326 
with typhoid fever when on a visit to the Liebig's 
that indirectly led to the invention of the world- 
famous “extract of meat.” 
The growing anxieties of a large and complex 
business at length compelled Dr. Muspratt to 
leave. Germany in order to assist his father, and 
henceforth most of his life and energies were spent 
in his native city and its neighbourhood, varied 
only by not infrequent interludes of foreign travel, 
accounts of which form a considerable portion of 
his narrative. 
But in spite of the constant demands upon his 
time and activities, owing to the changing and 
progressive character of manufacturing chemistry 
during the last few decades, Dr. Muspratt has 
found abundant opportunity to associate himself 
with the social, political, municipal, and _ intel- 
lectual development of Liverpool, and there have 
been few public movements of any importance in 
that city with which he has not been connected in 
greater or less measure. All this he sets out, 
with a pardonable pride, in this autobiographical 
record. His has been a singularly full, active, 
and useful life, of many and varied interests, 
fruitful in achievement and in unselfish personal 
service. The book is written in a simple, un- 
affected manner, with no pretensions to literary 
style. It has suffered in a very slight degree from 
the fact that the author’s failing eyesight com- 
pelled him to seek the aid of an amanuensis. This 
doubtless accounts for the occasional misspelling 
of proper names and certain lapses in expression 
which ought not to have escaped the attention of 
the proof-reader. T. E. THorPE. 
STUDIES OF THE RESPIRATORY 
EXCHANGE. 
The Respiratory Exchange of Animals and Man. 
By Dr. A. Krogh. Pp. viiit+173. (London: 
Longmans, Green and Co., 1916.) Price 6s. 
net. 
HE fact that Dr. August Krogh is perhaps 
better known in this country than any other 
foreign contemporary physiologist is chiefly owing 
to the attention which was attracted by his re- 
searches on the mechanism of the respiratory ex- 
change. A treatment of the subject from this 
point of view might have been expected of one 
whose own work has been of such fundamental 
importance in this direction; such expectation is, 
however, not realised in the volume before us, for 
it contains no reference to this department of the 
author’s labours. 
The study of the respiratory exchange has now 
grown to be a large subject divisible into sub- 
sidiary branches, and the monograph deals only 
with a limited aspect of one of these, namely,.the 
quantitative aspect of the material and energy 
exchanges of the body as judged by the criterion 
of the total respiratory exchanges. The influences 
of functional activity are not considered. 
The work opens with a short, clear account of 
the significance of the respiratory exchanges, and 
of the principles involved in direct and indirect 
NO. 2461, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
! 
[DECEMBER 28, 1916 
calorimetry. The methods used in the investiga- 
tion of the respiratory exchanges are described, 
and then follows the chief subject-matter of the 
volume. Great stress is laid throughout on the 
importance of referring all determinations of total 
respiratory exchange to a “standard metabolism,” 
i.e. the metabolism of the organism when in a 
state of minimal functional activity, and the author 
ruthlessly sets aside the results of many ad- 
mittedly interesting series of observations where 
this essential has not been observed. 
The influences of various intrinsic factors and of 
chemical and physical factors are discussed, and 
then follows one of the most interesting chapters 
in the book, that on the variations in standard 
metabolism during the life-cycle. The sections of 
this chapter which deal. with hibernation and that 
treating of the pupal life of insects are of first 
importance. 
Some of the author’s own work in this direc- 
tion is highly interesting ; for instance, he shows 
that by raising the temperature the duration of 
pupal life may be shortened even by two-thirds, 
yet in all cases the carbon dioxide produced ° 
during pupal life by unit weight of chrysalides is. 
the same. The most diverse forms of animal life, 
from sea-urchin eggs to brooding pythons, are 
introduced to illustrate specific points, or to in- 
dicate useful lines for future work, the outlook 
being essentially biological. : 
The final chapter, which deals with the respira- 
tory exchange in different animals of the same and 
of different species, shows careful treatment of 
results which are still very far from complete; 
the portion dealing with the relation of metabolism 
to surface and weight is logically dealt with. The 
bibliography is carefully chosen so as to present 
the pith of the very voluminous literature on the 
subject. 
GNOMONICS AND CELESTIAL 
MOVEMENTS. 
(1) Gnomonica: L’Orologio Solare a Tempo Vero 
nella sua Moderna Applicazione. By G. Bottino 
Barzizza. Pp. viii+1g99. (Milano: Ulrico 
Hoepli, 1915.) Price 2.50 lire. 
(2) Lesioni di Cosmografia. By Prof. Giovanni 
Boceardi. Pp. x+233. (Milano: Ulrico 
Hoepli, 1916.) Price 3 lire. 
(1) HIS is a short text-book on gnomonics, 
and is not intended for people who merely 
want to put up a nice sun-dial as an ornament in © 
their garden or grounds. There is not a single 
picture of an article of that kind: only geometrical 
diagrams. The aim of the author is a much higher 
one, and has been well accomplished by showing 
how in careful hands a sun-dial may be used to 
control a clock sufficiently well for ordinary pur- 
poses. After explaining the diurnal and annual 
motion of the sun, the necessary formule are 
developed for tracing the hour-lines on horizontal 
and vertical dials and for correcting their indica- 
tions for errors of adjustment. Convenient 
auxiliary tables are also given of the various 
