LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



We close our notice with the sense that we 

 have done this thoughtful book but scant 

 justice. 



Proceedings Commemorative of the One 

 Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of 

 the Foundation of the American Phil- 

 osophical Society. Philadelphia: Mac- 

 Calla & Co. Pp. 647. 



An impressive commemoration of the 

 origin of this pioneer scientific society was 

 held in May, 1893. The exercises of the oc- 

 casion, which extended over five days, are 

 recorded in this handsomely printed volume, 

 and include addresses of welcome and con- 

 gratulation, the proceedings of the meetings, 

 scientific papers presented, etc. The address 

 by the venerable Frederick Fraley, president 

 of the society, is followed by letters of greet- 

 ing in French, German, and Latin, read by 

 representatives of universities and foreign 

 scientific societies, after which come tele- 

 grams from foreign bodies that were unable 

 to send delegates. The second day's pro- 

 ceedings were also opened by an address by 

 President Fraley, who was followed by Profs. 

 Alpheus Hyatt and Hubert A. Newton. On 

 the third day, President Oilman, of Johns 

 Hopkins, and the Rt. Rev. John J. Keane, 

 President of the Catholic University of 

 America, delivered addresses, that of the lat- 

 ter only being printed. The exercises of the 

 fourth day are especially interesting. They 

 include addresses on Benjamin Franklin 

 printer, patriot, and philosopher, by Dr. 

 Samuel A. Green ; The Philosophy of Art, 

 by Prof. J. M. Hoppin ; and The Nature and 

 Design of the Historical Societies of Our 

 Country, by Dr. John B. Morris. On the 

 last day a paper in German, On Determina- 

 tion of Gravity by Means of a Pendulum Ap- 

 paratus, by R. von Sterneck, was read by 

 Chevalier Rousseau d'Happoncourt, of the 

 Austrian navy, who represented the Imperial 

 Royal Academy of Vienna. Dr. Isaac Rob- 

 erts then addressed the society on Recent 

 Progress in Astronomical Science, illustrat- 

 ing his remarks by photographs which he 

 presented to the society in behalf of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society of England, 

 which he represented. Prof. George F. 

 Barker read a paper on Electrical Progress 

 since 1743, dealing mainly with the work of 

 Franklin, Hare, Henry, Saxton, Rittenhouse, 



and Bache. A few remarks mi Magnetism, 

 by Mr. Wharton, were followed by the clos- 

 ing address of the president. The scientific 

 papers presented include one of eighty pages 

 on Tertiary Tipulidse, by Prof. Samuel II. 

 Scudder; one of three hundred pages on 

 Phylogeny of an Acquired Characteristic, by 

 Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, and ten briefer ones 1 <\ 

 various authors. The volume is illustrated 

 by a number of fine plates, including por- 

 traits of the officers of the society, views of 

 the interior of its building, reproductions of 

 the photographs presented by the Royal As- 

 tronomical Society, and figures illustrating 

 the papers by Scudder, Packard, and Hyatt. 



Theoretical Chemistry, from the Stand- 

 point of Avogadro's Rule and Thermo- 

 dynamics. By Prof. Walter Nernst, 

 Ph. D. Translated by Prof. Charles 

 Skeele Palmer, Ph. D. London and 

 New York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 697. 

 Price, $5. 



A few years ago it was said with truth 

 that all the advances being made in chemis- 

 try were in the field of organic chemistry. 

 This condition has been changed, however, 

 by the fruitful researches of Ostwald, van't 

 Hoff, Thomsen, Berthelot, and others, which 

 have given us what may be called the new 

 physical chemistry. Prof. Nernst has pre- 

 pared a guide to this newly developed branch 

 of the science, taking as its leading principles 

 Avogadro's law and the doctrine of energy. 

 Taking up first the universal properties of 

 matter, he sets forth in succession those 

 characteristic of the gaseous, liquid, and 

 solid states of aggregation. The properties 

 of physical mixtures and dilute solutions are 

 also discussed. The theory of the atom and 

 the molecule forms the second division of 

 the work, this doctrine being tested and ex- 

 emplified by the phenomena of refraction, 

 polarization, magnetism, color, dissociation 

 of gases, and the behavior of both colloids 

 and crystalloids in solution. The transfor- 

 mation of matter and the transformation of 

 energy are the two remaining division-, the 

 former embracing the laws of chemical stat- 

 ics and chemical kinetics, while the latter is 

 concerned mainly with thenno-chemistry, 

 though touching upon the chemical action 

 of light and electricity. Two appendixes 

 .iic added, the first comprising Mime impor- 

 tant developments in theoretical and phys- 



