﻿CURRENT LITERATURE 



347 



Plant histology 



The third edition of Chamberlain's 6 Methods in plant histology has been 

 entirely rewritten, and so much new matter both in text and illustrations added 

 that it is essentially a new book. A chapter on the making of photomicrographs 

 and lantern slides has been added, and the directions are so lucid and complete 

 that anyone should be able to do good work, even with inexpensive and impro- 



Perhaps in no field of microtechnique has the advance been greater than 

 in the paraffin method during the past ten years. The later methods are fully 

 set forth. The chapter on special methods has been much enlarged and 

 brought up to date. Many of the time-honored formulae and methods have 

 disappeared; only those which have stood the most rigid tests have survived 

 in the third edition. Many new methods and formulae are presented for the 

 first time. 



Much attention has been given to collecting and keeping material alive 

 in the laboratory. The directions for collecting, killing, and fixing material 

 for research are most thorough, for the author keenly realizes how difficult 

 it is to get material properly prepared for critical research. His experience 

 has been such that he knows that many otherwise competent collectors entirely 

 fail to understand or can be made with difficulty to realize the supreme impor- 

 tance of properly killing, fixing, and preserving material intended for research. 



Specific directions are also given for making such preparations as are needed 

 by teachers and those who wish to get a comprehensive view of the plant king- 

 dom from the lowest to the highest forms. The book is indispensable to those 

 who wish to be in touch with the latest advances in modern microtechnique.— 

 W. J. G. Land. 



MINOR NOTICES 

 Amino acids— Underbill V little book on the physiology of amino acids 



knowledge on this subject. The chapter headings give an idea of the nature 

 and scope of the treatment of the topic. They are as follows : ( i) The proteins 

 and their derivatives, the amino acids; (2) digestion and bacterial activity in 

 relation to the amino acids; (3) the absorption of proteins and amino acids; 

 (4) in what forms does ingested protein enter the circulation; (5) theories of 

 protein metabolism; (6) the further fate of amino acids; (7) the amino acids 

 in relation to the specific dynamic action of proteins; (8) the amino acids and 

 simpler nitrogenous compounds as foodstuffs; (9) the specific role of amino 

 acids in nutrition and growth. The book is most attractively written and 



4 Chamberlain, Charles J., Methods in plant histology, pp. xi+314. The 

 University of Chicago Press. 1915. 



' Underhill, F. P., The physiology of amino acids, pp. 169. figs. 13. Yale 



