3 6o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The first chapter, which is devoted to an exposition of the simplest features of 

 the chemistry of carbon compounds, explains in a lucid manner the relations 

 of the hydrocarbons and their simple halogen and hydroxyl derivatives, and should 

 be readily intelligible to the beginner. It is, however, doubtful whether the same 

 can be said of the second chapter, in which, as the author admits, the ground 

 is traversed with extreme rapidity, the object being to familiarise the student with 

 the structural formulas of the chief types of aliphatic compounds ; such a rapid 

 survey of the subject, as is contained in the twenty pages of this chapter, might 

 be useful to the student later on in his studies, but it is more than likely to 

 frighten and confuse the beginner. The third chapter deals with methods of 

 purification and analysis, and the remaining thirty-four chapters cover the ground 

 required by the new syllabus of the lower examinations in organic chemistry in 

 the Board of Education Examinations in Science and Technology ; they are, for 

 the most part, clearly and attractively written. The chapter devoted to carbo- 

 hydrates is, however, somewhat disappointing ; it is surely a pity that a newly 

 written text-book on organic chemistry should contain no mention of the y-lactone 

 formulae for a- and /3-glucose and their bearing upon the phenomenon of muta- 

 rotation. This is the more surprising as the y-lactone formula for methylglucoside 

 is given, although its connection with the two forms of glucose and the behaviour 

 of the two methylglucosides towards enzymes is not even mentioned. For some 

 unexplained reason the author avoids using the word polysaccharide, the substances 

 ordinarily included under this heading being described as higher carbohydrates. 

 The statement on page 278 that fructose, on careful oxidation, yields glycollic and 

 trihydroxyglutaric acids requires correction ; and to say that maltose on fermenta- 

 tion with yeast is like glucose converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide, without 

 mentioning the enzyme maltase, is rather misleading. 



Nucleic Acids : Their Chemical Properties and Physiological Conduct. By 

 Walter Jones, Ph.D. [Pp. viii + 118,] (London : Longmans, Green & 

 Co., 1914. Price 3s. bd. net.) 



The preface to this monograph contains the encouraging statement that the nucleic 

 acids constitute what is possibly the best understood field of physiological chemistry, 

 but the average reader is hardly likely to find that it is a very easily understood 

 field. The chemistry of the nucleic acids so far as it is known is very complicated, 

 and the first three chapters, which are devoted to the chemical properties of 

 these substances, will be found to make considerable demands on the reader's 

 chemical knowledge. 



The discovery of the nucleic acids is due to Miescher, who, working with salmon 

 milt, found that the spermatozoa heads, which may be regarded as metamorphosed 

 nuclei, were made up almost exclusively of a single chemical individual, namely, 

 the salt of an organic nitrogen base or protamine with an organic acid termed 

 nucleic acid. Subsequent workers have from time to time described a number 

 of different nucleic acids from various sources, but the opinion is gradually gaining 

 ground that all these substances are identical with either thymus nucleic acid 

 obtained from animals or yeast nucleic acid occurring in plants. The chief 

 difference between these two substances is the fact that while the former yields 

 on hydrolysis phosphoric acid, guanine, adenine, cytosine, thymine, and lasvuhnic 

 acid, the latter gives rise to phosphoric acid, guanine, adenine, cytosine, uracil, 

 and a pentose. The formation of lasvulinic acid from thymus nucleic acid points 

 to the presence of a hexose complex, whereas the carbohydrate obtained from 



