NATURE 



461 



THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1900. 



SUGARS AND THEIR DERIVATIVES. 



Les Sucres et leurs principaux Derives. Par L. 

 Maquenne, Professeur au Museum d'Histoire Natur- 

 elle. Pp. ii + 1032. (Paris : Georges Carre and C, 

 Naud, 1900.) 

 nPHERE is no class of carbon compounds of greater 

 -•- interest to chemists and biologists than the sugars 

 or, in the wider sense, the carbohydrates which form the 

 subject of Prof. Maquenne's volume. Whether regarded 

 from the point of view of the physiologist, who concerns 

 himself with the part played by these compounds in the 

 vital processes of animals and plants, or whether con- 

 sidered in their chemical aspect, as furnishing the most 

 striking illustrations of the new stereo-chemistry of Le 

 Bel and Van 't HofF, the sugars will always be found 

 most fascinating subjects for study and research. The 

 great impetus to the development of our knowledge of 

 these compounds, given by the classical researches of 

 Emil Fischer, is one of the most remarkable examples of 

 the interdependence of hypothesis and experiment that 

 can be furnished by modern science — a point which is 

 recognised by the author of the present work in the 

 preface : — 



" C'est en eftet sur les travaux de E. Fischer que les 

 conside'rations d'isomerie dans I'espace ont trouv^ leur 

 plus solide appui et la doctrine du carbone asymetrique 

 ses plus serieuses verifications." 



The continuously growing knowledge of the carbo- 

 hydrates resulting from the labours of many chemists and 

 physiologists, renders it impossible for the non-expert 

 student to keep pace with the numerous discoveries 

 which are being announced in rapid succession in the 

 various publications recognised by scientific workers. As 

 with every branch of science in which the rate of develop- 

 ment is a measure of its vitality, specialisation must be 

 recognised as a necessary condition of progress, and all 

 workers must be grateful when specialists like Prof. 

 Maquenne go through the laborious process of taking 

 stock of existing knowledge, and of bringing together 

 into a coherent form the scattered information which is 

 otherwise so difficult to obtain without a large library at 

 one's elbow. Such monographs form landmarks in the 

 history of science ; if in a few years this or any similar 

 work is found to be behind the actual state of knowledge, 

 it is no disparagement to the author, but an indication of 

 progress which every worker in science cannot but wel- 

 come. As examples of the way in which the subject is 

 growing, it may be mentioned that even while the present 

 work has been in the hands of its reviewer, a new 

 synthesis of glucose, fructose and mannose has been 

 made possible by the discovery by Messrs. Fenton and 

 Jackson, that glycollic aldehyde gives a mixture of a- and 

 3-acrose under the influence of alkali ; while, still more 

 recently, a transition from glucose to rt?-erythrose and 

 r-erythritol via ^-arabinose and ^f-arabonic acid has been 

 effected by Ruff.^ 



The name of M. Maquenne is familiar in this depart- 

 ment of chemistry, and his qualifications for the task 



1 Ber. deutxli. ch. Geseil., January 1900, vol. 32, p. 3672. 



NO. 1585, VOL. 61] 



which he has undertaken will ^ generally admitted. 

 A critical review of such a work as that before us is out 

 of the question ; we can only indicate its contents and 

 describe the author's mode of treatment. In classifica- 

 tion and logical sequence and general clearness the work 

 is up to that high standard which is characteristic of 

 French writers on scientific subjects. The twenty 

 chapters into which the book is divided are classified 

 under six parts. The first part (two chapters) deals with 

 generalities and syntheses ; the second part (six chapters) 

 with the polyatomic (in our nomenclature polyhydric) 

 alcohols classified according to the number of carbon 

 atoms, as tetrites, pentites, hexites, &c. ; the third part 

 (four chapters) comprises reducing sugars, again classi- 

 fied as trioses, tetroses, &c. ; the fourth part (two 

 chapters) deals with hydrolysable sugars, such as bioses, 

 trioses and p«lyoses ; the fifth part (three chapters) 

 with acid derivatives of the sugars ; and the sixth part 

 (three chapters) with miscellaneous compounds, such as 

 osones, osamines and saccharines. 



As a work of the present class is, in the first place, 

 valuable as a book of reference, it may be pointed out 

 that there is a fairly ample index alphabetically arranged, 

 the very excellent plan of printing the number of the 

 page containing the main reference to the compound in 

 thick type being systematically adopted. The French 

 custom of printing the table of contents at the end of 

 the volume, instead of at the beginning, appears to us, 

 without prejudice (insular or otherwise), to be a bad one. 

 It will be noticed also that the nomenclature adopted 

 for the "sugars" proper leads to the use of the term 

 triose in two distinct senses — viz. for compounds like 

 glyceraldehyde and dioxyacetone, which contain three 

 atoms of carbon, and for sugars like raffinose and 

 melizitose, which contain three hexose complexes. But 

 these are minor points. The general arrangement of 

 the chapters will be found, on detailed examination, to 

 be carried out on a uniform plan, so that the reader 

 who is searching for any particular kind of information 

 concerning any individual carbohydrate will soon become 

 familiar with the author's arrangement, and will know 

 where to look for such information. We have had oc- 

 casion frequently to test the book in this way, and, so 

 far as our experience goes, M. Maquenne has never failed 

 us. Beyond this, of course, a reviewer cannot go in 

 praise of the work which has been submitted to his 

 judgment. 



The arrangement of the subject-matter is capable of 

 being briefly explained. Each part begins with a chapter 

 of generalities relating to the whole group comprised 

 under the part, and each succeeding chapter treats of 

 the individual compounds in the same systematic way, 

 viz. occurrence and natural history, preparation, synthesis 

 when accomplished, chemical constitution and configur- 

 ation, physical properties, chemical properties such as 

 action of heat, oxidation, reduction, action of acids, action 

 of bases and salts, action of alcohols {i.e. etherification), 

 phenols, aldehydes and ketones, amines, hydrazines, and 

 miscellaneous reagents, fermentability and methods of 

 detection and estimation. From this synopsis, which 

 may be taken as representative for the most complete 

 case of a widely distributed and well-known sugar, such 



X 



