Apeil 24, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



613 



our method of procedure after the first or sec- 

 ond lecture is largely deductive. If in or- 

 ganic chemistry we have the courage to be 

 outspokenly deductive from the start and in- 

 sist on its logical consequences, half of the 

 battle is won. To be sure there are still a 

 sufilcient number of difficulties to be over- 

 come, but they do not consist in numbers, but 

 rather in the possibility of acquiring the 

 right mental attitude. 



To a large extent plant chemistry is or- 

 ganic chemistry. However, whereas most of 

 the new organic compounds that are produced 

 synthetically find a convenient place in the 

 well-regulated drawing room of organic 

 chemistry, most of the new substances iso- 

 lated from the vegetable kingdom — and many 

 of the old timers from the same source — still 

 belong to the lumber chamber of organic 

 chemistry. 



It is true that organic chemistry consists 

 of something more than the study of the 

 physical and chemical properties of chemical 

 individuals containing all the way from one 

 to a host of carbon atoms. Modern organic 

 chemists with adequate physico-chemical 

 training appear but too anxious to rub this 

 fact into their older colleagues. This is 

 equally true of the organic chemistry of the 

 vegetable kingdom, but to a much greater de- 

 gree. The " Grundlagen und Ergebnisse der 

 Pflanzenchemie " by Euler, one part of which 

 consists of a briefly descriptive catalogue of 

 the materia phytochemica and two parts of 

 which are a text on physical chemistry with 

 occasional phytochemical application, are but 

 a partial expression of the truth of the above 

 assertion. Great as has been the development 

 of physical chemistry, more particularly since 

 Ostwald " made school " at Leipzig, it has 

 scarcely begun to explain the problems of the 

 " Biochemistry of the Plants," though it has 

 touched upon this subject at innumerable 

 points. Whereas the application of struc- 

 tural chemistry to the materia phytochemica 

 has made possible a large amount of systema- 

 tization and has thus simplified the situation, 

 physical chemistry has thrown but dim light 

 on innumerable spots. The status of the ap- 



plication of physical chemistry to biochem- 

 ical problems is approximately that of the 

 status reached in organic chemistry when 

 Berzelius characterized the discovery of the 

 benzoyl radicle by Liebig and Woehler as the 

 dawn of organic chemistry. Daylight is be- 

 ginning to dawn in the study of biochemical 

 problems, but before daylight appears much 

 more generalization will have to be made pos- 

 sible, not only by the extension of present 

 physico-chemical methods over a large field, 

 but by a much better understanding in each 

 and every department of biochemical research. 

 The single chapter of catalysis, always a con- 

 venient word to cover our ignorance, and its 

 application to enzyme action is sufilcient il- 

 lustration. 



To attempt to write a comprehensive bio- 

 chemistry of plants under present conditions 

 is a stupendous undertaking. The mere cata- 

 loguing of the constituents of plants as at- 

 tempted by Wehmer in his " Pflanzenstoff e " 

 for the Phanerogams has proved sufficiently 

 burdensome to discourage even the most ar- 

 dent compiler. Hence one is not surprised to 

 learn that Gzapek has gladly availed himself 

 of the opportunity to unload a part of this 

 work, as undertaken in the first edition, by 

 referring his readers to Wehmer for more 

 complete data so far as the constituents of 

 phanerogams are concerned. Yet in spite of 

 this limitation, the first volume has grown 

 enormously. If it is more of a true biochem- 

 istry than was the corresponding volume of 

 the first edition, this is due not so much to 

 this sort of unburdening as it is due to the 

 greater attention and more space given to 

 general considerations. Readers of this re- 

 view who have been accustomed to resort 

 freely to the first edition for information may 

 be interested to compare the figures given in 

 the following outline of the contents of the 

 second edition with the corresponding figures 

 of the first. At the same time the following 

 data will give a better idea of the contents to 

 those not already acquainted with Czapek. 



Preceded by a short historical introduction 

 of nineteen pages, the contents of the volume 

 are classified under two general heads, viz., 



