Books Received ö^ 



which characterizes edema" Cp. 220). " My constantly reiterated claim that 

 certain changes in tissues are due to an ' increased acid content ' cannot at -will 

 he made to read an 'increased (hydrogen ion) actdity.' The latter may under 

 otherwise constant conditions become evidence of the former, but thc reverse 

 need not follow " (p. 633). Recent criticisms by Hendcrson and collaborators 

 are considered on pages 633-4. This book deserves to be studied by every inves- 

 tigator of Problems involving the biological relationships of water, for it prcsents 

 effectively, and in a stimulating and interesting manner, from many points of 

 view, the gist of our knowledge, theories, doubts and errors on this important 

 general subject, 



A review of the literature of phosphorus Compounds in animal metabo- 

 lism. By E. B. Forbes and M. Helen Keith, Wooster, Ohio. Pp. 748— 4^/^ x 7^4. 

 Ohio Agric. Exp. Sta'n Technical Series, Bull. No, 5. This comprehensive re- 

 view is recommended unreservedly as the best work of reference on phosphorus 

 in its relation to normal animal nutrition. The parts (pp. 13-588; are (i), 

 Chem. of organic Compounds of P; (2) P of foods; (3) P of animal bodies and 

 products; (4) normal P metab. ; (5) P metab. in disease. An unusually com- 

 plete bibliography is appended (pp. 589-709), including the title of each paper 

 mentioned; and a complete and detailed index is included (pp. 711-48). The 

 spirit in which this splendid achievement was conceived and executed is indicated 

 by the following Quotation from the introduction (p. 11) : 



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

 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 metabolism; that food builds the structure and maintains its proc- 

 esses, in so far 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 life to which, 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 dose, and ever closer, to maximum possibilities." 



The chemistry of coUoids and some technical applications, By W. W. 

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

 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 



