REVIEWS 663 



One cannot but think that books of this type will do much more for the 

 encouragement and popularisation of chemistry among the general population 

 than the more academic textbooks of a decade or two ago, and will thus 

 help to create and perpetuate that atmosphere of respect and sympathy for 

 chemistry in which alone a development of pure science can be hoped for. 



The book is well printed and illustrated, and it is flattering to our national 

 self-esteem to notice that among the nineteen portraits of distinguished 

 chemists, six are of British nationality, Germany coming second with three, 

 whilst France, Sweden, America, and Russia have two each. 



Teachers of chemistry in search of a new textbook will doubtless welcome 

 the present work. F A M 



An Intennediate Textbook of Chemistry. By Alexander Smith, Head of 

 the Department of Chemistry, Columbia University. [Pp. vi + 520, 

 with numerous diagrams and 3 plates.] (London : G, Bell & Sons, 

 1920. Price 8s. 6d. net.) 



Prof. Smith is well known as the author of several textbooks of chemistry, 

 and the present work follows more or less the usual lines. 



It is described as Intermediate because it is longer than the earlier 

 "Elementary Chemistry" and shorter than the " College Chemistry." 



The book covers most of the fundamental facts of the science and contains 

 a well-balanced mixture of descriptive matter and theory, so that the student 

 who assimilates its contents should have a very fair knowledge of general and 

 inorganic chemistry. 



The attempt has been made to bring the subject-matter up to date, so that 

 we have sections dealing with Jean Perrin's work on the Brownian movement, 

 with Moseley's atomic numbers, the fixation of nitrogen and so on. In 

 connection with the last-named, however, it is somewhat curious that no 

 mention is made of the synthetic production of ammonia from nitrogen and 

 hydrogen, nor to the preparation of nitric acid by the oxidation of ammonia. 

 Surely both processes have long reached a stage at which their incorporation, 

 even in an elementary textbook, should go without saying. 



There are one or two errors here and there, such as the equation on p. 239, 

 and " Dr. Luke " on p. 296 should surely be " Dr. Lane " ? 



The use of the expression " inhomogeneous " is not in accordance with 

 the usual nomenclature which favours the word " heterogeneous." 



F. A. M. 



Nucleic Acids : their Chemical Properties and Physiological Conduct. 



(Second edition.) By Walter Jones, Ph.D., Professor of Physiological 

 Chemistry in the John Hopkins Medical School. [Monographs on 

 Biochemistry: edited by B. H. A. Plummer, D.Sc, and F. G. Hopkins, 

 D.Sc, F.R.S. [Pp. viii -f 150.] (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 

 1920. Price 9s. net.) 



In the history of the development of biochemistry from a purely empirical 

 study to an exact science the work of Prof. W. Jones on the constitution of 

 the nucleic acids will occupy a very high place. 



It is very fortunate, therefore, for biochemists and others that Prof. Jones 

 has compiled such an excellent summary of the researches carried out by 

 various investigators, including himself, in this very intricate subject so as to 

 make the results readily available for others. 



The progress which has been made from the days of Miescher's work on 

 the nucleic acid of salmon spermatozoa to the latest physico-chemical 

 investigations of Jones on the constitution and hydrolysis of the nucleotides 

 is quite remarkable when account is taken of the extraordinary experimental 

 difficulties in the way. 



