Maech 6, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



369 



in the granite rocks about Harney Peak, ' but 

 there is no statement in reference to the pro- 

 duction of the mines in this region, the develop- 

 ment of which has been a subject of general in- 

 terest. The best building stones of the State are 

 the red Sioux quartzite of the Archsean, while in 

 the Black Hills is the gray or reddish Dakota 

 sandstone of the Cretaceous, which is said to 

 compare very favorably with the well known 

 Berea stone of northern Ohio. 



The State Geologist expresses the hope that 

 this Bulletin ' may be but the first of a long 

 series ' that will be published by the State, and 

 the geologists of the country heartily echo this 

 wish. It remains for the prosperous agricul- 

 tural States of the ' Great Plains ' to remove 

 the stigma resting upon them in having neg- 

 lected for so many years the study of their 

 natural history and geology. It is not true, as 

 has been popularly supposed, that they are 

 corhparatively barren in mineral resources, and, 

 furthermore, there are problems of the greatest 

 scientific interest awaiting investigation. The 

 failure by the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas 

 to provide for adequate geological surveys is in 

 marked contrast to the liberal support which 

 such surveys have received from the tier of 

 States to the east — Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri 

 and Arkansas — surveys which have accurately 

 described the geology of those States and made 

 known their natural resources, the development 

 of which has added greatly to their wealth. 

 C. S. Peosser. 



•Die Chemie der Zuckerarten. By De. Edmund 

 O. VON LiPPMANN. Braunschweig, Vieweg 

 und Sohn. 1895. Pp. xxvi+1176. 

 In 1879 von Lippmann published in the Zeif- 

 schrift des Vereins filr die Riibenzueker-Industrie 

 des Deutchen Beichs, a memoir entitled 'Mono- 

 graphic der Zuckerarten.' This valuable com- 

 pilation was practically a summary of all that 

 was known at that time about the more im- 

 portant carbo-hydrates; it filled about seventy 

 quarto-pages of the journal in which it ap- 

 peared. 



Three years later the author followed the 

 treatise named with a book, 'Die Zuckerarten 

 und ihre Derivate.' This was based on his former 

 publication and aimed to present all known 



facts regarding the physical and chemical prop- 

 erties of the different sugars. 



The unexpected and certainly unprecedented 

 growth which sugar chemistry experienced 

 within the decade following the issue of this 

 work, made a new, up-to-date, issue of the 

 same greatly needed and desired. Numerous 

 requests to undertake this task were addressed 

 to its author and these wishes were finally re- 

 sponded to by the publication of the work 

 forming the subject of this notice. 



Die Chemie der Zuckerarten has its subject- 

 matter divided into four parts, which, in turn, 

 are subdivided into sections. 



The first three parts are given to, respectively, 

 the mono-, the di- and the tri-saccharides. The 

 fourth part contains discussions on: the consti- 

 tution, configuration and synthesis of the 

 sugars ; the relations of optical and calorimetric 

 constants; the origin of the sugars in plants; 

 the physiological importance of the sugars. 



The saccharides are arranged and discussed 

 in sequence according to the number of carbon 

 atoms they contain. Thus, of the mono-saccha- 

 rides, the bioses, sugars having two atoms of 

 carbon, are first considered; next come the tri- 

 oses, the tetroses, the pentoses, etc. 



The hexoses (the CsHijOg group) are divided 

 into the aldo- and the keto-hexoses; the former 

 exhibiting the aldehyde-structure, the latter 

 containing the characteristic ketone-group. 

 Dextrose (d-glykose) is a representative of the 

 former, levulose (d-fruktose) of the last-named 

 class. 



No less than 234 pages are given to dextrose. 

 This may indicate the thoroughness which 

 characterizes the whole work. 



The most important of the di-saccharides, is 

 of course, sucrose (cane sugar). The author de- 

 votes 244 pages to its consideration. Lactose, 

 maltose and iso-maltose are also given exhaus- 

 tive treatment in this part of the book. 



The leading representative of the tri-sac- 

 charides is rafiinose. This substance, meleci- 

 tose and a few other carbo-hydrates of ana- 

 logous constitution receive the attention due 

 them, and are folUowed by the learned and 

 able disquisitions on the constitution, configura- 

 tion and synthesis of the sugars, etc. , previously 

 mentioned. 



