510 



NATURE 



[January 9, 19 r 



a concurrent increase in the quantity of supar pro- 

 duced from beetroot. In fact, an equilibrium 

 appears now to have been reached, sut,'ar cane 

 and beetroot contributing each about one-half of 

 the world's total sugar, though sometimes 

 the one preponderates a little, sometimes the 

 other. 



The cause of the decline was, of course, the 

 development of the beet sugar industry in Europe. 

 The revival has been due to the coalescence of a 

 number of factors, chief among which are the 

 Brussels Convention abolishing the bounty system, 

 the Japanese acquisition and development of 

 Formosa, the tariff privileges granted by the 

 United States to the former Spanish colonies, and, 

 "last but not least," as Mr. Geerligs points out, 

 "the great advance of science in the province of 

 sugar cane cultivation and cane sugar manufac- 

 ture." 



This last factor is the one which would be of 

 chief interest to readers of Nature : it is not, 

 however, dealt' with, except incidentally, in the 

 book before us. The author thinks the time ripe 

 for a connected survey of the past, the present, 

 and the probable future of the cane sugar industry 

 in the various producing regions. He has there- 

 fore collected and discussed a large amount of 

 historical, industrial, and statistical information 

 respecting each of the countries concerned in the 

 production. An idea of the scope and method of 

 treatment will be gathered from the following 

 summary of the topics dealt with in a typical 

 section : — geography, climate, area planted with 

 sugar cane, cultivation, manufacture, import and 

 export duties, consumption, exportation, and 

 future prospects. 



Whilst the greater part of the book is of value 

 chiefly to specialists, the first two chapters are of 

 somewhat wider interest. They give a general 

 survey of the history of the sugar industry, both 

 cane and beet; in them Mr. Geerligs describes 

 how various economical and political conditions 

 have influenced the production of sugar, and he 

 explains fully the working of the bounty system 

 and of the sugar "cartels" on the European con- 

 tinent. 



The author prophesies great progress in the 

 near future for the Philippines, which, since the 

 American occupation, have shown much improve- 

 ment in methods of cultivation. Cuba has made 

 similar progress, though here the difficulty of 

 obtaining labour is against rapid development in 

 the future. Porto Rico, and, given stable poli- 

 tical conditions, Mexico, are also considered to 

 be countries where the cane sugar industry should 

 increase largely. 



C. S. 

 NO. 2254, VOL. 90] 



MONOGRAPHS ON BIOCHEMISTRY. 

 (ij Oxidations and Reductions in the Animal 

 Body. By Dr. H. D. Dakin. Pp. viii+135. 

 (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1912.) 

 Price 4^;. net. (Monographs on Biochemistry.) 

 (2) Tlic Simph' Carbohydrates and the Glucosides. 

 Second edition. By Dr. E. Frankland Arm- 

 strong. Pp. viii+171. (London: Longmans, 

 Green and Co., 1912.J Price 5^-. net. (Mono- 

 graphs on Biochemistry.) 

 (i) ^T^HOSE who have followed Dr. Dakin's 

 J. work will be interested to learn his 

 general conclusions as to the course of oxidation 

 and reduction in the animal bod\-. His mono- 

 graph is logically arranged into general principles, 

 including the nature of oxidising and reducing 

 agents and the methods of investigation, and a 

 detailed consideration of the results obtained for 

 the various classes of chemical substances. 



There is a striking difference between the 

 amount of positive knowledge concerning the 

 oxidation of fatty acids and of carbohydrates. 

 This difference may be due to the greater ease 

 with which the products of oxidation can be iso- 

 lated in the former group. For instance, the fol- 

 lowing conclusions amongst others are reached 

 concerning the catabolism of fats : the oxidation 

 of saturated fatty acids leads to the formation of 

 o- and yS-unsaturated acids either directly or, more 

 probably, through the intermediate formation of j8- 

 hydroxy- and ;8-ketonic acids ; unsaturated acids 

 give rise to the same products as do the saturated 

 acids ; they may take up water and form saturated 

 hydroxy-acids ; they may undergo direct oxidation 

 at the double linkage ; but di-hydroxy-acids such 

 as are formed by in vitro oxidation of unsaturated 

 acids are not intermediate products of biochemical 

 oxidations. 



Contrast with these the one definite statement 

 about the carbohydrates : — " Lactic acid must 

 therefore be regarded as one of the most important 

 substances concerned with the intermediate meta- 

 bolism of the carbohydrates." 



This lack of balance is characteristic of a 

 developing line of work, and does not imply any 

 lack of effort. On the contrary, it is remarkable 

 that so much information has been accumulated 

 in a comparatively short time. 



The unravelling of the processes of oxidation 

 requires great care and patience. The methods 

 of investigation are liable to lead to mistakes, but 

 the author uses the results with due caution. He 

 points out I'.-.at when a supposed intermediate 

 product gi^ es tht^ same end products as does the 

 original substance, the deduction is that this pro- 

 duct may be a step in the transformation, but if 



