185 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Microscopy of Vegetable Foods, with Special Kefer- 

 ENCE TO the Detection of Adulteration and the 

 Diagnosis of Mixtures. By Andrew L. Winton, Ph.D., 

 with the collaboration of Dr. Josef Moeller and Kate B. 

 Winton, Ph.D. xiv + 702 pages. 9J x 6| inches. 635 text 

 figures. (New York : John Wiley & Sons. [London : Chap- 

 man & Hall.] 1916. Price £1 75. 6d. net.) 



This valuable contribution to applied analytical science has 

 for its purpose the identification of food products of vegetable 

 origin, by the microscopic structure and microchemical reactions 

 of their tissues and cell-contents. As the subject matter is 

 essentially a department of applied botany, the study and prac- 

 tice of it cannot be properly taken up until after a course of 

 instruction in vegetable histology or the microscopic anatomy 

 of phanerogamic plants. The practical study of food micro- 

 scopy should commence with a systematic study of the most 

 important seeds, fruits, leaves, flowers, roots and barks used as 

 foods, or food adulterants. This work should include : the 

 macroscopic anatomy; the histology of transverse (less often 

 longitudinal and tangential) sections ; the histology as studied 

 in surface preparations of the successive layers obtained by 

 scraping or stripping, and the microscopic character of the 

 powdered, pulped or macerated material. The surface pre- 

 parations provide the details of cell-structure most useful in 

 practical work, while the examination of the powdered material 

 ■supplies the characters of isolated cell-elements which are im- 

 portant in diagnosis. Although the work of _^ microscopic ex- 

 amination is distinctly botanical, in many cases a satisfactory 

 idea of a material can only be obtained by combining the micro- 

 scopic with a chemical analysis. 



The preparation of materials for examination, the principal 

 histological elements and the morphology of organs are all 

 ■dealt with in the first part of the book. The following parts 



