LITERARY NOTICES. 



629 



the true nature of as many of these minerals 

 as possible. There is, however, a large class 

 of minerals (the silicates, etc.) which, unless 

 distinctly crystallized, present considerable 

 difficulties to the field-worker. To partly 

 overcome these difficulties, the supplement- 

 ary tables were added by Prof. Weisbaoh, 

 whereby, through the instrumentality of a 

 bottle of acid, a matrass, a blow-pipe, and 

 a couple of fluxes, a still larger number of 

 species can be identified." 



Polarization op Light. By William 

 Spottiswoode, F. R. S., LL. D. 129 pp. 

 Price, $1.00. "Nature Series." Mac- 

 millan & Co. 



Dr. Spottiswoode is equally well known 

 in the scientific and business world : in the 

 scientific world as a mathematician, physi- 

 cist, and member of the Royal Society ; in 

 the business world as printer to her Majes- 

 ty, and the proprietor of an immense book- 

 manufacturing establishment. The excel- 

 lent little volume which is just produced on 

 one of the most difficult departments of 

 optics is, ki a certain sense, the product of 

 both the activities in which the author is 

 engaged. It consists of lectures delivered 

 at various times to audiences of the work- 

 ing people in his employ. In these lectures 

 Mr. Spottiswoode attacked the most complex 

 part of optical science, and one which it 

 has hitherto proved most difficult to ex- 

 pound satisfactorily in a book ; but, by the 

 profuse employment of experiments, the 

 lecturer was probably able to bring the 

 subject within the range of his listeners' 

 comprehension its striking phenomena, at 

 all events, if not their completest explana- 

 tion. In this little volume the text is as 

 clear as is consistent with extreme brevity, 

 and the numerous well-executed woodcuts 

 are valuable helps to the understanding of 

 the subject, and will go far to replace the 

 experiments which were made with the in- 

 struments represented. 



Outlines of Proximate Organic Analysis. 

 By Albert B. Prescott, Professor of 

 Organic and Applied Chemistry in the 

 University of Michigan. 192 pages. 

 New York : D. Van Nostrand. Price, 

 $1.75. 



The science of chemistry is growing into 

 immense proportions, and with its enor- 

 mous expansion there comes a revolution 



in its theory of so radical a nature as to 

 bewilder the old students, and raise a se- 

 rious question how the prodigious mass of 

 facts and details is ever going to be got 

 into any thing like rational order. But, 

 while Theory is perplexed, Practice pro- 

 ceeds with but little disturbance ; only, as 

 the field extends, division of labor has to be 

 carried farther, and the more special de- 

 partments of science are increasingly culti- 

 vated. The present work appears in obe- 

 dience to this tendency, and furnishes a 

 hand-book for a branch of analysis of no 

 small importance, and which has hitherto 

 hardly had its proper share of attention. 

 The author remarks in his preface : 



" Proximate organic analysis is not alto- 

 gether impracticable, and organic chemistry 

 is not solely a science of synthetical oper- 

 ations, even at present. It is true, as the 

 chief analytical chemists have repeatedly 

 pointed out, that in the rapid accumulation 

 of organic compounds, the means of their 

 identification and separation have been left 

 in comparative neglect. It is true, also, that 

 the field is limitless, but this is not a reason 

 for doing nothing in it. Fifty years ago, the 

 workers in inorganic analysis were unpro- 

 vided with a comprehensive system, but 

 they went on exploring the mineral king- 

 dom, and using their scanty means to gain 

 valuable results." 



Researches in Acoustics. By Alfred M. 

 Mayer. Paper V. ; from the Arrtcrican 

 Journal of Science and Arts. 



Though but a pamphlet of 42 pages, it 

 contains seven papers, each giving good, 

 solid, original work on a difficult subject. 

 Prof. Mayer has of late made acoustics a 

 special field of investigation, and has given 

 to science some admirable results. 



Metallurgical Properties of Missouri 

 Iron-Ores, from the Geological Report of 

 the State of Missouri, 1874. By Adolf 

 Schmidt, Ph. D. 



This document is devoted to the metal- 

 lurgy of iron. It specifies six ores in Mis- 

 souri ; gives their respective characteris- 

 tics, and tabulates the quality of the iron 

 when produced by smelting with charcoal, 

 and coke, or coal, for the four irons tech- 

 nically known as foundery-iron, mill-iron, 

 Bessemer-iron, and steel-iron. As a contri- 

 bution to economical geology, it is valuable. 



