CURRENT LITERATURE 



BOOK REVIEWS 



Bacteriology 



The Book of Books somewhere slates that a man is not to be heard for 

 his much speaking; inferentially, one surmises that quality is to be more highly 

 esteemed than quantity, and doubtless this may be regarded as holding equally 

 true in the making of books. In the book under review, 1 Professor Reed 

 has done well, very well, in this respect, without brevity in the least way 

 marring the quality of the subject-matter presented to his readers. 



The preface to a book may frequently be regarded as a mirror of the mind 

 of an author, for therein is displayed the purpose that prompts the writing 

 of the book. So it was with pleasure that the reviewer noted the following 

 phrase: " Wherever possible the experiments are planned to give quantitative 

 results, to the end that vagueness of statement and uncertain thinking may 

 disappear.' ' Were this idea more frequently found expressed and acted upon 

 in "books for students," fewer puny guides to wisdom would be found in the 

 hands of students in our laboratories. 



The manual is divided into 16 sections, and in addition 16 appendices. 

 The sections deal with the form and occurrence of bacteria; the nutrition of 

 bacteria; sterilization of culture media; relation of bacteria to factors of physi- 

 cal environment; relation of bacteria to biological factors; methods of culture, 

 isolation, staining, and routine study of bacteria; qualitative and quantita- 

 tive studies of bacteria of water and sewage, of soil, and of milk; the bacterial 

 diseases of man and animals, and of plants; and fermentation studies. The 

 appendices are framed with the idea of presenting in a handy fashion important 

 matter that otherwise would be scattered in various places throughout the text. 

 Therein are noted descriptions of the most recent methods and applications of 

 sterilization, handling of stock cultures, making of permanent museum prep- 

 arations, of titration, of chemical determinations of ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, 

 of total nitrogen, of reducing sugars; conversion tables; alcohol computation 

 tables; and the like. In appropriate places throughout the exercises are 

 references to textbooks, monographs, and papers in the current literature of the 

 subjects under discussion, a most important feature not infrequently omitted 

 by authors. 



Excellent as the presentation is in most respects, the reviewer does not 

 find himself in perfect accord with the author in certain instances; for example, 



1 Reed, Howard S., A manual of bacteriology for agricultural and general science 

 students. 8vo. pp. 179. figs. 46. Boston: Ginn & Co. 19 14. 



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