116 
NATURE 
[APRIL I, 1915 


fication of human races, the relationship of man 
to other mammalian forms, and the origin and 
progress of anthropological knowledge are dis- 
cussed briefly but yet at sufficient length to meet 
the needs of the average student. Noo IK 

MONOGRAPHS AND TEXT-BOOKS OF 
CHEMISTRY. 
(1) Nucleic Acids: their Chemical Properties and 
Physiological Conduct. By Prof. W. Jones. 
Pp. viii+118. (Monographs on Biochemistry.) 
(London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1914.) 
Price 3s. 6d. net. 
(2) The Simpler Natural Bases. 
Barger. Pp. vilit+215. (Monographs on Bio- 
chemistry.) (London: Longmans, Green and 
Go.; 1914.) Price 6s. net. 
(3) The Chemistry of the Radio-Elements. By 
Prof. F. Soddy. Second edition. Part i. 
(London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1914.) 
Price 4s. net. 
(4) Encyclopédie de Science Chimique Appliquée. 
Tome v., ‘“Principes d’Analyse et de Synthése 
en Chimie organique.” By M. Hanriot, Prof. 
PB. Carré, ‘and others. (Bp 795. (Paris) et 
Liege: Ch. Béranger, 1914.) 
(5) The Principles of Inorganic Chemistry. By 
W. Ostwald. Translated with the author’s 
sanction by Prof. A. Findlay. Fourth edition. 
Pp. xxxiii+836. (London: Macmillan and Co., 
Ltd., 1914.) Price 18s. net. 
(6) The Chemistry of Cyanogen Compounds and 
their Manufacture and Estimation. By H. E. 
Williams. Pp. vilit+ 423. (London: J. and A. 
Churchill, 1915.) Price ros. 6d. net. 
(7) Advanced Inorganic Chemistry. By P. W. 
Oscroft. Pp. vilit+504. (London: G. Bell and 
Sons, Ltd., 1915.) Price 5s. net. 
(8) Preparations and Exercises in Inorganic 
Chemistry. By W. Lowson. Pp. vii+128. 
(London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 
2s. 6d. 
(9) A Manual of Chemistry: Theoretical and Prac- 
tical, Inorganic and Organic. Adapted to the 
requirements of students of medicine. By Dr. 
A. P. Luff and H. C. H. Candy. Pp. xix+ 
660. Fifth edition. (London: Cassell and Co., 
Ltd., 1915.) Price 8s. 6d. net. 
(1) and (2) 
By Prof. G. 
HE subject of biochemistry, like 
many other branches of know- 
ledge, has already extended to dimensions which 
effectively prevent any one author from doing 
justice to more than a part of the subject. Under 
these conditions it has been usual to witness the 
production of a text-book in which a _ general 
editor has distributed the work amongst a number 
NO. 2370, VOL. 95] 

of colleagues. The two monographs now under 
review are excellent examples of a better method 
of treatment. The publication of a series of 
smaller monographs provides just that flexibility 
which is required by a rapidly-growing subject; 
topics which are not yet ripe for description in a 
text-book can be held over to await further de- 
velopment, whilst individual sections can be re- 
vised and brought up to date without rendering 
obsolete a whole edition of many volumes. 
Prof. Jones’s monograph on the “Nucleic 
Acids”’ provides a fascinating story both for 
chemists and for physiologists, and affords a reve- 
lation of the amount of definite knowledge that is 
now coming into existence in reference to the 
chemical composition of plant and animal bodies. 
It is very interesting to watch what materials 
are used in nature for the building up of living 
tissues. In the present case one of the most im- 
portant sugars has been proved to be d-ribose 
(hitherto not known to chemists), whilst the bases 
belong to the pyrimidine series or are related to 
uric acid; the formula for the last substance is 
written in an unfamiliar form, with a hexagonal 
nucleus, which suggests a real analogy with the 
bases of the indol and skatol series. The inclu- 
sion of a bibliography covering sixteen pages of 
text will show how extensive is the literature on 
which this compact volume is based. 
Prof. Barger’s monograph covers a more exten- 
sive field, and is based on a bibliography which 
extends over 44 pages of text. These simpler 
bases are related in some ways to the alkaloids. 
They are distributed much more widely, but must 
be extracted by different methods. For this reason 
they were not recognised until a much later date; 
but, once identified, they are often capable of syn- 
thetical preparation on a large scale. Few things, 
in the recent growth of biochemistry, are more 
remarkable than the proof that has been given of 
the simple chemical character of many substances 
of intense physiological activity. The most strik- 
ing case is that of adrenaline, but there is reason 
to believe that other internal secretions owe their 
activity to bases of comparatively small molecular 
weight. If this should be the case, the study of 
these bases may prove to be of even greater im- 
portance than that of the amino-acids which bulk 
so largely in the structure of the proteins. 
(3) The appearance of a second edition of Prof. 
Soddy’s monograph on the radio-elements is an 
indication of the rapid growth of the subject with 
which it deals. Many new members have been 
added to the disintegration-series, but there is 
reason to think that something approaching com- 
pleteness has now been attained, and that further 
study will be devoted mainly towards an increased 
