[Book Reviews]

Abstract

THE title of this little monograph may alarm those who are not gifted with a taste for mathematics, but its perusal leaves only a feeling of admiration for the manner in which the author has presented his subject. An examination of the degree to which the distribution of electrolytes, water, and gases in the body obeys the laws of physics and chemistry necessitates the use of a certain amount of mathematics, but the presentation is so clear that even the average student should be able to follow it with ease. The subject matter forms a useful exposition of the way in which physico-chemical theory can be applied to the prediction of biological phenomena, as well as the necessity, in considering such phenomena, of using the methods of synthesis in addition to those of analysis, if a true idea of their influence upon each other in the living intact organism is to be attained. Among the subjects dealt with are the functions of haemoglobin and the mechanisms of the production of oedema. A selected bibliography is appended. For its size, the price seems somewhat high; but the monograph is well worth reading by all interested in this subject.

Factors affecting the Distribution of Electrolytes, Water, and Gases in the Animal Body: Lectures delivered at Rutgers University under the Luther Laflin Kellogg Foundation.

Dr.

Donald D. Van

Slyke

By. (Monographs on Experimental Biology.) Pp. vii + 62. (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co., n.d.) 10s. 6d. net.