Makch 24, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



4G7 



tion, scattered through numerous books, official 

 publications and scientific periodicals, the au- 

 thor has ably systematized and condensed. 

 Few American contributions of importance 

 seem to have escaped his notice. Nearly two 

 hundred carefully compiled tables of composi- 

 tion are given, and upward of fifty tables 

 showing the physical characters, chemical con- 

 stants, etc., of food constituents, are intro- 

 duced. No important class of foods has failed 

 to receive careful consideration. In this re- 

 spect, this book is better balanced than any 

 other in this field with which the writer is 

 familiar. 



As a guide to special analytical methods 

 the work is no less valuable. It is not an in- 

 discriminate collection of proposed methods. 

 Those presented have been carefully chosen, 

 often as the result of use by the author and 

 with notes and modifications proceeding from 

 his experience. 



The microscope as an essential instrument 

 in food analysis is discussed with especial 

 reference to such use, and numerous cuts por- 

 traying the histological characters of plant 

 tissues are given, together with a fine collec- 

 tion of half-tones from photo-micrographs pre- 

 pared by the author. The uses of the newly 

 invented immersion refractometer are espe- 

 cially discussed. 



Every laboratory should be planned and 

 equipped with reference to the purposes for 

 which it is to be used. The chapter devoted 

 to the construction and outfitting of a food 

 inspection laboratory contains many ingenious 

 and helpful suggestions. The appliances for 

 the utilization of electricity as a source of 

 heat and power are particularly noteworthy. 

 Throughout the book appear numerous clearly 

 drawn cuts of apparatus, to the number of 

 nearly one hundred. With reference to labo- 

 ratory equipment, a very useful feature of 

 the book is a list of the needed reagents, with 

 directions for their preparation and tables of 

 their chemical equivalents. 



The worker in the field of food chemistry 

 will find of great value the list of biblio- 

 graphic references with which each chapter 

 closes. In these lists appear not only the 

 most important references given in the ' Ver- 



einbarungen zur Untersuchung von Nahrungs- 

 und Genussmitteln ' (Berlin, 1897), compiled 

 by a commission of German food chemists at 

 the instance of the German Imperial Bureau 

 of Health, but many other European refer- 

 ences ; and a very full series relating to Amer- 

 ican food literature has been added. 



In literary style, the book is clear and con- 

 cise. The publishers have given it an attract- 

 ive typography and have illustrated it liberally 

 and well. 



To prepare so comprehensive a work with- 

 out fault in detail of statement or in the 

 selection of material would probably be im- 

 possible. Some of the criticisms that are sug- 

 gested by a careful preliminary examination 

 may be given as illustrative: In referring to 

 ' official methods,' they are not always given 

 in full; one of several alternate methods is 

 occasionally described as ' official ' without in- 

 dication of the fact that there are alternative 

 methods of equal official status; modifications 

 of official methods are sometimes presented 

 without the nature of the modification being 

 clearly stated. Such modifications are usually 

 of a minor character, but not always. The 

 analyst desiring to follow the official method 

 in all its details must, therefore, refer to the 

 bulletins in which those methods are officially 

 set forth. 



There are a few striking omissions: No 

 description is given, among the general meth- 

 ods of food analysis, of Stutzer's method for 

 the determination of albuminoid nitrogen. 

 No allusion is made to the methods of quan- 

 titative microscopy, nor to the use of clyster- 

 ing phenomena as aids to the identification of ^ 

 starches in mixtures. For the computation 

 of pentosans, the older factors are given, in- 

 stead of Krober's revised factors, now gener- 

 ally adopted by specialists in the field of car- 

 bohydrate chemistry. 



While the cuts as a whole are admirable, 

 those for the several cereal grains, after Vil- 

 liers and Collin, do not at all clearly represent 

 the distinctive differences between the several 

 species as respects the hairs and bran coats, 

 tissues of especial value in distinguishing 

 these grains when mixed. Some of the micro- 

 photographs are too poorly defined to be useful. 



