November 28, 1912] 



NATURE 



357 



The chief characteristic of the book is the broad 

 view of the subject which the author has taken, 

 and it is no doubt due to his desire to g-ive an 

 unbiassed treatment that he has dealt so sparingly 

 with meteorology. That appears to have been an 

 error of judgment, but the result is preferable to 

 a book overloaded with unnecessary details. 



E. Gold. 



FOODSTUFFS. 

 (i) The Chemistry of Breadmaking. By James 



Orant. Pp. viii + 224. (London: Edward 



Arnold, 1912.) Price 5.';. net. 

 ^2| Cocoa and Chocolate: Their Chemistry and 



Manufacture. By R. Whymper. Pp. xi + 327. 



(London : J. and A. Churchill, 1912.) Price 



155. net. 

 f^l Cocoa: Its Cultivation and Preparation. By 



U'. H. Johnson. Pp. ix+i86. (Imperial 



Institute Handbooks.) (London : John Murray, 



1912.) Price 55. net. 

 (4) Foods: Their Origin, Composition and Manu- 

 facture. By Dr. William Tibbies. Pp. viii + 



050. (London : Bailli^re, Tindall and Cox, 



1912.) Price 185. net. 

 (i)l\ /TR. GR.'VNT'S preface implies that he 

 J.VX set out to write a book suitable for 

 the use of persons actually engaged in bread- 

 making, who have not had a scientific education 

 and vet are desirous of knowing something about 

 chemistry, physics and mycology in their relation 

 to this industry. The book therefore covers a 

 good deal more ground than is indicated by its 

 title. Mr. Grant, in fact, attempts too much in 

 the space at his disposal. As a result his descrip- 

 tions are often so condensed and so full of un- 

 explained scientific and technical terms as to be 

 difficult reading to the special class of students 

 indicated in his preface, even if they take his 

 advice and study it " in conjunction with some 

 simple text-books on chemistry, physics, mech- 

 anics, and the elements of biology and botany." 



To students who have had some training in 

 science or are studying breadmaking under a 

 competent teacher at a trade school, the book will 

 be quite useful, giving, as it does, a concise and 

 trustworthy account of the whole subject. It is 

 to be hoped that students using the book will not 

 acquire Mr. Grant's habit of assigning unusual 

 meanings to well-known words. Such a direction 

 as " dry, desiccate and weigh " is a little puzzling 

 when the word " desiccate " is taken in its ordinary 

 sense. 



(2) Mr. Whymper is a cocoa enthusiast, and 

 the introduction to his book has about it faint 

 suggestions of the mural literature so copiously 

 devoted to this "grateful and refreshing beverage." 



NO. 2248, VOL. go] 



He divides his subject-matter into three parts, 

 dealing first with the botany and cultivation of the 

 plant and the preparation of the beans, then with 

 the manufacture of cocoa preparations, including 

 chocolate, and lastly with the chemistry of cocoa. 

 Though nearly everything that Mr. Whymper says 

 in the first of these three parts is sound, this 

 portion of the book, merely on account of its 

 brevity, is scarcely up to the standard of the other 

 parts. Thus, under preparation there is no refer- 

 ence to the fact that much of the Gold Coast cocoa 

 is marketed in an unfermented condition, nor is 

 it stated that some manufacturers in the United 

 Kingdom prefer " unwashed " cocoa, alleging that 

 it is of better flavour than the washed article. 

 The statement that "claying" cocoa provides an 

 additional protection against mould and fungoid 

 growths may be true, but, in view of the fact 

 that this practice easily degenerates into mere 

 "weighting" of cocoa, it should have been 

 mentioned that many manufacturers prefer cocoa 

 that has not been "clayed." 



Mr. Whymper 's main object, however, is to dis- 

 cuss the manufacture and the chemistry of cocoa, 

 and these sections of the book are very well done. 

 The manufacturing processes are described clearly 

 and concisely, and the changes in composition 

 occurring at each stage of manufacture are care- 

 fully and thoroughly discussed. Analysts who 

 have to deal with cocoa and its products will be 

 grateful for the comprehensive and critical survey 

 of the chemistry of cocoa provided in the third 

 section. The book is well produced and the illus- 

 trations of plantation scenes and of machinery are 

 very good. 



(3) Most of the books on the cultivation of 

 cocoa that have appeared so far have been written 

 with a bias in favour of the practice of some par- 

 ticular area. Mr. Johnson escapes the temptation 

 to err in this direction for the reason that, although 

 his experience has been acquired chiefly in the 

 Gold Coast, he has also had the opportunity of 

 investigating cocoa cultivation in San Thome, 

 Ceylon, and the British West Indies, and has thus 

 seen the industry carried on under widely different 

 conditions. In discussing such important matters 

 as the selection of a site and the formation of a 

 plantation, he first states the climatic and soil 

 requirements of the plant. The planter, using 

 these data as a guide, is thus placed in the position 

 of being able to select or modify methods to suit 

 his local conditions, instead of being asked to 

 follow blindly some particular practice, which gives 

 good results elsewhere. The preparation of cocoa 

 for the market, and especially such fundamental 

 matters as fermentation, washing, and "claying," 

 are very well discussed, not only from the planters' 



