July 27, igi 1] 



NATURE 



109 



should have been recorded in simple terms, that is, 

 without the adventitious aid of a special nomenclature, 

 which merely obscures their significance. 



A more important section is that devoted to a care- 

 ful study of the supposed total hydrolysis of cellulose 

 to hexose groups, and the implied problem of funda- 

 mental constitutional import. The author rightly 

 recognises that the experimental verifications of the 

 vii \\ that "cellulose is a polyhexose anhydride," are 

 wholly defective; indeed, with progress in investiga- 

 tion the actual yields of sugars or their immediate 

 derivatives obtained from (cotton) cellulose are ex- 

 tremely variable and generally much below the state- 

 ments of the earlier observers, Braconnot, Bechamp, 

 Flechsig. 



The later investigations of Ost and Wilkening 

 that the hydrolysis is complicated by the 

 formation of acids of low molecular weight, and their 

 results with the author's present contribution under- 

 mine the plausible assumption that cellulose is a 

 close analogue of starch. 



In his study of the hydrolysis of the normal cellu- 

 lose, the author has taken as his starting point the 

 well-known intermediate products obtainable as col- 

 loidal hydrates, thus Guignet's "Cellulose Colloide," 

 's typical "Amyloid," " Parchmentised Cellu- 

 lose," and Ekstrom's so-called "Acid Cellulose." 

 These products, tested in relation to Fehling's solu- 

 tion, and the particular scheme of hydrolysis previously 

 described, gave extremely variable numbers, thus for 

 the " Korr : Hydrolysierzahl " 7-3, 26'-, 17'b, 30^4, for 

 the products in the above-named order. Following 

 the sei lion devoted to a careful study of these proxi- 

 mate products, is the complementary section on " Die 

 Abbauendproduckte der Baumwollecellulose und des 

 zellstoffs." 



From the preface (Schwalbe) we abstract the im- 

 portant result of these laborious observations, which 

 is that the author obtained from cotton cellulose onlv 

 40 to 50 per cent, of its weight of the hexose (dex- 

 trose), either as such, or calculated from the vield 

 of ozazone, and from sulphite celluloses less than 

 bne-half this yield. 



This work we commend to the careful study of 

 ho take a special interest in cellulose chem- 

 istry. In this case also we can commend the author's 

 minutely detailed record of experimental conditions, 

 which are quite essential. The onlv criticism we offer 

 is hal the work would have been more fruitful if 

 spi id over a smaller range of the intermediate pro- 



The differentiation of these is relatively unimportant. 

 The concentration of the investigation upon the 

 endeavour to account in anv one case for the 100 parts 

 of cellulose taken into work, in terms of the final 

 products of hvdrolvsis, would have furnished a much 

 Enl re valuable and positive contribution to the funda- 

 mental problem. 



As a further suggestion, the resolution of the acetate 

 or " Acetolysis " of cellulose appears to be more 

 promising of attaining to ultimate hydrolysis, the 

 elimination of OH groups keeping the breakdown of 

 the complex on simpler lines of cleavage (comp. 

 \Y. Schliemann, Annalen, 37S. 366, iqii). 

 XO. 2178, VOL. 87] 



Much work is being done in this direction, and we 

 may expect before long to integrate the contributions 

 from the two directions of experimental study into 

 comprehensive schematic constitutional formula; for 

 the typical celluloses. We may anticipate from this 

 a new light on "organic" chemistry in the full sense 

 of the term. 



OLA' BOOK SHELF. 

 The Law of Sex Determination and its Practical 



Application. By Laura A. Calhoun (Mrs. E. E. 



Calhoun). Pp. 254. (Xew York : The Eugenics 



Publishing Co., 1910.) Price 1.50 dollars net. 

 The theory suggested in this book is that "the sex 

 of the embryo in man and the higher animals is 

 determined in the ovary from which the ovum in 

 question is developed. In the normal female the 

 ovary of the right side yields ova which on fertilisation 

 develop as males, and the ovary of the left side yields 

 ova which are potentially female." "The writer is 

 not in a position to furnish absolute verification, 

 through methods of anatomy or physiology, of her 

 theory. She has no laboratories nor methods of pre- 

 cision by which her theory can be directly tested. 

 But she is convinced of its truth from her own exten- 

 sive experience in its practical application for a period 

 of thirty years." She has instructed her friends, and 

 " the results have always verified the law, which 

 during thirty years of observation and testing have 

 never failed." 



We shall not give away the ingenuous author's prac- 

 tical recipe, but the general theory is that the right 

 ovary is responsible for the males. This will be good 

 news for those who believe that men are always in 

 the right. " In normal mothers the right ovary 

 always produces ova that, when ' fertilised, develop 

 as bovs. The left ovary always produces ova that, 

 when fertilised, develop as girls. And the mother 

 determines the sex of her child when she consciously 

 or unconsciously directs the fertilising spermatozoa to 

 her right or left ovary." The evidence in support of 

 the theory consists of references to a relatively small 

 number of cases where obedience to the author's prac- 

 tical suggestions was followed by the appearance of 

 a girl or a boy as desired. 



A theorv similar to the above was brought forward 

 in iqog by Rumlev Daw-son, and in dealing with either 

 of them we are met by the difficulty of applying pre- 

 cise experimental tests in the case of man. The ex- 

 periments of Doncaster and Marshall, reported in the 

 Journal of Genetics. November, 10,10, show that "in 

 the rat it is not true that ova determining one sex 

 are produced from one ovary, and those determining 

 the opposite sex from the other, for each rat, with one 

 ovarv comnletelv removed, produced young of both 

 sexes. This does not. of course, prove that the 

 "right and left ovary hvpothesis " is not true for man, 

 but its definite disproof for another mammal detracts 

 from its probability." It may also be recalled that 

 birds have only one ovary. 



The book before us is in great part made up of 

 auotations, mostlv from sound authorities, such as 

 E. B. Wilson, W. E. Castle, L. Cu^not, and T. H. 

 Morgan. It is a well-intentioned book, but it does not 

 contribute much to the difficult problem discussed. 



New Zealand Plants and their Storv. Bv Dr. L. 



Cockayne. Pp. viii+190. (Wellington: John 



Mackay, 1910.) 

 For some vears past it has been Dr. Cockayne's 

 endeavour to arouse amongst the settlers in the 

 Dominion a better knowledge and appreciation of their 



