72 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY | Mar 
sake of its photographs, will probably be helpful to many 
who are in want of a concise account of the microscopic 
appearances of the commoner starches. 
The essential portion of the book consists of a series of 
short chapters, each of which is devoted to a description 
of the shape, size, markings, behavior towards polarized 
light, ete., of a particular starch. Altogether the author 
treats of thirteen varieties—namely potato, rye, rice, oat, 
maize, pea, sago, tapioca, wheat, barley, Bermuda arrow- 
root, “‘tous-les-mois,” and haricot bean starch. A syn- 
optical table at the end of the book brings together the 
principal facts recorded in connection with each starch in 
a very useful way. One thing the author especially in- 
sists upon, and rightly so, namely, that the markings 
occurring on some starches are never so plain as they are 
shown in the figures in the text-books of botany, hygiene, 
etc. But on the other hand, we think he rather over- 
states the difficulty of seeing these lines. He says of 
potato starch, for instance, that ‘‘these lines are in all 
cases faint ; indeed, to see them at all it is often necessary 
to reduce the aperture of the diaphragm of the micros- 
cope very considerably, or to use oblique light. . . . The 
lines are apparent chiefly in the larger ellipsoidal grains, 
but not in all of these, the smaller grains only occasion- 
ally showing any trace of such lines.” With specimens 
freshly scraped from a potato and immediately examined 
in water there should be no trouble, however, in seeing 
the concentric lines with a 1-6” objective and a large 
axial cone of light from the condenser, and we have never 
yet under such conditions seen one of the larger grains 
without markings. Iiven the smaller grains, with the 
exception of the most minute, more often than not exhibit 
a few concentric lines. In dealing with wheat starch the 
author does not allude to the peculiar reticulated sculp- 
turing of a part of the surface which a small percentage 
of.the grains usually exhibit.—Quwekett Club. 
a oe 
SE. SS ee  ., 
