232 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
Protein metabolism 
CaTHcarts has added a volume on metabolism of proteins to the bse 
of monographs on biochemistry being issued by the publishers Fse! a 
are nine chapters under the following headings: digestion and a aa 4 
proteins, protein regeneration, feeding experiments with pore! i mee 
digestion, deaminization, influence of food on the composition of t . ; 
protein requirements, theories of protein metabolism, starvation, work. ie 
€ author says: “The present monograph does not pretend to cove = 
whole literature of protein metabolism; it consists rather of ae nine 
the more important results published during the last decade. pie 
liography includes 430 citations. This indicates how extensive is a ae 
done on the protein metabolism of mammals alone as oie me 
scattering contributions to protein metabolism in plants. This litt fe va 
makes readily available to plant physiologists the status of our knowle ae 
this subject in mammals. It brings one to the realization of some 0 
striking similarities between protein metabolism in plants and in yen 
as for instance the power of deaminization. One also comes to Be a 
some of the differences appearing in the two groups of organisms, as is s 
in the power of synthesizing amino acids.—WILLIAM CROCKER. 
Herbals 
Mrs. ARBER‘ has brought to the knowledge of botanists some VER ie 
esting information concerning the early history of botany. She has ye és 
general sketch of the evolution of the printed herbal from 1470 to 1670 fro el 
botanical and also an artistic standpoint. Many of these herbals are — x 
rare, and Mrs. Arger has done good service in making them more real 
botanists. Of course the text is full of interest, but the numerous pice 
introduce one even more vividly into the botanical atmosphere of three 0 
four centuries ago. 
A list of the nine ch 
of the volume: (i) 
herbals”; (iii) “TT rae “The 
botanical renaissance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; (v) ee: 
cription”; (vi) “The evolution of plant classi 
vul) “The evolution of the art of botanical illustration”’; Bie 
“The doctrine of signatures, and astrological botany”; (ix) ‘Conclusions. 
ae 
eEH Sonne lst 
* Catucarr, E. P., The Physiology of protein metabolism. pp. viiit142. Ne 
York: Lon Green & Co, IQ12. 
G 
“ + f 
4 ARBER, A NES, Herbals, their origin and evolution, a chapter in the mari: 
botany (1470-1670), gyvo, Xvili+253. pls. 22. figs. 113. Cambridge: Univers 
Press. 1012, 

