FEBRUARY 1, 1901.] 
the subjective consciousness to which the term 
inspiration is applicable ’’ (491). As a piece of 
acrobatic audacity, excellent! Yet we may 
well doubt whether a thinker standing with 
one foot firmly planted on the Rock of Ages, 
the other pointing heavenward, has struck the 
attitude most conducive to progress. Of 
course, he is so interesting that we should 
dearly love to secure his photograph to show 
to our scientific friends, who would be tickled 
rather than impressed. 
To make an end; this book constitutes one 
of the freshest and most stimulating contribu- 
tions to philosophical inquiry that we have had 
for many a day. It represents an enormous 
advance on Ormond’s earlier work. And if 
the author could but shake himself free from 
the hypnotic suggestion now exercised over 
him by the ‘transcendent,’ he might very 
easily, in that further discussion hinted in his 
Preface and looked for with lively expectation 
‘by the present writer, produce a book as su- 
perior to this as this is to ‘ Basal Concepts in 
Philosophy.’ In short, Ormond stands on the 
very edge of the pathway to really constructive 
leadership. 
It remains to say that the publishers have 
executed their part admirably. Printed at the 
famous Glasgow press, the book, despite its 540 
pages, is light to hold and easy to read. In an- 
other edition the usefulness of the index might 
be much enhanced. 
R. M. WENLEY. 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 
Chemie der Hiweisskérper. Vou DR. OTTO CouNn- 
HEIM. Braunschweig, F. Vieweg und Sohn. 
1900. Pp. 815. ; 
In recent years no book dealing with the 
proteids and their derivatives has appeared 
which is so comprehensive and satisfactory as 
Cohnheim’s ‘Chemie der Eiweisskérper.’ The 
references to the literature of the subject are 
unusually exhaustive and include practically 
every important contribution made prior to 
1900. The work of American physiological 
chemists is cited mostly from abstracts, and 
some of the more recent papers have not yet 
found their way into the book; it is to be 
hoped, however, that the time is approaching 
SCIENCE. 
185 
when American papers will be studied at first 
hand in all European laboratories. Cohn- 
heim’s ‘ Kiweisskorper’ is something more than 
a mere compilation of the results of the chem- 
ical investigation of the proteids. The author’s 
critical study of the voluminous literature on 
the subject is indicated by the discriminating 
judgment with which he has treated many con- 
troversial topics and by the succinct manner in 
which many of the unsolved problems are 
pointed out. The book is essentially a critical 
review, and the mode of presentation (for ex- 
ample, of heat coagulation and other physical 
modifications of the proteids) is decidedly more 
suggestive than that of most recent writers. In 
the classification of the proteids Cohnheim fol- 
lows the latest edition of Hammarsten’s ‘ Text- 
book,’ without claiming for this grouping any- 
thing more than a temporary usefulness. The 
author has proposed, as an innovation, to class 
those proteids usually termed nucleoalbumins, 
of which casein is the best defined type, with 
the simple proteids (Hiweisskorper) under the 
name. of phosphoglobulins; the latter would 
thus be differentiated more clearly from the 
true nucleoproteids (in the sense of German 
writers) to which they bear resemblance only 
in a few superficial characters. The vegetable 
globulins (Phytoglobuline) are also treated in 
the old group of nucleoalbumins, although in 
the light of our present knowledge they com- 
pare more closely with the globulins of animal 
origin, and many of them, at least, are free 
from phosphorus. 
Without giving a detailed survey of Dr. Cohn- 
heim’s book, a few of the better features may 
be referred to. The analogy in chemical be- 
havior between the proteids and the ‘ pseudo- 
bases’ of Hantzsch is pointed out, and a very 
complete account of the decomposition products 
of proteids is given, especially of the carbohy- 
drate groups lately identified by various investi- 
gators. The sulphur content of the proteids is 
discussed in detail ; and the literature regarding 
the nitro- and halogen compounds—almost en- 
tirely the outcome of very recent work—is 
collected and reviewed for the first time. In 
his treatment of the albumoses and peptones 
the author follows the classification introduced 
by Hofmeister and his pupils, although the 
