September 29, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



369 



tween quiz sections was manifested, and tlie 

 different sections came as units to boost their 

 representatives. The students had had three 

 or four weeks in which to prepare for the con- 

 test, and nearly all of them had been working 

 hard for it. Our instructors are all agreed 

 that the students participating derived great 

 benefit from this match. 



In addition to these ibenefits, the con- 

 test brought out the fact that our chem- 

 ical nomenclature is not yet above re- 

 proach. A few instances of ambiguity might 

 be cited: Sodium thiosulphate, Na^SjOg, is 

 sometimes named sodium hyposulphite and so 

 labelled by a few manufacturers of chemicals. 

 The latter name, however, is represented by 

 the formula Na^SjO^. Potassium fluosilicate 

 and potassium silicofluoride are both used to 

 represent the same substance. Potassium 

 sulphocyanide and potassium thiocyanate are 

 two names in use for KCNS. Then, again, we 

 say hydronitric acid, or triazoic acid, or azo- 

 amide, when we mean a substance with the 

 composition NgH. 



If these spelling bees were to be adopted by 

 a considerable number of educational institu- 

 tions it would doubtless tend to unify chemical 

 nomenclature so that finally we should have 

 one name only to represent a chemical com- 

 pound having a definite composition. Spell- 

 ing matches of this sort could also be profit- 

 ably arranged between classes in organic 

 chemistry, mineralogy and perhaps other de- 

 partments of science. The contests appeal to 

 students because they combine the elements of 

 sport and competition. The benefits derived 

 therefrom are incalculable, and we are now 

 planning to make the chemical spelling match 

 an annual event at the West Virginia Uni- 

 versity. 



C. A. Jacobson 



MORGANTOWN, WEST ViBGINIA 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Proteins and the Theory of Colloidal Behavior. 

 By De. Jacques Loeb, member of the Kooke- 

 feller Institute for Medical Research. New 

 York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 285 pp. 1922. 

 In this volume the author has collected the 



results of his extensive investigations upon the 



properties of protein solutions and has at- 

 tempted to found upon them a general theory 

 of colloids. The book falls naturally into two 

 sections. The main argument in the first half 

 is that proteins are amphoteric electrolytes and 

 that consequently, when hydrogen ion con- 

 centrations are duly measured and considered, 

 proteins are found to combine with acids and 

 alkalies according to the stoiehiometrieal laws 

 of classical chemistry. This argument is il- 

 lustrated and supported by numerous tables 

 and diagrams. In the second part of the book 

 the conclusion is established that all of the 

 experimental results recorded can be logically 

 explained upon the basis of Donnan's theory 

 of membrane equilibria. 



The far-reaching significance of the author's 

 contentions may he summarized in the state- 

 ment that, if justified, they dispose of colloid 

 chemistry as a special branch of ,the science, 

 with laws different from those of general 

 chemistry. This does not, as is pointed out 

 in the preface, deti-act from the importance of 

 colloidal behavior for physiological and 'tech- 

 nical problems, but it completely changes the 

 theoretical treatment of the subject. 



A revolution in our current conceptions of 

 colloidal solutions is hereby threatened, equal 

 in importance .to that brought about by van't 

 Hoff and Arrhenius a generation ago in the 

 field of crystalloidal solutions, and it seems 

 probable, from certain reviews that have al- 

 ready appeared, that the battle bet^veen the 

 new and the old points of view will be waged! 

 with equal bitterness. It is interesting to note 

 in this connection that the veteran fighter Arm- 

 strong, now president of the Society of Chemi- 

 cal Industry in England, went out of his way 

 in his recent Messel Memorial Lectm-e at Glas- 

 gow to refer to Loeb's "praiseworthy efforts to 

 raise the character of the proteins from mere 

 indeterminate lumps of jelly to a status of 

 definite materials behaving in a simple and 

 definite, orderly manner, if only put under 

 comparable conditions." Since, however, he 

 indulged in the course of the same address in 

 his customary diatribes against the Scandina- 

 vian Ikon Arrhenius and his High Priest Ost- 

 wald, remarking that "hydrogen ion concentra- 

 tion is pure gibberish," his conversion to Loeb's 



