BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



97 



tion is made that, at equilibrium, oxygen from oxidase activity and 

 hydrogen from hydrogenase activity form water or hydroxy!, thus 

 checking oxidation in metabolic processes. It is also suggested that 

 antioxidase may act protectively by taking up oxygen. 



Griiss would eliminate the term catalase, since a variety of bodies 

 has been shown to possess the property of releasing molecular oxygen. 

 He brands the term " intra-molecular respiration" as a misnomer, 

 holding that the CO2 attributed to this process arises from the action of 

 hydrogenase on carbohydrates. Representative equations are given for 

 the action of catalase, oxidase and peroxidase. — W. E. Tottingham. 



A New Text on Soils. — Russell's recent book on soil conditions 

 and plant growth^ affords the most satisfactory single treatment of this 

 important and intricate field of scientific endeavor that has yet appeared. 

 Soil science has not heretofore received, in the English language, any- 

 thing approaching the attention it deserves, as is emphasized by the 

 very lack of any term in our language corresponding to the Ger- 

 man Bodenkunde; and the publication of this work should aid greatly 

 toward the systematic development of this subject in English speaking 

 countries. 



The confused state which now characterizes the science of the soil 

 seems partially due to the fact that its problems have been frequently 

 attacked as more or less subordinate questions in studies directed pri- 

 marily toward botanical, chemical, and geological ends or toward the 

 perfection of the art of agriculture. Much confusion and many errone- 

 ous and well-nigh superstitious ideas may also be related to a thoroughly 

 unscientific state of mind which seems to have prevailed in this connec- 

 tion, and the follo'W'ing quotation from Russell's preface is well worth 

 the space it occupies. The author writes: "Suggestions throTVTi out by 

 men eminent in some other branch of science have been accepted with- 

 out much serious examination; illustrations used in farmers' lectures 

 to drive home some important point to an audience before whom lucidity 

 is above all things necessary, have acquired the force of established facts; 

 whilst statements, and even substances, have come to be believed in for 

 no better reason than that people have talked a great deal about them." 



After an interesting and valuable chapter (18 pages) on the historical 

 development of the subject of agriculture as here considered, Russell 

 proceeds to lay the foundations for his subsequent treatment in a chap- 



* Russell, Edward J., Soil conditions and plant growth. Pp. viii + 168, figs. 7. 

 Longmans Green and Company, London. 1912. 



