July 17, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



105 



composition of commercial meat extracts. 

 This valuable investigation is not even cata- 

 logued in the historical summary (p. 397) 

 though less pretentious earlier and later con- 

 tributions are included. The heterogeneous 

 character of some of the descriptive text is 

 shown by the inclusion, in the chapter on meat 

 products, of statements like the following: 

 " Diastatic enzymes occur in the saliva, pan- 

 creatic juice, blood, lymph and liver," etc. 

 Why figures of wasp's muscle or fibers from 

 the human vocal muscle or sketches of smooth 

 muscle nuclei from the dog's artery should be 

 incorporated in the text descriptive of sero- 

 logical identification of meats is not clear. 

 The expression " xanthine bases " begins to 

 have an antiquated look, now that the word 

 " purine " has come into common use. 



Shortcomings might be pointed out in other 

 chapters. The vegetable enzyme papain, which 

 is a widely sold commercial product, is dis- 

 missed with three lines taken from the British 

 Pharmacopoeia. The hsemometer of v. Fleischl 

 is pictured and described in the text, with mere 

 footnote reference to its improved successors. 

 Some of the parts, like that on mucin, should 

 either have been brought up-to-date or 

 omitted. The standard work of Gies and his 

 collaborators, and other comparatively recent 

 contributions and working directions are not 

 even mentioned (c/. p. 628). This is in strik- 

 ing contrast with the modernized chapters on 

 proteins in other parts of the book. Elastin is 

 described under fibroids and said in one para- 

 graph to " contain no sulphur," whereas in 

 another the content of sulphur is summarized 

 in tabular form (p. 631). The word "kera- 

 toid " appears to be coined as a synonym for 

 keratin. Typographical errors, particularly in 

 the foreign proper names, are not missing. In 

 some cases one is at a loss to know from the 

 context whether the form presented is a mis- 

 take or an intentional innovation ; for example, 

 protase (p. 290) ; glutenins (glutelins ?) (p. 

 34); spoilage (p. 309). The chapter on pro- 

 teins of milk by L. L. Van Slyke, by way of 

 contrast, is an illustration of how a very dif- 

 fuse literature can be reviewed critically by 

 an expert and presented in a brief yet com- 



prehensive fashion in its theoretical and ap- 

 plied aspects. Lafayette B. Mendel 

 Sheffield Scientific School, 

 Yale University 



Some Minute Animal Parasites or Unseen 

 Foes in the Animal World. By H. B. 

 Fantham and Annie Porter. London, 

 Methuen & Co., Ltd. 1914. Pp. si + 319. 

 Frontispiece and 56 text-figures. 5s. net. 

 This interesting and valuable addition to the 

 general literature of protozoology will be wel- 

 comed by those students of the protozoa who 

 are chiefly interested in the practical or patho- 

 genic side as opposed to the theoretical and 

 speculative. It deals only with parasitic 

 forms responsible for some diseases of man 

 and animals and gives a full account, in 

 simple words, of the known life history in 

 each ease and as it appears to the writers. 



Of the sixteen chapters the first and last 

 two are more general, giving, in brief outline, 

 the chief types of protozoa, and the more gen- 

 eral aspects of the parasitic forms. Here the 

 authors come dangerously near the theoretical 

 or at least controversial grounds which they 

 appear desirous to avoid. The second chapter 

 is devoted to Trypanosoma gamhiense and 

 sleeping sickness, the third to other species of 

 trypanosomes and to the allied genera Crithidia 

 and Herpetomona^. The fourth chapter deals 

 with the spirochetes in a manner " which 

 shall be as non-controversial as possible, and 

 which will consist of facts and not the specu- 

 lations so fashionable nowadays" (p. 64). 

 The authors adhere so consistently to this 

 promise that the reader would never know 

 from the text that thousands of others have 

 worked with these organisms and that there 

 is good ground for difEerent points of view 

 from those presented. He would also look in 

 vain for a description of the spirochete of 

 syphilis, probably the most important member 

 of the group. In the fifth chapter there is a 

 very good, although somewhat dramatic ac- 

 count of the malarial organisms of man and 

 birds, with excellent practical suggestions re- 

 garding the breeding of mosquitoes and means 



