RK\'11":\\'S. 



BIOLOGY. 



Life ill the Sea. — By James Joh.vstone, B.Sc, Fisheries 

 Laboratory. L'niversity of Liverpool. 150 pages. Numerous 

 illustrations. 6'! -in. X 4it-in. 

 (Cainbridse University Press. Price 1 - net.) 

 This is a fascinating introduction to a study of the economy 

 of the sea, a department of marine biology which has made 

 great strides within recent years, partly thiough the quantita- 

 tive plankton investigations which estimate the productivity of 

 a sea-area and partly through the correlation of the minute 

 life of the sea with currents and other physical conditions. 

 Mr. Johnstone has been .actively engaged in marine biological 

 investigations for many years past, and he tells his tale with 

 vigour and clearness. He starts off with an imaginary walk 

 along the sea bottom to North .-Vmcrica. which introduces the 

 reader to a v,ariety of zones and faunal areas. His second 

 chapter is devoted to rhythmical changes in the sea, — "the 

 tides, the annual waves of temperature, salinity and sunlight ; 

 annual outbursts of animal and vegetable life ; animal and 

 plant migrations; spawning periods; fishery seasons and the 

 like." In an admirable analysis of the factors of distribution 

 — the subject of Chapter III — Mr. Johnstone discusses many 

 interesting facts, such as that the polar and temperate seas 

 are. generally speaking, far richer in life than are tropical seas, 

 and the lengthening out of life at low temperatures. To our 

 thinking the author speaks the words of wisdom when he notes 

 in regard to migrations that it seems to be rather straining 

 after generality to describe all these as tropisms, and that the 

 behaviour of an animal at any time is modified by its past 

 experience which is registered within it. In the fourth and 

 fifth chapters the different modes of nutrition and the sources 

 of food are discussed, and attention is paid to the recent 

 theory or heresy that many mai-ine animals feed '' saprozoi- 

 cally ■' — by the absorption of dissolved organic matter in the 

 sea, on the stock of the sea-soup as it were. The amount of 

 carbon compounds (other than carbonates) and of nitrogen 

 compounds (other than ammonia or nitrates) dissolved in sea 

 water is small, but it is greater than the amount of proteid or 

 carbohydrate contained in similar volumes of water in the 

 form of plankton. We cannot do more than indicate the 

 general trend of this delightful and stimulating volume, which 

 we would recommend with the greatest cordiality. It should 

 not be missed by any one interested in the science of the sea. 

 J. .\RriirR Thomson. 



CHEMISTRY. 



Some Chemical Problems of To-day.— \h- K. K. Dlncax. 



5-t pages. 34 illustrations. Si-in. X 5i-in. 



(Harper & Bros. Price 2 dollars net.) 



Professor Duncan is an enthusiast in the matter of technical 

 chemistry, and his book is a veritable mine of suggestion upon 

 the practical applications of the science. In every industry 

 there are chemical problems in pressing need of solution, and 

 here we have an outline of many of these difficulties, which 

 will tax all the resources of the trained chemist to meet. 



.And is not. so the author urges, an education which tends 

 to the solution of such industrial problems as good an intel- 

 lectual training as that usually given ? His attitude upon this 

 question may be summarised in his own words : " The many 

 and important actual opportunities that lie everywhere at 

 hand for applying scientific knowledge and the scientific 

 method to the manufacturing needs of men make one frankly 

 consider why trained and earnest men should devote laborious 

 days to making diketotetrahydroquinazoline, or some equally 

 academic substance, while on erery side these men are needed 

 for the accomplishment of real achie\ement in a world of 

 manufacturing waste and ignorance." 



But. although America has greater facilities for meeting this 



need than we possess in this country, yet we find Professor 

 Duncan lamenting that " the present state of American 

 manufactures is one of inefficiency." The picture he draws 

 of the position of the research chemist in American works is 

 not a pleasant one to contemplate. He has no security of 

 tenure, and in most cases works under unsuitable conditions, 

 and while his retaining his poorly-paid position depends upon 

 speedy returns for his work in cash, he is rarely given any 

 pecuniary interest in his discoveries, which become the 

 property of his employers. This is the impression left by this 

 part of the book, and the outlook for the future does not 

 appear very hopeful. 



But it is not only in the direction of applied chemistry that 

 the reader will find much to interest him in this brightly 

 written and stimulating book, for there are also excellent 



chapters on " The Question of the .-\tom. I'he Chemical 



Interpretation of Life," and "The Begiiming of Things," in 

 which is given a clear outline of Chamberlin's planetismal 

 hypothesis, illustrated by a series of beautiful photographs of 

 spiral nebulae, which were taken at the Lick Observatory. 

 The book is so well worth reading in every part that we can 

 forgive the use of words and expressions that grate upon 

 Knglish ears. But why should the author go out of his way 

 to talk about the "young chemist seeking an arbeit" or 

 "The trained chemikcr," when we have I-'nglish words to 

 convey the same ideas ? CAM 



Chcinieal Phenomena in Life. — By FREDERICK CzAPEK, 



M.D.. I'h.l). (Harper's Library of Living Thought). 152 



pages. 7-in. X4i-in. 



(Harper and Bros. Price 2 6 net, cloth; .5 net, leather.! 



In this welcome addition to a well-known series of short 

 monographs Professor Czapek gives a concise, yet readable, 

 account of the present state of our knowledge of the chemical 

 processes involved in what is commonly understood by " life." 



The book deals more especially with the biological chemistry 

 of plants, and only incidentally with the allied phenomena of 

 animal life. .After a short historical survey of the connection 

 between biology and chemistry, chapters are devoted to proto- 

 plasm, colloidal chemistry, the chemical action of living matter, 

 enzymes, and chemical adaptation and inheritance. 



Owing to the necessity for severe compression within a 

 small space the subject lacks sufficient elaboration in places, 

 while, on the other hand, it occasionally goes into more detail 

 than is suitable for a book intended for the general reader 

 rather than the specialist. 



The author does not attempt to evolve a chemical definition 

 of life, although he lays stress upon many facts tending to- 

 wards such a definition. Thus, qn page \9 he writes, " The 

 final result of our discu.ssion is that there are many reasons 

 for maintaining that protoplasm really is of a peculiar chemical 

 constitution, and that it does not merely represent a mechanical 

 structure." 



In this connection it may be mentioned that in several 

 places an attemi>t is made to draw too sharp a distinction 

 between living and inorganic matter, as, for example, on page 

 10, where it is stated that the chemist studying inorganic 

 matter " will be accustomed to see thai no change takes place 

 in the matter under investigation unless an experiment be 

 made." 



This ignores the continual changes which recent researches 

 have proved to be taking place in radio-active and (not 

 improbably! other bodies, with the degradation of one form of 

 inorganic matter into another — changes which in the more 

 rapid cases we can follow, but cannot influence by any 

 experimental means at our disposal. ^^ ^_ ^^ 



67 



