July 24, 19 13; 



NATURE 



ingested as food, or elaborated from proteid sub- 

 stances, or from carbohydrates. Doubtless the 

 accounts of the experiments are often ancient 

 history, going back, as they do, to researches of 

 Hoppe-Seyler in 1859, of Pettenkofer and Voigt 

 in [869, and to various controversies in subse- 

 quent vears. They serve, however, to give a con- 

 nected survey of the whole matter. 



The lipoids, it should perhaps be mentioned, are 

 substances more or less closely associated with the 

 fats, and extractible by organic solvents from 

 various parts of animals and plants. Some — the 

 phosphatides — contain both phosphorus and nitro- 

 gen ; others contain nitrogen, but not phosphorus ; 

 others, again, contain neither of these elements. 

 They are of much physiological importance, and 

 during recent years have been much studied by 

 Windaus, Diels and Abderhalden, Cousin, Rosen- 

 heim, and other workers. Cholesterol, phyto- 

 sterol, lecithin, and cerebrin may be mentioned 

 as some of the best-known representatives of the 

 group. The author gives a full description of this 

 class of substances and their compounds, though 

 he regrets that lack of space prevents his discuss- 

 ing the behaviour ol lecithin under haemolysis. 



The general chemistry of the fats and waxes is 

 treated at considerable length. Besides the usual 

 descriptions of the acids, alcohols, and glycerides 

 which compose the oils, fats, and waxes, the text 

 includes discussions of the constitution of some 

 of the principal fatty acids, and of the properties 

 (i! their salts and other compounds. 



The remainder of the first volume is devoted to 

 a description of the methods in vogue for the 

 analysis of oils, fats, and waxes. An alphabetical 

 order is adopted in tabulating the various physical 

 and chemical data; this plan is convenient foi 

 ascertaining the characteristics of a known oil 

 or fat, but for help in classifying an unknown 

 article it might well be supplemented by a table 

 arranged according to the values of the iodine 

 number. 



In the second volume the preparation and ex- 

 amination of the individual oils, fats, and waxes 

 are dealt with. For each article an outline of its 

 origin, method of preparation, and properties is 

 given, followed by tables of the physical and 

 chemical constants appertaining to the substance 

 and to the fatty acids separable from it. The closing 

 chapters are concerned with various manufactures 

 allied to the fat industry, such as the making of 

 soap, varnish, glycerin, and stearin. 



The author's aim has been to produce a con- 

 nected treatment of the whole subject, and his 

 book is probably the most complete work of the 

 kind yet published. C. S. 



NO. 2282, VOL. 91] 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 Weights and Measures Act, 1904. Board of 

 Trade Notices Annotated. By H. Cunliffe ano 

 G. A. Owen. Vol. i. Pp. viii+199. (Smeth- 

 wick : H. Cunliffe, 1913.) Price 5s. net. 

 litis work is intended for inspectors and others 

 interested in the administration of the Weights 

 and Measures Acts. Under the Act of 1904 the 

 Board of Trade was empowered to examine as 

 regards material and principle of construction such 

 patterns of weights, measures, weighing or 

 measuring instruments as might be submitted to 

 it, and to issue certificates in cases where 

 the patterns were found not to facilitate fraud. 

 From time to time the Board issues notices setting 

 forth its decisions with respect to such sub- 

 missions, and the writers of the present volume 

 have collected together the first fifty of these 

 notices and publish them with criticisms and ex- 

 planatory notes. 



The authors are inspectors of weights and 

 measures of considerable experience, and their 

 book appears likely to be useful to persons pre- 

 paring for the Board of Trade examination for 

 certificates of qualification as inspectors, as well 

 as to such acting inspectors as may find difficulty 

 in identifying patterns from the information given 

 in the Board of Trade notices. It is usual for the 

 inspectors' examination to include a question re- 

 quiring a description of the functions of the 

 various parts of a pattern illustrated in one of 

 the notices, but owing to the fact that some ol 

 the patterns represent instruments which have 

 never been put on the market, or are in very 

 restricted use, such information is rather difficult 

 for a candidate to obtain. 



The descriptive letterpress which accompanies 

 the notices in this work is very complete, the 

 annotations and detailed explanations as regards 

 the various weighing instruments considered being 

 particularly good. A few blemishes are notice- 

 able here and there : for example, there is an 

 omission on p. 6 in the citation of section 5 (a) 

 of the Act, which renders some of the remarks 

 on p. 8 not readily intelligible. The interpreta- 

 tion of instruction 35 given on p. 12 is forced 

 and misleading. On the whole, however, the 

 work appears to have been prepared with great 

 care. The authors propose to deal with later 

 issues of the notices in a subsequent volume. 



Text-book of Zoology. By H. G. Wells and A. 



M. Davies. Sixth edition. Revised by J. T. 



Cunningham. Pp. viii-l- 487. (London: W. 



B. Clive, University Tutorial Press, Ltd., 



1913.) Price 65. 6d. 

 The supplement which Mr. Cunningham added to 

 the fifth edition of this popular text-book has now 

 been incorporated in the body of the work, and the 

 section dealing with the Invertebrata has been re- 

 arranged so that the types follow in general the 

 descending order in classification. Important 

 additions have been made explaining the facts and 

 theories of most importance to modern biologists 

 in relation to the problems of evolution. 



