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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1020 



its successive editions, has enjoyed a widespread 

 vogue in the United States, especially among 

 chemists confronted with the necessity of ex- 

 amining a great diversity of products regard- 

 ing which they did not always possess first- 

 hand information. Every analyst feels the 

 need, at times, of suitable reference books and 

 dependable descriptions of tested methods. 

 Certain manuals like the Neubauer-Huppert 

 " Analyse des Harns " and the Hoppe-Seyler- 

 Thierf elder " Handbuch " have received a 

 hearty reception year after year because of the 

 care and accuracy with which they were evi- 

 dently compiled and because of the helpful 

 guidance which they oilered in the selection of 

 suitable procedures. The chief criticism of 

 many laboratory handbooks lies in the careless 

 way in which they are edited, the lack of 

 critique in the selection of methods of analy- 

 sis ; in fact, they frequently bear the earmarks 

 of routine book-making by ambitious individ- 

 uals who have little first-hand experience or 

 broad acquaintance with the literature of the 

 subject. 



Every essay in the special field of organic 

 analysis covered by Allen's Volume VIII. must 

 to-day compete with a number of more pre- 

 tentious reference works, such as Abderhal- 

 den's " Arbeitsmethoden," Leach's " Food 

 Analysis," etc. These are supplemented by 

 many smaller monographs. The only justifi- 

 cation for a new competitor therefore lies in a 

 high degree of excellence or in some unusual 

 adaptation to hitherto uncovered domain. The 

 problems of biochemical analysis in relation to 

 " commercial " products are still far from a 

 satisfactory solution in many respects. The 

 conventional methods are in many cases some- 

 what empirical rather than strictly scientific; 

 and the results furnish at best helpful approxi- 

 mations. Some of the names of the collabo- 

 rators on the new Volume VIII. of Allen's 

 series at once justify the reader in expecting a 

 useful book. Its subdivisians are provided for 

 as follows: Enzymes, by E. Erankland Arm- 

 strong; The Proteins and Albuminoid Sub- 

 stances, by S. B. Schryver ; Proteins of Plants, 

 by E. Frankland Armstrong; Proteins of Milk, 

 by L. L. Van Slyke; Milk, by Henry Leff- 



mann; Milk Products, by Cecil Eevis and E. 

 Kiohard Bolton; Meat and Meat Products, by 

 W. D. Richardson; Digestion Products of the 

 Proteins, by S. B. Schryver; Haemoglobin and 

 Its Derivatives, by John Addyman Gardner 

 and George Alfred Buckmaster; Albuminoids 

 or Scleroproteins, by Jerome Alexander; Fi- 

 broids, by W. P. Dreaper. 



To many it may seem like a trivial perform- 

 ance on the part of a reviewer to refer to minor 

 defects — omissions or errors — in a notice of 

 this character. Every book has inevitable mis- 

 takes, we are assured ; and to point them out is 

 often looked upon as a sort of gratuitous ef- 

 fort that smacks of the mediocre. Perfunctory 

 accounts of new books are easily prepared. 

 However, it is only by a painstaking examina- 

 tion that one can ordinarily form a satisfac- 

 tory estimate of the value of descriptions 

 which depend upon novelty and accuracy af 

 detail for their superior usefulness. 



The new Allen, Volume VIII., presents a 

 combination of historical and descriptive text 

 with analytical directions for practical work. 

 Much of it is well prepared, taking into cog- 

 nizance the latest contributions of physiolog- 

 ical chemistry. This applies, for example, to 

 the various chapters on enzymes, proteins and 

 their derivatives. Other portions can not be 

 considered as equally up-to-date. Reiterations 

 are abundant and there is little indication of a 

 constructive editorial supervision. Old state- 

 ments, handed down through a generation of 

 text-books, are incorporated with the conven- 

 tional reverence for outlived authority. The 

 parts on meat products furnish illustrations 

 of what is here meant. They fail to reflect 

 adequately the recent progress in the study of 

 muscle extractives. So long as an attempt is 

 made to expand the volume to include descrip- 

 tive biochemistry as well as analytical proced- 

 ures, it ought to be done as well as present-day 

 knowledge permits. Yet the " ptomaine " story 

 is brought along in its original make-up, with 

 well-defined muscle components like betaine 

 classed along with the unknowns of putrefying 

 tissues. It is unfortunate that an American 

 editor should omit reference to the compre- 

 hensive work of J. P. Street (1908) on the 



