138 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 31. 



guard of current research wlien crj'ptogamic 

 morphology or taxonomy is in question may 

 lean a little on the established order when 

 he sets foot among the angiosperms. While 

 Dr. Vines' treatment of angiospermic tax- 

 onomy does not, on the whole, please the 

 reviewer as well as that of Warming or 

 Schimper or of the Engler-Prantl series, 

 nevertheless this is a matter largely of in- 

 dividual opinion. 



In conclusion, the Vines text-book is a 

 remarkably strong and well-balanced work. 

 Its peculiar excellences are in the generally 

 modern point-of-view, the transparency of 

 the style, the perfection of the terminology, 

 the firm and logical grouping of the ma- 

 terial, the compactness of the treatment — 

 especially in the chapter on physiology — the 

 introduction of exact morphological concep- 

 tions to take the place of vague, and the 

 evidence of wide and painstaking research 

 that appears upon almost every page. Stu- 

 dents of botany are to be congratulated in 

 the same breath with the author upon the 

 completion of the book. 



Conway MacMillan. 



TJniveesity of Minnesota. 



Chemical Analysis of Oils, Fats, Waxes and of 

 the Commercial Products Derived Therefrom. 

 From the German of Professor Dr. R. 

 Benedikt. Revised and enlarged by Dr. 

 J. Lewkowitsch., F. I. C, F. C. S., 

 Technical Manager at the Whitehall 

 Soap Works, Leeds, England. Macmillan 

 & Co., New York, publishers. Price, 

 $7.00. 



The threefold task of translating, revis- 

 ing and enlarging Dr. Benedikt's work 

 ' Die Analyse der Fette und Wachsarten, 

 1892,' bj' Dr. Lewkowitsch has resulted in 

 presenting those interested in the subject 

 the best and most complete work on Fats, 

 Oils and Waxes. It is rarely that one 

 finds the work of the translator so excel- 

 lently performed. Almost every page bears 



the evidence of additions and alterations. 

 The little work of the first publication of 

 Dr. Benedikt has now grown into a large 

 volume of almost 700 pages, an evidence of 

 the numerous researches that have been 

 made in this subject. Much of the work 

 that we ai-e accustomed to see in older 

 works is here omitted, and we find it re- 

 placed by the results of more modern 

 thought. We cannot accuse Dr. Lewko- 

 witsch of publishing the work from other 

 books, for at the end of almost every chap- 

 ter the writer gives his experience with the 

 various methods proposed and advises which 

 one should be accepted, showing that this 

 work is the result of many years' investiga- 

 tion. This method is most gratifying to 

 the chemist, for assisted by the advice of 

 such an authority much otherwise need- 

 lessly wasted time is saved. 



The chapter on Physical and Chemical 

 Properties of Fats and Waxes is verj^ com- 

 plete. Who is it who will not be thankful 

 to Dr. Lewkowitsch for giving us concisely 

 the result of the many publications on the 

 rancidity of fats? "Rancidity (says Dr. 

 L.) must, therefore, be considered due to 

 direct oxidation by the oxj-gen of the air, 

 this action being intensified by exposure to 

 light." The table on p. 50 giving the per- 

 centages of free fattjr acids in oils and fats 

 of vegetable origin is new and is of special 

 interest. Some of the oils, when freshly 

 pressed from the seed, present so small a 

 percentage that we may assume that these 

 fats as well as the animal fats originally 

 exist as absolutely neutral glycerides. Al- 

 most all works on fats and oils — as does this 

 one — assert that " Fats can be heated to 

 250° C without undergoing any change." 

 This I think most men who handle fats and 

 oils practically will be forced to deny. No 

 matter how carefully the fat has been re- 

 fined to free it from all foreign matter, after 

 being subjected to such heat it no longer 

 possesses its original physical properties. 



