342 



NATURE 



[July 4, 19 18 



portant information. Whilst such elementary 

 matters as the difference between chemical and 

 physical changes, and the operations of filtration, 

 distillation, etc., are minutely described and may 

 well be omitted, we have failed to find any refer- 

 ence to Dalton's law of partial pressures, and such 

 processes as the liquefaction of air, the production 

 of nitric acid from ammonia, and of hydrogen 

 from water-gas, which are at the present time of 

 some importance, are either not mentioned or are 

 very inadequately described — in short, the limited 

 reference to industrial operations gives the book, 

 rightly or wrongly, a pronounced academic bias. 



The arrangement is not, perhaps, in all respects 

 the best that could be devised. The electro- 

 chemical series, and, indeed, the whole process 

 and theory of electrolysis, are so fundamental in 

 explaining chemical reactions that ' one naturally 

 expects some reference to them in the earlier 

 portions of a text-book of this character. 



Turning to the index, we find a reference is 

 given to p. 428, where even the term "electro- 

 chemical series" does not occur; but on p. 436 — 

 that is, near the end of the book — the subject is 

 described as of "great practical value," but is 

 discussed only in its relation to electrolytic 

 reactions. 



On the other hand, some of the sections on 

 physical chemistry are written in a terse and 

 lucid fashion ; these are wholly excellent and con- 

 stitute the most valuable part of the book. 



(2) This is an ideal little book on analysis. Its 

 object, as the title indicates, Is not so much the 

 practice as the principles of analysis. Whilst the 

 descriptions, of detailed analyses are comparatively 

 few and are selected as typical illustrations of a 

 variety of methods, the general theory of these 

 methcKl? is carefully kept in view. 



The first seventy-four pages are exclusively 

 devoted to theory on such subjects as the nature 

 of solution, on equilibrium, and on electrolysis. 

 The practical part is divided into sections, each 

 section illustrating a particular kind of analysis. 

 Thus, the first has reference .to processes involv- 

 ing the evolution of gas; the second, to 'precipita- 

 tion methods; the third, to methods of extraction, 

 and so forth. Several sections are given to volu- 

 metric analysis, and the last to physico-chemical 

 methods. 



The book is adequately illustrated with a few 

 simple outline drawings of apparatus, and ques- 

 tions and problems are intercalated at intervals. 



(3) This little volume on linseed oil, which 

 forms one of a series of chemical monographs, 

 contains in a small compass a compilation of the 

 better-known chemical facts regarding linseed oil 

 and an account of its evalliation for' technical pur- 

 poses, but has no reference to its industrial appli- 

 cations. It is provided with a very fuir biblio- 

 graphy of references which should prove useful to 

 the chemist. As the author states in the preface, 

 it is a subject which has not received the attention 

 it merits, and opens a wide field, shared by many 

 other vegetable oils, for more extended chemical 

 investigation. J. B. C. 



NO. 2540. VOL. lOl] 



THE FUNCTION OF THE SPLEEN. 



The Spleen and Anaemia: Experimental and 

 Clinical Studies. By Prof. R. M. Pearce, with 

 the assistance of Dr. E. B. Krumbhaar and 

 Prof. C. H. Frazier. Pp. x + 419. (Philadelphia 

 and London : J. B. Lippincott Co., 1918.) Price 

 215. net. 



T N this pleasant volume on the results of remov- 

 J- ing the spleen Prof. Pearce has put together 

 the various experimental studies carried out with 

 a number of collaborators in the department of re- 

 search medicine of the University of Pennsylvania 

 during the past five or six years. Most of the data 

 have' been already published in periodicals, but it 

 is convenient to have them in a revised and con- 

 nected form and to read the author's general dis- 

 cussion of. his results taken as a whole- Removal 

 of the spleen in dogs, leads to (i) an anaemia of 

 moderate severity, lasting in all from two to six 

 months ; (2) an increased resista.nce of the red- 

 blood corpuscles to destruction by hypotonic salt 

 solution, saponin, and other hemolytic agents ; 

 (3) a diminished susceptibility to haimoglobinuria 

 and jaundice induced by the injection of hfemolytic 

 serum. The mere absence of spleen is never fatal, 

 never, indeed, induces anything that could be 

 called severe illness, and in six or twelve months 

 the animals are normal again, except, perhaps, in 

 respect of the resistance of their red corpuscles 

 to taking. A number of paths have been pursued 

 in search of some general explanation of these 

 phenomena, and it must have been disappointing 

 to find them mostly fruitless. 



A good deal of the general discussion is neces- 

 sarily barren because the authors have never in- 

 quired whether the anaemia is due to a deficiency 

 of haemoglobin or to a relative increase in the 

 plasma, a point which is quite fundamental in 

 considering the nature and effects of any anaemic 

 process. 



Most noteworthy are the obser\-ations that liga- 

 ture of the splenic vein or its implantation into the 

 inferior vena cava leads in some respects to much 

 the same results as complete excision of the spleen, 

 and that ultimately there is considerable hyper- 

 trophy of the bone marrow, not apparently to form 

 blood-cells, but to act, as does the normal spleen, 

 as a reservoir of iron. A long section, in which the 

 well-known work of Dr. Sam Goldschmidt is in- 

 corporated, on metabolism in dogs and men before 

 and after splenectomy leads to no definite aberra- 

 tion being found. 



-About a fifth of the whole book is occupied with 

 a straightforward account of the " splenic 

 anaemias " by Dr. E. B. Krumbhaar, in which the 

 modern methods of clinical examination are "given 

 in detail. Evidence seems fairly conclusive that 

 Banti's disease, Gaucher 's disease, and acholuric 

 jaundice are best treated by removing the spleen, 

 and there must by now be a good number of people 

 in the world who might be used to test the belief 

 of antiquity that one could run faster if one had 

 no spleen. Finally, there is a short chapter ors 



