adopted the nen’ ideas nor terminology, again evidence of his conservatism i n science. s. c:. 1.1ru.
The Svedberg, 1884-2944.
Uppsala: .ilniquist and n’iksells Boktryckeri. 1944. I n honor of The Svedberg’s sixtieth birthday (-iugust 30), the Institute of Pllysical Chemistry of the University of 1-ppsala has issued n volume of 730 pages, containing fifty-six contributions from seventy :ilumni and members of the staff of the Institute : thirty-seren papers in English, tn-elve in German, five in Sn-edish, and two in French. The subjects treated cover an extraordinarily n.ide range: extending outside the fields in n-hich Professor Svedberg is so n-ell and favorably l m x r n in the United States. The biological and industrial applications of Svedberg’s n-ork are proving their importance for Sweden’s technological future. s. c‘. r , I s I ) .
ddi,arLces i n E n z y m d o y y t r n d Related S:ibjects o j Biociieitiisti~y,T’ol. IT-, I‘. F. SORD .IKU C. H . WERKMAS, Edit0i.s. 332 pp. : -15 illustrations. SeIv Tork : Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1944. Price: $5.50. Ten authors have contributed to the fourth volume of this series of independent nionographs. The direct and explicit aid rendered by chemistry to the understanding of genetics and biological evolution has been rather limited. A chemical formulation of gene structure and gene action, which depends closely upon the structural picture we make at present of the protein molecule, is discussed by Addison Gulick. .In analogy exists between genes and viruses; both catalyze their own synthesis and therefore constitute units of heredity. An assumption is proposed that each gene has one enzyniatic function which may explain defect mutations of a metabolic nature. The specificity and mechanism of action of the glycosidases are reviexved and a provisional classification of the carbohydrases is suggested in the article by William Ward Pigman. The investigations on the action of enzymes on glycosides and various derivatives provide one of the most extensive studies made of the influence of structure on the rate of a chemical reaction. The transamination reaction, transfer of amino groups from a-amino acids t o a-keto acids, is discussed by Robert 11. Herbst. Model systems are considered briefly. while a more detailed account of enzyme-catalyzed transaminations is given, indicating the significance of the reaction i n metabolic processes of animal and plant cells. J. 11. Selson and C. It. D a m o n present an interpretation of the ph action of tyrosinase, supplemented by numerous experiments f r o m thei .in excellent review by Rollin D . Hotchliiss deals with aiitagonistir effects of gramicidin, tyrocidine, and tyrothricin 011 the gron-th of susceptible niicrocirganisnis. The crystalline substances gramicidin arid tyrocidine have been studied chemically and hiochemically, with the aim of relating their chemical and physical nntures t o the mechanism r,f their antibacterial action. Biologicd energy transformations und their possible relations t o cancer problems are tlip(ussed hy I-.It. l’otter. 1lie results of various investigations coriccrninp tile iiifiuc’iice of horniones (I:? t?nzyniiitic r 7
