1915] William J. Gies 275 



" Throughout the intricacies of these processes — in considering the relations 

 of the animal to its food— let it be our point of view that inheritance has fur- 

 nished the plans, the details and specifications which are to govern the whole 

 course of metaboHsm ; that food builds the structure and maintains its proc- 

 esses, in so f ar as made possible by the nature and amounts of its constituents ; 

 that variability in the composition and functions of the animal body, and excess 

 of capacity in its structures, constitute a Provision of safety, a means of adaptive 

 response to changes in dietary conditions; that time lends to these adaptations 

 such permanency, in the individual, as to constitute specific effects of foods on 

 the life and structure of the animal; that these specific effects of foods are, in 

 general, due rather to their limitations than to Stimulation of supernormal func- 

 tion; that the nature and possible extent of these effects have been separately 

 determined for each species by the particular conditions, and the variability of 

 conditions of Hfe to vi^hich, through the ages, they have become adapted; and 

 that in relation to practical animal nutrition our interests are in the highest 

 States of function rather than in irreducible physiological minima, since the 

 whole ränge of success and profit lies close, and ever closer, to maximum 

 possibilities." 



Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Arthur A, Noyes, 

 chairman of the editorial board. The Nat'l Acad. of Sciences began, in Jan., 

 the publication of monthly proceedings. The Proceedings, as the official organ 

 of publication of the Acad., will contain reports of its business and scientific 

 sessions, and of actions taken by its Council, notices of the Scientific and Bio- 

 graphical Memoirs printed for the Acad. by the U. S. gov., announcements of 

 the awards of medals and research-grants made from its trust-funds, and State- 

 ments as to other activities of the Acad. The Proc. will also serve as a medium 

 for the prompt publication of brief original papers by members of the Acad. 

 and other Amer. investigators. Its aim will be to furnish a comprehensive 

 survey of the more important results of the scientific research of this country. 

 Jan. issue— pp. 58—4^x7^; contains 17 papers and "report of the autumn 

 meeting" (1914). 



The chemistry of colloids and some technical applications. By W. W. 

 Taylor, lect. in ehem., Univ. of Edinburgh. Pp. 32&— 3^x6; $2.00. Longmans, 

 Green & Co., London, 1915. " It is curious that although colloid chemistry owes 

 its development in no small degree to British investigators, hitherto there has 

 been not only no English text-book on the subject, but no text-book in English 

 available, the foreign works that have been translated dealing with particular 

 aspects of the subject only, or with its bearings on other sciences." This volume 

 is based on the author's lectures on heterogeneous Systems, delivered to advanced 

 students in the Univ. of Edinburgh. It is a very useful text-book, and a 

 valuable work of reference for biological chemists. The four main parts deal 

 with (i) general properties of colloids, (2) methods of preparation, (3) adsorp- 

 tion, (4) applications of colloid ehem. (including biology, pp. 295-318). 



A text-book of medical chemistry and toxicology. By James W. Holland, 

 emeritus prof. of med. ehem. and toxicol. ; dean, Jefferson Med. Coli., Phila. 

 4th ed. Pp. 67&— 4x6^ ; $3.00. W. B. Saunders Co., Phila. and London, 1915. 

 This excellent volume continues to present in systematic form the essentials of 

 chemistry as they are related to practical and scientific medicine. The book is 



