434 



NATURE 



[February 2, 191 1 



trations of apparatus are shown, as well as tables 

 needed for the estimation of alcohol, sugar, and 

 "extract." 



For the benefit of local authorities and others in 

 this country who are inclined to begrudge their 

 analyst his fees, it may be remarked that the French 

 prescriptions for the analysis of wine involve no fewer 

 than nineteen separate experiments or determinations, 

 whilst the German regulations require twelve for an 

 ordinary full analysis and twenty-six in special cases. 



Having carefully obtained his analytical results in 

 any instance, how is the operator going to interpret 

 them? Some data for this purpose are given in the 

 text, but they are meagre, and might usefully be 

 supplemented. Even to the experienced, a record of 

 maximum and minimum values yielded with given 

 methods by genuine wine of different types would 

 often be of service. 



One rather humiliating reflection is suggested on 

 looking over the various modes of examining wine. 

 The liquor " which maketh glad the heart of man " 

 holds jet some secrets which elude his skill as a 

 chemist. Much as chemistry has advanced since the 

 days when Pasteur carried out his " Etudes sur le vin," 

 the palate is still an indispensable aid to such studies. 

 Just as the chemistry of the living plant transcends 

 in delicacy that of the laboratory, so the senses of 

 smell and taste can discern, and in some sort evaluate, 

 differences far too subtle for demonstration by balance, 

 test-tube, or polarimeter. Not only for the finer dis- 

 tinctions between vintage wines, but even sometimes 

 for detecting relatively gross adulteration, the organo- 

 leptic test of bouquet and aroma remains the best or 

 the only criterion. 



As regards beer, there is little described that would 

 be new to a well-trained brewers' chemist. The sec- 

 tion, however, gives a concise account of the opera- 

 tions necessary for the chemical control of brewery 

 procedure, including the examination of water, barley, 

 malt, hops, and wort, as well as the finished beer. 



The various distilled spirits and the liqueurs are dealt 

 with in an important division, which includes also an 

 accoQnt of pressed yeast — now a notable by-product of 

 alcohol distillation. Cider, perry, vinegar, acetic acid, 

 and methyl alcohol are other subjects treated in the 

 volume. C. Simmonds. 



PRACTICAL PATHOLOGY. 

 Practical Pathology. A Manual for Students and 

 Practitioners. Bv Prof. G. Sims Woodhead. Fourth 

 edition. Pp. xxIi + 798. (London*: Henry Frowde 

 and Hodder and Stoughton, 1910.) Price 31s. 6d. 

 net. 



THE practical pathology of to-day Is very different 

 from the practical pathology of twelve or fifteen 

 years ago, when the third edition of this book was 

 published. Nevertheless, the present edition, as re- 

 gards the scope embraced by it, remains much as it 

 was, viz., it is a guide for the post-mortem room and 

 a manual of practical morbid anatomy and histology ; 

 general pathology, with the exception of Inflammation, 

 is almost untreated. Prof. Woodhead has, however, 

 deliberately chosen this course, and in the preface 

 NO. 2153, VOL. 85] 



explains that in its present form "Practical Path- 

 ology " has been found helpful to the medical student 

 in his class and ward work, and to the practitioner 

 who desires readily accessible data on the methods 

 and information which It contains. 



The first 150 pages are devoted to post-mortem 

 examinations, and the methods of preparing tissues 

 for microscopical investigation. A judicious selection 

 has been made of the multitudinous methods for fix- 

 ing, hardening, and staining that have been devised, 

 and this part of the book should be most useful. 



After this the phenomena occurring in Inflamma- 

 tion are discussed, and then the morbid changes met 

 with in the various tissues and organs are dealt with. 

 This method, while having the advantage of taking 

 the student through the principal alterations which 

 occur In a particular organ when diseased, has the 

 disadvantage that descriptions of processes which are 

 very similar in the various organs, e.g. tuberculosis 

 are repeated again and again, with a consumption 0; 

 space which might perhaps have been better utilised 

 for other subjects which have been omitted. 



On the whole, the descriptions of the histological 

 appearances of morbid tissues are ample and accurate, 

 and all the commoner conditions are dealt with. We 

 fail to find any reference to endotheliomatous tumours, 

 which of late have assumed some Importance, and 

 no mention is made of the differentiation of ovarian 

 cystomata Into two varieties, nor of the fact that the 

 pseudo-muclnous cystadenoma on rupture frequently 

 gives rise to metastatic growths of the peritoneum, 

 which may become carcinomatous. 



Nearly two pages are devoted to a description of 

 the so-called parasites of cancer, but the student Is 

 not warned that the parasitic hypothesis of the genesis 

 of cancer Is now largely discredited, and that these 

 so-called parasites may be peculiar forms of cell de- 

 generation. Nor is any mention made of modern 

 work on the cytology of malignant growths or of the 

 apparent transformation of carcinoma into sarcoma 

 bv a metamorphosis and overgrowth of the connec- 

 tive-tissue stroma. 



With a little amplification on these and other points 

 by the teacher, the work should prove a most useful 

 class book on practical morbid histology. The beau- 

 tiful coloured drawings by Mr. Richard Mulr and 

 others are much to be commended, though occasion- 

 ally {e.g. Fig. 265, Tertian malaria) more is depicted 

 than will ever be found in any one specimen. 



SYLVESTER'S MATHEMATICAL PAPERS. 

 The Collected Mathematical Papers of James Joseph^ 

 Sylvester, F.R.S.. e-c. Vol. ill. (1870-83). Pj 

 xvI + 688. (Cambridge: University Press, 1909^; 

 Price i8s. net. 



THE greater part of this volume consists of paper 

 on the theory of algebraic forms, and thei 

 substance Is now so familiar that it is needless 

 analyse them. But the reader who turns back 

 these classical memoirs Is charmed, as ever, by the 

 genius they display, and the extraordinary vivaclt\ 

 with which they are written. Moreover, Sylvester's 

 habit of publishing in haste, while the hot fit was on 



