742 



NATURE 



[June lo, 1922 



poisonS;, the duration of life, etc.^ being separately 

 discussed. This provides a very valuable compendium 

 of the existing information on the subject. Among 

 the most remarkable results recorded are the enormous 

 values of the temperature coefficient (Qjq = iooo- 

 4000) in many cases of the duration of life, especially 

 among invertebrates. In this connection the sugges- 

 tive fact must be borne in mind that high values of 

 Qjo are also characteristic of the denaturation of 

 proteins and the inactivation of enzymes. These high 

 values are the more remarkable as in the majority of 

 cases physiological phenomena fall into line with 

 ordinary chemical reactions, the rate of which is 

 increased 2 or 3 times by a temperature rise of 10° C, 

 although in many cases the coefficient falls with 

 increasing temperature. 



(2) Criticism, especially of the fundamental proposi- 

 tions enunciated in a new and rapidly expanding 

 branch of knowledge, is useful because it prompts 

 the investigator to re-examine the experimental 

 foundations on which he has based his conclusions. 

 In this way Dr. Rohmann's work has doubtless done 

 good service, but the theses which he maintains, 

 that accessory food factors or vitamins have no 

 existence in fact and that " deficiency " diseases such 

 as beriberi and scurvy are due to prolonged and one- 

 sided feeding with " imperfect " proteins, can no longer 

 be seriously maintained. The author's experimental 

 material has already been very carefully analysed and 

 criticised by Osborne and Mendel, who have pointed 

 out in what directions the " purified " diets of Rohmann 

 fell short of the standard which is now known to be 

 required. 



Since the date of publication of this book (19 16) 

 overwhelming evidence has been produced — largely 

 in this country and America — that Hopkins was fully 

 justified in his original conception of accessory food 

 factors which cannot be synthesis ed by the animal 

 but are necessary for the proper utilisation of its diet, 

 however complete this may be in the fat, carbo- 

 hydrate, protein and salts which form its main con- 

 stituents. Rohmann has turned his face back towards 

 the ideas of the older physiologists and his book 

 remains as a monument beside the path by which the 

 newer doctrine has been reached. 



(3) The hydrolysis of proteins by enzymes is a highly 

 complex process, the exact course of which is by no 

 means fully understood. In the present work a full 

 account is given only of the later stages of this decom- 

 position, commencing with the peptones and pro- 

 ceeding downwards through the kyrines to the 

 peptides. The term peptone is often used vaguely 

 to designate various mixtures of the hydrolysis . pro- 

 ducts of protein, often including'^the albumoses. We 



NO. 2745, VOL. 109] 



are here given an excellent account of the work, largely 

 due to the author, by which the peptones, in the 

 narrower sense, have been isolated from the products 

 not precipitated by ammonium sulphate, and have 

 been characterised by their chemical and physical 

 properties. Their composition varies with their origin 

 but is always relatively simple, although the author 

 hints at the existence of modes of union between their 

 constituents other than the characteristic peptide 

 linkings to which so much importance has been attached 

 in the structure of the proteins. 



(4) The physiological importance of many of the 

 bases formed by the action of bacteria on the amino- 

 acids has made them of great interest to the bio- 

 chemist. English readers have already at hand, in 

 Prof. Barger's monograph on "The Simpler Natural 

 Bases," a work which includes a great part of the 

 matter dealt with by Dr. Hirsch. In the present 

 volume the subject is approached from the point of 

 view of bacterial action and a full account of the 

 products which have been recognised is given. In 

 addition to descriptive matter, practical methods are 

 also included and a considerable amount of attention 

 is given to the physiological properties of the substances 

 concerned. Interesting sections treat of the patho- 

 logical effects of bacterial products derived from the 

 proteins and of their therapeutic application. 



The author also includes a short but suggestive 

 chapter on the relation between these products and 

 various substances of a basic character which occur 

 in animal and vegetable organisms. There is little 

 doubt that many of the latter have been formed from 

 amino-acids by reactions similar to those produced by 

 micro-organisms, if not actually by their active inter- 

 vention. A copious bibliography is appended to 

 the work. Arthur Harden. 



Our Bookshelf. 



Alumni Cantabrigienses : A Biographical List of all 

 known Students, Graduates, and Holders of Office at 

 the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times 

 to igoo. By Dr. J. Venn and J. A. Venn. Part I., 

 From the Earliest Times to 1751. Vol. i, Abbas- 

 Cutts. Pp. xxviii + 437. (Cambridge : At the Uni- 

 versity Press, 1922.) 1505. net. 



The President of Gonville and Caius College and his 

 son have undertaken an immense task in the prepara- 

 tion of the volumes, the first of which is under notice. 

 Dr. Venn has by previous work on the archives of his 

 own College prepared himself for this investigation, 

 and it is as much due to him as to the wise rules of Dr. 

 Caius that the Caius records of past members can be 

 described as " much the best of the series." There are 

 76,000 names dealt with up to the date 1751 covered 

 by Part I., and details have been gathered together 

 from many sources. For instance, John Ward of 



