564 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



At the present moment it would seem that little more remains to be done 

 on the purely analytical side of the problem, and future work will no doubt 

 be in the direction of synthetic experiments. 



On reading Prof. Jones's account of the history of the subject, one is im- 

 pressed more powerfully than ever with the fundamental importance of the 

 work of " pure " organic chemists, notably Emil Fischer and his work both 

 on the sugars and on the pyrimidine group, for, without his pioneer work on 

 subjects apparently far removed from nucleic acid, the results of later 

 experimenters would certainly not have been possible. 



The book remains much as in the former edition, being divided into two 

 parts, dealing respectively with the chemical properties of the nucleic acids 

 and with their physiological conduct, together with an appendix on the 

 preparation of various compounds derived from the nucleic acids, methods of 

 analysis, and a bibliography. 



The book has been brought up to date in the light of the latest work, and the 

 issue of a second edition shows that the work is valued by all who interest 

 themselves in the borderland of chemistry, physics, and biology. 



F. A. M. 



Fuel Production and Utilisation. By Hugh S. Taylor, D.Sc, Assis- 

 tant Professor of Physical Chemistry, Princeton University, U.S.A. 

 (Industrial Chemistry Series. Edited by S. Rideal, D.Sc.) [Pp. 

 297 + xiv, with diagrams.] (London : Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, 

 1920, Price los. td. net.) 



A SMALL work on a big subject. The volume is intended more especially 

 for the young graduate in order to supplement his academic training with 

 the broad facts of the problem of fuel production and conservation, but, 

 owing to the somewhat sketchy nature of some of the chapters, the work strikes 

 one as a trifle disappointing. The chapters deal with the Direct Combustion 

 and the Destructive Distillation of Coal, the Utihsation of Coke, Gasification 

 of Coal, Use of Coal By-products as Fuel, and the Utilisation of Lignite, 

 Peat and Wood as Fuel, and a section on Synthetic Fuels, together with 

 an introductory chapter on the fundamentals of the subject. 



On the whole, one is left with the feeling, after reading Dr. Taylor's 

 book, that to do justice to the subject much more space is needed, and that 

 an eminently " practical " subject has been dealt with in too academic a 

 manner ; whilst if it is intended merely as a short introduction to the subject 

 for students, the essentials could have been given more concisely. 



F. A. M. 



Practical Biological Chemistry. By Gabriel Bertrand, and Pierre 

 Thomas, translated by Hector A. Colwell. [Pp. xxxii -\- 348, with 

 illustrations.] (London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1920, Price los. 6d. net.) 



The translation of the third edition of the Guide pour les manipulations de 

 chimie biologique, by Prof. Bertrand and M. Thomas, will be welcomed by all 

 biochemists in search of a book which does not slavishly follow the well- 

 trodden path pursued by most other books dealing with this subject. The 

 book is divided into two parts, entitled Statics and Dynamics respectively. 

 In the first part the authors describe the preparation and properties of 

 substances taken from all the various groups and compounds of importance 

 in biochemistry, but the particular representatives chosen are usually rather 

 less familiar than those ordinarily described in a book of this size ; thus we 

 find, among the carbohydrates, the preparation of the hydrazone and mannose 

 and the ozazones of galactose, xylose, and arabinose, the oxidation of xylose 

 to xylonic acid and the preparation of saccharic and mucic acids from glucose 

 and galactose respectively, while a short chapter is devoted to mannitol and 



