January 22, 1920] 



NATURE 



527 



obscure. He has therefore introduced the new 

 structural ideas at an early stage of his narrative, 

 and keeps them continually before the reader, 

 adding on the way many fresh suggestions and 

 criticisms. His treatment of this difficult subject 

 is extremely lucid, and the result is strikingly 

 successful. 



Although the book has been considerably ex- 

 panded by the inclusion of much new experi- 

 mental material, little need be said regarding the 

 details of the subject-matter, as nothing of present 

 or potential importance has been overlooked, and 

 the enlargement of the various chapters is well 

 balanced. The high standard of accuracy main- 

 tained throughout the text extends to the com- 

 prehensive bibliography, which is carefully classi- 

 fied according to the topics discussed — a plan 

 which saves time when a rapid search through 

 the original literature is necessary. 



Monographs suitable for both the research 

 worker and the advanced student play a part of 

 ever-increasing importance in our scientific educa- 

 tion, and the present book is a model of its kind. 

 Considering the magnitude and the wide appeal 

 of carbohydrate chemistry, it is no easy task to 

 compress within narrow limits an accurate 

 account of the most important features of the 

 sugars, and at the same time to avoid Ihe dangers 

 of merely cataloguing compounds or of losing all 

 style in telegraphic brevity. Dr. Armstrong has 

 skilfully avoided these dangers, and has succeeded 

 in making his narrative interesting without sacri- 

 ficing any essentials, and that this has been pos- 

 sible is ample testimony to the excellence of the 

 scheme upon which the original edition was 

 planned. The leanings of the author, as a prac- 

 tical worker in this field, to the biological aspects 

 of sugar chemistry are well known, but Dr. Arm- 

 strong is a firm believer in the value of structural 

 study, and he therefore establishes constitutional 

 principles before proceeding to descriptive 

 details. 



It is, then, on the elastic framework of struc- 

 tural chemistry that Dr. Armstrong has arranged 

 the complex facts of sugar chemistry, and he has 

 done so systematically, thoroughly, and with 

 scholarly judgment. No point of view is neglected. 

 The organic chemist is not allowed to forget that 

 Nature is the great sugar laboratory, and that he 

 must work in association with the biologist. On 

 the other hand, the biochemist is forced to think 

 in the exact terms of structure, and the lesson is 

 probably necessary. 



For several years the reviewer has been in a 

 position to appreciate the merits of the earlier 

 editions by observing the use made of them by 

 NO. 2621, VOL. 104] 



graduates commencing research work on the 

 sugars. The monograph has answered most suc- 

 cessfully to this practical test, and as the latest 

 edition is a distinct advance on its predecessors, 

 students of the sugar group will have access to 

 a thoroughly satisfactory book — a book written 

 with the authority of the expert and conveying 

 the stimulus of the enthusiast. 



i ' 



NUTRITION AND LONGEVITY. 



(i) The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition: The Use 

 of Food for the Preservation of Vitality and 

 Health. By E. V. McCollum. Pp. ix-i-igg. 

 (New York : The Macmillan Co. ; Lon- 

 don : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1919.) Price 

 6s. 6d. net. 

 (2) On Longevity and Means for the Prolongation 

 of Life: Founded on a Lecture delivered before 

 the Royal College of Physicians on December 3, 

 1903. By Sir Hermann Weber. Edited by 

 Dr. F. Parkes Weber. With a preface by Sir 

 Clifford Allbutt. Fifth (enlarged) edition, re- 

 vised and partly re-written. Pp. xxii-l-292. 

 (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1919.) 

 Price 125. net. 

 (i) 13 ROE. E. V. McCOLLUM sets forth in 

 L volume form the results of, and conclusions 

 to be drawn from, his well-known researches on 

 food accessory bodies, the discovery of which was 

 initiated by Dr. Gowland Hopkins. These bodies, 

 called "vitamines" by Funk, are now realised to 

 be of the greatest importance to growth, health, 

 and resistance to disease, the lack of them making 

 the body susceptible to the rank growth of 

 microbes. 



Prof. McCollum inclines to doubt that scurvy is 

 due to the lack of a water-soluble accessory 

 body A, strong evidence for the existence of 

 which has been adduced by the workers at the 

 Lister Institute, Dr. Harden, Miss Chick, and 

 others. He lays the greatest stress on the fat- 

 soluble A accessory body, which is of supreme 

 importance for growth, and is to be found in 

 growing cells and in milk, eggs, and the germ 

 of seeds (wheatberry, etc.), substances specially 

 formed with growth principles in them. The 

 miller removes the germ in the preparation of 

 white flour, and, classed as offal, it goes to 

 feed and promote the growth of pigs and 

 chickens. 



Dairy produce from cows fed on green leaves 

 and the green leaf itself supply "fat-soluble A," 

 and are thus the great protective foods, and every 

 endeavour must be made to keep up the supply 

 of these. Green vegetables must not be regarded 



