532 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLn. No. 1085 



further investigations and to supply a reliable 

 and much needed aid. W. H. Hunter 



U. S. Department of Agbicultuke 



Abwehrfermente. Das Auflreten hlutfremder 

 Substrate und Fermente im tierischen 

 Organismus unter experimentellen, physio- 

 logischen und pathologischen Bedingungen. 

 Von Emil Abderhalden. Fourth, consider- 

 ably enlarged edition. Published by Julius 

 Springer, Berlin, 1914. Pp. xxiv + 404; 

 with 55 text-figures and four plates. 

 In the fourth edition of this book, which 

 first appeared about two years ago as a modest 

 pamphlet, especial stress has been laid upon the 

 necessary technique for demonstrating the spe- 

 cific ferments which form according to Abder- 

 halden when any body-alien, tissue-alien or 

 blood-alien proteid, carbohydrate or fat is 

 brought into intimate contact with the tissues 

 of an animal organism.^ Numerous drawings 

 accompany the text and detailed instructions 

 are given for the various preparations and 

 manipulations which must always be carried 

 out with rigid aseptic precautions and with 

 adequate controls. Sources of error are ex- 

 haustively treated and indeed are so numerous 

 that perhaps any failure could be explained 

 by some slip in technique. This technical part 

 occupies one half of the book, the other half 

 being devoted to an exposition of the theory 

 and its numerous stimulating corollaries. 



It is unfortunate that the method has not 

 been simplified, for its difiiculty is probably 

 the main cause of the disagreement which still 

 exists among competent investigators about the 

 availability of Abderhalden's methods in the 

 serodiagnosis of organic functions. 



The widespread attention which Abder- 

 halden's important work has aroused is well 

 shown by the appended bibliography, which, 

 though incomplete, numbers more than 300 

 titles. 



The book is written with expository skill and 

 with charm, and will be read with interest and 

 profit even by those who are in scientific dis- 

 agreement with its teachings. Johu Auer 



EOCKErELLER INSTITUTE . 



1 See the review of the second edition, Science, 

 1913, N. S., XXXVIII., No. 988, p. 820. 



Sun Lore of All Ages. By William Tyler 

 Olcott. G. p. Putnam's Sons. 1914. Pp. 

 xiii + 346. Illustrated. 

 The setting of the dimmed sun in the west 

 at night and its rising, refreshed and glowing, 

 in the east on the following morning, pre- 

 sented a mystery to the early peoples of the 

 world : to the dwellers in ancient Egypt, to the 

 Incas of Peru, and to the Indians of our west- 

 ern plains. This mystery has been solved in 

 many ways and has given rise to numberless 

 legends, traditions and superstitions. These 

 traditions Mr. Olcott has traced, the legends 

 and superstitions he has collected and com- 

 pared, and has formed the whole into a very 

 readable and attractive book. The work, 

 which is a worthy successor to the author's 

 " Star Lore of All Ages " ; is well printed, 

 beautifully illustrated, and forms an attrac- 

 tive addition to any library. 



Chas. Lane Poor 



HEMOGLOBINOPHILIC BACTESIA 

 The hemophilic or more properly hemo- 

 globinophilic bacteria comprise a rather large 

 group of bacilli which grow only in an artificial 

 medium containing hemoglobin. This group 

 does not include the many bacteria that, while 

 growing better in media containing blood or 

 blood serum, will also grow in media not con- 

 taining hemoglobin. Its representative organ- 

 ism and by far its most important member is 

 the infiuenza bacillus (B. influenzce) which 

 was discovered by PfeifPer (hence commonly 

 called Pfeiffer's bacillus) in the respiratory 

 tract of patients afflicted with influenza dur- 

 ing the great pandemic in 1889-90. Not only 

 did he discover and isolate this organism at 

 that time but he definitely proved its hemoglo- 

 binophilic character a property of bacteria 

 hitherto unknown. 



In his classical paper^ in which he reported 

 these researches he also described other organ- 

 isms differing in certain respects from the true 

 influenza bacilli, but similar in being hemo- 

 globinophilic. These he called pseudoinfluenza 

 bacilli. Since then theise pseudo forms, which 

 iZeit. f. Eygiene, 1893, 13, p. 357. 



