1910] CURRENT LITERATURE 313 
is shown by a statement from the author’s preface: “Besides the four editions 
of the original Dutch volume and three in English, seven editions of this book 
have been published in German, two in Russian, two in Italian, and one in 
Polish. A French edition and a Japanese edition are also in preparation.’ 
A second quotation from the preface gives the aim of the book, which is well 
carried out, and it gives the text its great value as a general reference book’ 
for students of physiology. “‘ Most of the short textbooks of organic chemist 
contain a great number of isolated facts; the number of compounds described in 
them is so considerable as to confuse the beginner. Moreover, the theoretical 
grounds on which this division of the science is based are often kept in the 
background; for example, the proofs given of the constitutional formulae 
frequently leave much to be desired. However useful these books may be for 
reference, they are often ill- ates for textbooks, as many students have learned 
from their own experience. 
The chapters on sugars, amino acids, and proteins, of the greatest direct 
interest to physiologists, though brief, are certainly clear statements of the 
fundamental facts of the chemistry of these bodies. The chapter on proteins 
_is in the body of the book just — amino acids, instead of in an appendix, 
as it appeared in the second edition. WALKER is credited with having intro- 
duced into the book the protein SIRE adopted by the Chemical Society 
of London, the English Physiological Society, the American Physiological 
Society, and the American Society of Biological Chemistry —Wi1LLIAM 
CROCKER 
NOTES FOR STUDENTS 
Magazines for students of genetics—The era of experimental study in 
heredity and evolution has called for new publications devoted to the results 
of research in this field. While all the biological journals occasionally contain 
articles which are of interest to the student of experimental evolution, several 
special magazines have been established which are quite indispensable to any- 
one who wishes to keep reasonably well informed regarding current progress 
in genetics and related subjects. 
The first of thesé which deserves mention is Biometrika, which was estab- 
lished in London in 1901 under the editorship of Professor KARL PEARSON, 
for the publication of papers on mathematical methods of dealing with varia- 
tion, heredity, selection, etc., and the results of their application. While 
not many of the articles wibtiahed | in Biometrika deal strictly with genetics, 
it was the first journal to voice the demands for more exact methods of investi- 
gating problems of evolution, and as the whole trend of modern biology is 
toward the greater exactness involved in mathematical treatment of biologi- 
cal data, Biometrika should continue to fill an increasingly important place, 
hotwithstanding the unfortunate fact that there is a tendency of late to allow 
Personal feeling to dominate both the policy of the magazine and the attitude 
