Oberflächenspannung in der Biologie und Medizin

Abstract

THIS book will probably be found disappointing by both physical chemists and biologists. It begins with a few brief notes on the nature of surface tension, too sketchy to give any clear idea of the physical nature of this quantity. The section on measuring surface tension shows the author as a devotee of the unreliable ‘ring’ method, which is starred so prominently that the three principal illustrations in the book are portraits of different forms of torsion balance for operating the method. Although Harkins's careful studies of its errors, and corrections therefor, are mentioned, they do not appear to be taken seriously. The drop volume and bubble pressure methods are the only others described, and there is no real appreciation of either their possibilities or their errors. There is a rather more satisfactory account of the influence of physical factors on the surface tension of pure liquids and solutions; but the fine structure t)f surface films, and also electrocapillarity, are mentioned but dismissed with an entirely superficial and out-of-date treatment. There is little understanding of the relation between chemical constitution and surface properties. In this field, the author makes little reference to recent work except that of du Noiiy and his co-workers.

Oberflächenspannung in der Biologie und Medizin.

Von Dr. Ferdinand Herík. (Wissenschaftliche Forschungsberichte, Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe, herausgegeben von Dr. Raphael Ed. Liesegang, Band 32.) Pp. xii + 220. (Dresden und Leipzig: Theodor Steinkopff, 1934.) 14 gold marks.