372 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 349. 



assisting behavior presents the closest 

 analogy to some of the common organic 

 enzymes. The colloidal metallic solutions 

 seem to be affected by the same kinds of 

 poisons which are known to impede the 

 action of the soluble ferments, and to re- 

 cover finally in about the same way. All 

 these matters become of the greatest interest 

 to the physiological chemist when we 

 recollect that nearly all the body processes 

 are doubtless enzymic in their character, 

 and that the toxines or disease producers are 

 probably chemical agents of the same class. 

 But it was not my intention to discuss 

 new discoveries in chemistry. I merely 

 wished to emphasize the fact that the fields 

 of physical chemistry and synthetic organic 

 chemistry are not the only ones to claim 

 the serious thought of active investigators. 

 I wished to suggest that the chemistry bear- 

 ing on the problems of life itself presents 

 no less interesting possibilities, and that it 

 is worthy of more enthusiastic cultivation 

 in our American schools. While it is 

 doubtless true that the elementary practi- 

 cal instruction given in chemistry to Ameri- 

 can medical students is now equal to or 

 possibly more systematic and thorough 

 than that given in the majority of European 

 schools, I wish to express the hope that in 

 the further development of our medical 

 colleges research work may find fuller 

 recognition, and that in the solution of the 

 great problems hinted at our American 

 scholars may contribute their rightful share 

 of efibrt, and in the end reap the corre- 

 sponding measure of reward. 



NOETH WESTERN UNIVERSITY. J. H. LoNG. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. ^'''■ 



Research Papers from the Kent Chemical Labora- 

 tory of Yale University . Vols. I. and II. 

 Edited by Professor Frank Austin Gooch. 

 New York, Charles Scribner & Sons. 

 The present occasion of the collected publi- 

 cation of these valuable papers is the coming 



of the two-hundredth anniversary of the found- 

 ing of Yale University. The two volumes un- 

 der consideration, containing an aggregate of 

 108 papers and 804 pages, form part of a series 

 of Yale Bicentennial PubHcations. They form 

 also a highly creditable evidence of the chemi- 

 cal activity in Yale College and a worthy tribute 

 to the memory of Albert Emmet Kent, who en- 

 dowed the laboratory. They cover a period of 

 only thirteen years, the time which has elapsed 

 since the completion of the building. 



All except three of the papers included in 

 the volume have already appeared elsewhere, 

 chiefly in the American Journal of Science and 

 the American Chemical Journal; and many of 

 them have been translated into German and 

 have been published in the Zeitschrift filr anor- 

 ganische Chemie. Hence the contents of the 

 volume will be no surprise to chemists ; the 

 papers consist primarily either of proposals of 

 new analytical methods or else of careful am- 

 plifications and revisions of old methods. In 

 every case series of test-analyses are given, 

 performed under varying conditions ; hence a 

 clear idea is afforded of the chemical error of 

 each process. The papers cover too wide a 

 variety of subjects to admit of detailed men- 

 tion here ; iodometry receives more extensive 

 treatment than any other one subject. The 

 value of the collection is much increased by 

 admirably copious classified indexes. 



Besides the names of the eminent director, 

 Dr. Gooch, and his chief assistant. Dr. Brown- 

 ing, those of students too numerous to men- 

 tion, including four ladies, are to be found at 

 the headings of the separate papers. 



The chief lack which some will feel on 

 studying this work is the absence of frequent 

 appeal to modern theory for assistance. As Dr. 

 van't Hoflf has pointed out, inorganic chem- 

 istry attains its greatest significance when 

 viewed from the standpoint of modern physical 

 chemistry. But in spite of this lack, the care- 

 ful empirical investigations are so full of essen- 

 tial facts that no student of analytical chemistry 

 can afford to be unfamiliar with them. The 

 present bringing together of the scattered arti- 

 cles will facilitate access to these facts. 



Theodore Wm. Eichards. 



Harvard University. 



