igii] Columbia Biochemical Department 149 



recognized, little attempt has been made to place the subject on an 

 experimental basis. The recent great advances in physiological 

 chemistry have directed the attention to the possibilities of the ex- 

 perimental method as a means of investigating the principles of the 

 subject. This book represents a selection of experimental matter 

 which is adapted to the age of elementary students of the subject 

 and which, at the same time, will present the facts of physiology 

 in a concrete form." Seventy-seven exercises are presented, with 

 a special view to supplementing the author's Text-Book in General 

 Physiology and Anatomy (1909), and they are so arranged that 

 teachers may select either a minimum or a maximum course. In 

 the revision the changes are due to experience in teaching the first 

 edition and to advances in scientific knowledge. Among these 

 improvements are the introduction of exercises on chemical and 

 physical changes, and on mixtures and Solutions; the employment 

 of new reagents to facilitate the application of various chemical 

 tests; the shortening and simplification of experimental procedures; 

 the development of new forms of experiments, etc. The work 

 makes it clear that the principles of nutrition, digestion, absorption, 

 circulation, assimilation, etc., are common to all forms of living 

 matter, and that the most important province of physiology is the 

 explanation of these processes wherever they occur. Human as well 

 as other biological materials have been selected for experimenta- 

 tion, and the physiology of the cell is made the central point of study. 

 Only such anatomical dissection is required as is necessary to afford 

 a clear understanding of the action of the parts. The directions 

 are comprehensive yet concise, while the experiments are so planned 

 that they can easily be performed with simple apparatus. The 

 writer has seen numerous Statements written by high school teachers 

 in cordial appreciation of the many practical merits of Dr. Eddy's 

 manual. 



New Officers. Dr. Welker has been promoted from the grade 

 of Associate to Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry. (See 

 page 136.) 



The f ollowing departmental appointments have lately been made : 

 Mr. Edgar Grim Miller, Jr., A.B., assistant in physiological chem- 

 istry (Teachers College), vice Miss Mary A. Smeeton, term ex- 



