AB O22 
NAT OG 
[APRIL 30, 1914 
meister, and others on the natural impurities con- 
tained in these fibres would at least have been 
mentioned, but such is not the case. On p. 37 
reference is made to the presence in raw cotton of 
resins which withstand the action of alkalies, but 
no mention is made of the source of the in- 
formation nor does the author appear to have 
published any original communication on_ this 
subject. 
Wool and silk are more adequately dealt with 
from the chemical point of view, though here we 
miss a very important property of the former, 
viz., its behaviour on steaming which Breinl has 
shown to account for “ending” in the dyeing of 
piece goods (by which is meant that one end of 
the piece comes out deeper in shade than the 
other). <A fairly good account is also given of 
the artificial fibres. 
The rest of the work (pp. 261-378) contains 
what can scarcely be called more than a rudi- 
mentary account of dyeing and printing, in which 
the chemistry of the products employed and of the 
processes plays a very subordinate part. 
The figures in the work are generally good, but 
it appears strange that in a special work of this 
kind the author has not recognised the import- 
ance of giving the appearance of cross-sections 
of the fibres described. A very large proportion 
of the text is taken up by matter which -is quite 
irrelevant to the subject. Thus, in the case of 
wool no fewer than five pages are taken up by a 
description of the spinning process, while five 
more are devoted to trade statistics. Altogether 
the work is disappointing. It must, however, 
be said in its favour that the author generally 
acknowledges the source of his information, which 
has been largely taken from other German works. 
His copious references to current literature will 
act as a good guide to students and others who 
make use of the book. 
(2) Since the textile fibres constitute the raw 
materials for some of our most important indus- 
tries, a well-planned and conscientiously compiled 
monograph on the subject, in which all the facts 
concerning them are systematised and lucidly dis- 
cussed, should form a welcome addition to our 
technical literature. It has been the endeavour of 
the author, in writing the present volume, to carry 
out this ideal, and though he does not claim to 
have attained it, we have no hesitation in saying 
that he has produced a most useful monograph. 
The subject-matter is well arranged, and _ is 
brought up to date, chiefly in the copious foot- 
notes which give epitomes of the more recent 
researches and patent specifications. The figures 
representing the textile fibres are mostly micro- 
NO, (2322). M01, .03|| 
graphs by the author, and although they are some- 
what rough, they bring out the essential features 
more prominently than many of the photographic 
reproductions that have been published. The 
figure on p. 230 seems to be out of place. 
The last, and not the least, useful part of the 
work (pp. 461-592) gives an account of the various 
methods available for the analysis of textile 
materials. In his classification of the fibres 
(especially bast fibres) and the enumeration of the 
numerous. species of the genus Gossypium 
(cotton), the author is rather too profuse. No 
mention appears to be made of the important 
effect of drying mercerised cotton in decreasing 
its affinity for dyestuffs. While admitting in the 
footnote on p. 283 that cotton begins to decom- 
pose above 120° C., the author seems to place 
the temperature at which decomposition begins at 
160° C. (p. 282), but both are too high. No men- 
tion is made of that excellent reagent paranitro- 
aniline for lignocellulose. The chlorination of 
wool, which is now a most important large-scale 
operation in connection with the production of un- 
shrinkable fabrics, might with advantage have 
been more fully gone into. In spite of these 
shortcomings, the work must be regarded as one 
of considerable merit. That it has supplied a want 
is shown by the fact that within a comparatively 
short period it has gone through two editions. 
OUR BOOKSHELF, 
Pflanzenphysiologie. Versuche und  Beobach- 
tungen an hédheren und niederen Pflanzen 
einschliesslich Bakteriologie und Hydrobiologie 
mit Planktonkunde. By R. Wolkwitz. Pp. v 
+258+xii plates. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 
1914.) Price 9 marks. 
Pror. KoL_Kwirz tells us that his book has grown 
out of courses of practical instruction in plant 
physiology for university and agricultural classes. 
It is a little difficult to see exactly for whom it 
is designed—students would probably find it a 
| difficult book to use, still the teacher of ordinary 
plant physiology will discover many hints that he 
can utilise with advantage. 
A number of experiments are described, illus- 
trative of the physiology of the higher plants, but 
the greater part of the volume is devoted to the 
lower forms of life. This later portion is an odd 
mixture of systematic description of illustrative 
species, but the accounts given are often so 
meagre as to be practically worthless. Directions 
are given for the culture of some forms, and the 
distribution of certain plankton species is briefly 
discussed. Incidentally, the chief sources of in- 
formation are usefully given, but the whole volume 
suggests that it is a reproduction of the private 
notes of a teacher who has explored a fairly wide 
field himself, and wants the notes to refresh his 
