December i 6, 1922] 



NA TURE 



803 



place when dealing with tabular matter or in con- 

 densed abstracts ; but it is very irritating to the 

 reader to be pulled up in a purely narrative section by 

 phrases such as " the liquid is cone, in salt-pans." or 

 " the press, between the surfaces is normal." After 

 such an experience the reader feels an unwonted thrill 

 of gratitude to the Publication Committee of the 

 Chemical Society, which does not even allow these 

 abbreviations in the narrative portions of its abstracts. 

 The saving of space which is achieved in this way is 

 more than lost as the result of inserting the initials of 

 every author even when the same author is mentioned 

 half-a-dozen times in one paragraph. The main idea 

 of quoting the initials of an author is probably correct, 

 even if it appears somewhat superfluous in the case of 

 giants sui h as Lavoisier and Priestley; but to repeat 

 the initials over and over again, when the text makes 

 it pet fectly clear that the same author is being quoted, 

 is a purism which might well be sacrificed, if only in 

 order to find space to print in full the half-finished 

 words which disfigure the second (but not the first) 

 volume of the Treatise. 



It will be seen that the criticisms given above refer 

 mainly to the way in which the contents of the Treatise 

 are presented, and not to the contents themselves. 

 The reviewer, who spent some weeks of his vacation 

 in mastering the contents of the two volumes before 

 attempting to criticise them, would therefore like to 

 conclude his comments by again expressing his amaze- 

 ment that a single chemist should have brought 

 together so immense a store of information and have 

 compiled a Treatise which every English chemist will 

 desire to have on his shelves as a masterly guide to the 

 literature of his science. A list of errors is being 

 forwarded to the author. 



Physiology of Respiration. 



Respiration. By Dr. J. S. Ilaldane. (Silliman Mem- 

 orial Lectures.) Pp. xviii + 427. (New haven : 

 Yale University Press ; London : Oxford University 

 Press, to.22.) 28s. net. 



DR. J. S. HALDANE'S book is nominally a report 

 of his Silliman lectures delivered at Newhaven ; 

 in reality it is an account of his life's work in physio- 

 logy. No one who turns over the pages can be but 

 impressed with the enormous advance which has been 

 made in the physiology of respiration within the last 

 thirty years, and the degree to which that advance has 

 been due to Dr. Haldane's work and to the stimulating 

 influence which he has wielded over the minds of others. 

 To those who teach physiology, the contents of the 

 book are for the most part familiar ground. To such, 

 the book at its lowest will form a convenient epitome 

 NO. 2772, VOL. IIO] 



11I Dr. Haldane's works within the limits of a single 

 cover, hut main' will delight in reading it because in it 

 they will find a more perfect picture of the genius of 

 the author than is obtainable from the perusal of his 

 works in a less consecutive form. 



One of the interesting points which will probably 

 strike the reader is the extent to which Dr. Haldane's 

 discoveries in the realm of pure science have been the 

 result of problems which have confronted him in the 

 province of industrial or applied physiology. 



Of industrial physiology — now so recognised a branch 

 of the subject in America — Dr. Haldane may almost be 

 said to have been the founder in this country. More 

 than thirty years ago the author was much concerned 

 to arrive at some explanation of the fact that man 

 could tolerate a concentration of carbon monoxide in 

 mines which, according to what might be expected on 

 theoretical grounds, should prove fatal. The difficulty 

 so raised led to a complete investigation of the quantita- 

 tive relations of the blood to oxygen and carbon mon- 

 oxide respectively, and ultimately to his acceptance of 

 the theory of pulmonary respiration put forward by 

 Bohr, namely, that the pulmonary epithelium was 

 capable of secreting oxygen (see chap. v.). It is not 

 our object to discuss here the correctness or otherwise 

 of these and other extremely controversial points in 

 the book. Our concern is to point out that Dr. Hal- 

 dane's refusal to leave an important point in the physio- 

 logy of mines unexplained has led to a great volume 

 of work both by himself and by others which, taken 

 together, has given a quite unusual impulse to physio- 

 logic al research. 



From chapters xi., xii., and xiii. it may be gleaned 

 that in the 'nineties of last century and the early part 

 of the present one, Haldane was much occupied with 

 the analvsis of mine air, of the air in tunnels, in ships, 

 and in caissons. To the effects of sudden compression 

 and decompression may probably be traced his interest 

 in the effects of altered barometric pressure upon the 

 human frame. The present volume facilitates the taste 

 of the student who would acquaint himself with these 

 problems, for hitherto much of its author's work on 

 them has been hid away in blue books, mining reports, 

 technical journals, and the like, so that it was difficult 

 for the ordinary reader of physiological literature even 

 to become appraised of its existence. In this connexion 

 it is much to be regretted that the book kicks an index. 

 If, as may confidently be expected, the present edition 

 is followed at no great date by another, we hope that 

 this omission will be made good. The book must surely 

 be to a great extent a work of reference, and a book 

 of reference without an index loses much of its use- 

 fulness. 



The reader cannot scan the pages without observing 



