76 



NA TURE 



[November 24, 1892 



stitution of the carbo-hydrates andtheamido-compounds. 

 What can be the use of this sort of writing, however well 

 done ? No student not already well grounded in science 

 generally can hope to get any real advantage from those 

 parts of this book that are devoted to the scientific con- 

 sideration of the details of the brewing process, and we 

 wish the author had boldly recognized this very evident 

 fact. 



Apart, in a manner, from the more scientific portions 

 of his book, the author gives us his views on the em- 

 pirical questions of brewing, and also on the arrangement 

 of a brewery and its plant, with the authority of much 

 experience. Here is common ground on which all in- 

 terested in brewing meet, and we recommend the author's 

 conclusions as worth their attention. At the end of the 

 volume we find a novel feature in a synoptic table of the 

 malting and brewing processes, giving side by side the 

 time, working memoranda, physical changes, and chemi- 

 cal changes of each process, an epitome which is likely 

 to be useful to many readers. A good index also adds 

 value to the book. 



Although we do not think that the author in writing 

 this book has been very successful in meeting the 

 requirements of young students of brewing, yet there is a 

 large amount of information contained in the 516 pages 

 of the volume which will repay a careful perusal by 

 those more advanced in the study of the scientific 

 aspect and practice of brewing. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



A Manual of Veterinary Physiology. By Vety.-Captain 



F. Smith, M.R.C.V.S. (London: Bailliere, Tindall, 



and Cox, 1892.) 

 The publication of this work ought to delight the heart 

 of the veterinary student, for hitherto in his pursuit of 

 physiological knowledge he has been compelled to rely 

 upon works which deal exclusively with the human sub- 

 ject. However excellent such works may be and well 

 adapted to the requirements of the human physiologist, 

 tliey must necessarily contain much which is only of 

 secondary importance to the veterinary student, and ab- 

 solutely nothing concerning many questions which to him 

 are of vital interest. For example, how needful to him 

 is a thorough knowledge of the physiology of the horse's 

 foot — the seat, as he is afterwards to learn, of manifold 

 diseases. Yet clearly the consideration of this subject 

 is outside the range of human physiology. Similarly the 

 composition, digestibility, and feeding properties of the 

 foods supplied to the various domestic animals are to him 

 matters of paramount importance. Yet here again he finds 

 himself left in the lurch by the standard works on human 

 physiology. Such considerations amply indicate the 

 necessity for a work of the kind now before us, and cause 

 us to wonder that the veterinary profession should have 

 had to wait so long for its publication. Though several 

 first-rate treatises on veterinary physiology exist in French 

 and German literature. Captain Smith's is the first at- 

 tempt, we believe, to deal with the subject in its entirety 

 in this country. 



We can heartily congratulate the author on the manner 

 in which he has performed his task. He writes in a con- 

 cise but precise style. Bearing in mind how many sub- 

 jects the student is supposed to take up and master in a 

 comparatively short time, the author has omitted, and 

 we think wisely so, the details of physiological experi- 

 mental methods and descriptions of elaborate mechanical 

 appliances employed in the laboratory. 



The value or usefulness of the horse depends so largely 



NO. 1204, VOL. 47 



upon its powers of speed or draught that a knowledge of 

 its locomotory apparatus is obviously imperative to the 

 veterinarians. During recent years much light has been 

 thrown upon the subject of animal locomotion by the 

 elaborately devised experiments of Stillman and Muy- 

 bridge, carried out, as is well known, by means of instan- 

 taneous photography. Captain Smith furnishes a capital 

 r/j^m^' of the conclusions derived from these experiments 

 and a number of plain, simple diagrams aid the reader 

 considerably in comprehending the subject. 



The physiology of the horse's foot is dealt with in a 

 somewhat short chapter. The author adheres to the 

 theory of the expansion of the foot at its posterior part 

 when the weight of the body is imnosed thereon. It is a 

 subject which has often been hotly debated, and its 

 discussion will probably be again reopened in the co- 

 lumns of the veterinary periodicals. The chapter con- 

 cludes with some half-dozen rules on physiological 

 shoeing, a copy of which might well be suspended and 

 acted upon in every place where the shoeing of the horse 

 is carried on. 



The book is well printed, neatly bound, and published 

 at a very reasonable price {\os. 61.). Horse-owners as 

 well as veterinarians will find its perusal attended with 

 profit as well as interest. W. F. G. 



The Principal Starches used as Food. By W. Griffiths. 



(Cirencester : Baily and Son, 1892.) 

 This little book of 62 pages will be found useful by 

 analysts and others who are interested in the examination 

 of foods. The author has collected together short 

 descriptions dealing with the origin and microscopical 

 characters of the different starches met with in com- 

 merce — the arrowroots, tapioca, sago, the starches of 

 our common cereals, and of millet, maize, rice, the bean, 

 the pea, the lentil, the potato, and so forth. These are 

 classified according to the natural orders of the plants 

 from which they are derived, and the descriptions are 

 I accompanied by remarkably good photo-micrographs, 

 ! which indicate at a glance the peculiarities of the differ- 

 ent varieties. The mode of classification serves to bring 

 out the resemblances which often exist in starches 

 j obtained from plants of the same natural order. Since 

 [ the microscope alone can be employed in attempting to 

 I trace the origin of a starch, and bearing in mind the 

 ! extent to which it is now used as an adulterant, this 

 handy little book will no doubt supply a want. 



Three clerical errors were noted. On p. 47 "feint" 

 should be " faint," and " not " is evidently omitted in 

 line three from the bottom. On p. 48 " character" should 

 be " characters." 



Les Alpes Fratn^aises. Par Albert Falsan (Bibliotheque 

 Scientifique Contemporaine. (Paris: J. B. Bailliere 

 et Fils, 1893.) 

 We cannot call this a successful book. A mixture of 

 condensed statistical information and of popular descrip- 

 tive writing is not much better than a stirabout of 

 Liebig's extract and of trifle-whip. Fixity of purpose on 

 the author's part is also wanting. Doubtless the French 

 Alps cannot be separated from the rest of the chain, but 

 for a book of only 286 pages all told, this contains too 

 much about the Central, Pennine, and Eastern Alps. 

 The geological part is sketchy, and not always very ac- 

 curate. The author repeats the old mistake about the 

 "variolite of the Durance forming a fringe to the eupho- 

 lide," though the question was settled by the elaborate 

 paper of Messrs. Cole and Gregory, published in the 

 Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 1890. 

 The illustrations are numerous ; few, however, of them 

 are good, and several very bad. There is no index. 

 The work, in short, is a piece of book-making, charac- 

 teristically French in style, and is not a valuable addition 

 to the library either of the mountain-climber or of the 

 man of science. 



