62 Books Received 



There appears to be widespread dissatisfaction with the present 

 plan of breaking into the Christmas vacation with serious scientific 

 meetings, a dissatisfaction with which the writer heartily sympa- 

 thizes and which the Biochemical Bulletin will attempt to meas- 

 ure and express. The members of the American Society of Bio- 

 logical Chemists, and of the other three societies that comprise the 

 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, will 

 shortly receive a list of questions on this subject with the request 

 that answers be returned for publication in this Journal. The Bio- 

 chemical Bulletin will endeavor, in this unconventional way, to 

 serve the interests of all by showing that either there is, or is not, 

 good reason to change the time for the annual meeting of the Feder- 

 ation and its constituent societies. 



See page 44 for comment on this subject by Secretary Auer. 



The Biochemical Bulletin promptly acknowledges here the receipt of pub- 

 lications presented to it. Reviews are matter-of-fact Statements of the natura 

 p. , . , and Contents of the pubHcations referred to, and are 



intended solely to guide possible purchasers. The wishes 

 or expectations of publishers or donors of volumes will be disregarded, if they 

 are incompatible with our convictions regarding the interests of our colleagues. 

 The sbcs of the printed pages are indicatcd, in inches, in the appended notices. 



Edema and nephritis: A critical, experimental and clinical study of the 

 physiology and pathology of water absorption in the living organism. 26. ed. 

 By Martin H. Fischer, Eichberg prof. of physiol., Univ. of Cincinnati. Pp. 

 695— 4x6j^; $5.00. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1915. "These pages give 

 in combined form the Contents of the 1909 Hatfield prize essay of the Coli, of 

 Phys., of Phila., and of the 191 1 Cartwright prize essay of the Alumni Assoc. 

 of the Coli, of Phys. and Surg., Columbia Univ., previously published as separate 

 volumes bearing the titles ' Edema ' and ' Nephritis.' The dose association be- 

 tween the two made their appearance in combined form seem advisable. The 

 Chief changes which time has rendered necessary consist of additions to the 

 general text embodying the results of later experimental and clinical observa- 

 tions in good part not readily accessible to English rtz.6.trs—the main argument 

 remains as before." 



Among the changes in the treatment of these subjects is an added section 

 on the relation of syneresis to the accumulation of fluid in body cavities in edema 

 (pp. 240-2). Special attention is also given to the possible influences of enzymes 

 as factors in the causation of edema (p. 220). Referring specifically to the role 

 of acid, Fischer says : " I have never held an acid production and accumulation 

 to constitute, of necessity, the only factor responsible for the increased hydration 



