CURRENT LITERATURE. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
Plant chemistry. 
Many BooKs have been written on physiological chemistry, but for the most 
part these deal specifically with substances which are of chief interest to the 
animal physiologist; and generally they undertake to treat the characteristics and 
modes of reaction of a very great number of individual substances more or less 
independently of their biological relations. The book before us has a definite 
ai 
of departure for further researches. The field of plant chemistry has been so 
neglected, comparatively, that scarcely more than ordinary industry suffices to 
make notable advances in knowledge. 
Such a book, of course, will be of value to many other than plant physiol- 
ogists. The service which CzapexK has done is likely, therefore, to have wide 
and hearty appreciation. The book is not intended for the beginner in bio- 
chemics, but assumes a general knowledge of both botany and chemistry, being 
intended specifically as a reference book and repertory of literature for the help 
of investigators of special problems. 
The book opens with a brief historical introduction, in which the author 
touches lightly yet clearly the service of chemists of the Middle Ages and of those 
who labored after the transformation which chemistry underwent through the 
genius of Lavorsrer. The work then is divided into two parts, general and 
Special. The general part occupies something over ninety pages, and is of 
decided interest to the reader who is familiar enough with modern chemistry 
to appreciate this brief and illuminating discussion. The author considers the 
nature of the protoplasm and the substances of which it is composed; the prop- 
: erties of colloids, the structure of the protoplasm and its biochemical signifi- 
cance; the conditions and rate of chemical reactions, and especially the ionic 
reactions in living cells. The last three sections, in which are discussed catalysis 
and catalysers, the general chemistry of enzymes, and the cytotoxines and similar 
compounds, deserve particular notice. 
The special part of the present volume is confined to a consideration of fats, 
lecithines, phytosterines, waxes, and the carbohydrates. To the last named much 
t vg larger part of the volume is devoted. Each of these classes of materials is 
discussed in its relations to various groups of plants, or to the various plant parts 
1 which it is found. In this feature we have the most radical difference between 
* Czarex, F., Biochemie der Pflanzen. Bd. I. Imp. 8vo. pp. xv+584. Jena: 
Gustay Fischer. 1904. M 14. 
1905] 223 
