i6o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



very successful, and in some instances quite fail to show the essential features. 

 The book is clearly printed, but the number of misprints is unnecessarily 

 large. A. S. 



BOTANY 



The Coco-nut. By Edwin Bingham Copeland, Professor of Plant Phy- 

 siology and Dean of the College of Agriculture (Retired), University of 

 the Philippines. Second Edition, revised. [Pp. xvi + 225, with 28 

 illustrations.] (London : Macmillan & Co., 1921. Price £1 net.) 



This work — the second edition of a book originally appearing in 1914 — deals 

 with the coco-nut more especially from the point of view of the cultivator ; 

 an interesting account of the manufacture of some of the more important 

 products is provided, but this is not intended to be exhaustive and is included 

 mostly because this cultivator at the present day is becoming more and 

 more the provider of the finished products. A chapter is inserted on the 

 physiology of the plant, to serve as an introduction to the consideration 

 of the climatic and soil conditions necessary for its growth and to the study 

 of its diseases, very full and helpful descriptions of the latter being pro- 

 vided. The selection and treatment of seed is next described, introducing 

 us to a considerable section on field culture. The book is clearly and care- 

 fully written, and will prove useful to those who are interested in the coco- 

 nut industry. 



Cocoa and Chocolate ; Their Chemistry and Manufacture. By R. Whymper. 

 Second Edition. Revised and Enlarged. [Pp. xxi + 568, with 

 16 plates and 38 text-figures.] (London : J. & A. Churchill, 1921. 

 Price 425. net.) 



The aim of this book is to give a full and complete account of the different 

 processes used in the manufacture of cocoa and chocolate and of the methods 

 used in the analysis of the various products, including an account of the 

 ways in which these analyses should be interpreted. 



The Preface compares the method of manufacture and the position of 

 the cocoa trade before 19 14 and in the present period ; while the introduction 

 adduces evidence against the view that cocoa and chocolate are merely drugs, 

 and gives reasons for regarding them as foods as well as stimulating beverages ; 

 the food value is dealt with more fully later in the book. 



The first portion is taken up with a consideration of the history, botany, 

 and agriculture of cacao — for it is the author's wish to give a general but not 

 full account of the plant and its cultivation — the remaining two portions 

 being concerned with the manufacture of chocolate and cocoa powders and 

 the chemistry of cacao respectively. The treatment of the agricultural 

 processes is more shortly described than the methods of manufacture and 

 analysis, and at times is not sufficiently critical to be of practical value : no 

 distinction is made between temporary shade for cacao plants and permanent 

 shade-plants, the account of pruning is too short to be really helpful, and the 

 account of the diseases of the crop certainly seems to confuse parasites with 

 epiphytes and gives us no information regarding the shade trees which are 

 suspected, as the coco-nut is, of passing an infectious disease to the cacao. 



The two main sections of the work — and they constitute the real subject- 

 matter — are very fully treated, a complete account being given of all the 

 processes of manufacture from the cleaning and roasting of the cacao to the 

 finishing of the various products. The last part describes the chemistry of 

 the component parts of the beans, the microscopical examination of the 

 products, and various methods for detecting impurities. An appendix of 

 provisional definitions of cacao preparations, a bibUography, and an index 

 are provided. E. M. C. 



