274 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



ogy of water, and refers inquirers to lialf a 

 page of authorities. Among tlie organic sub- 

 stances treated in tliis volume are the oils, 

 paraffin, petroleum, starch, and sugar. The 

 Vegeto-alkaloids, grouped under this head, 

 are also found here. The Triphenylmethane 

 Coloring Matters are another important group 

 of organic substances treated in the present 

 volume, the author of the article being Prof. 

 Otto N. Witt, of Berlin. Alfred H. Allen, 

 author of the Commercial Organic Analysis, 

 contributes the article on Fixed Oils and 

 Fats ; Prof. W. A. Tilden, those on the Es- 

 sential Oils, Terpenes, and Resin ; the one 

 on Sugar is by Messrs. J. A. R. and B. E. R. 

 Newlands ; that on Russian Petroleum is by 

 Boverton Redwood ; and that on American 

 Petroleum by Prof. S. P. Sadtler, of the 

 University of Pennsylvania. Among the 

 more purely scientific articles are those on 

 Specific Gravity, Solution, and Spectrum 

 Analysis ; while others whose technological 

 character are more marked are Paper, Pot- 

 tery and Porcelain (by William Burton, Esq., 

 of the Wedgwood Works), Photography, 

 Soap, Tea, and Wine. The contributions of 

 the editor (unsigned articles) are many and 

 important. When so much chemical knowl- 

 edge is spread before us, perhaps we ought 

 not to expect Prof. Thorpe to know what 

 Americans mean by saleratus, or even the 

 current spelling of the word (p. 364) ; and 

 it is still less materiid that he allows his con- 

 tributor, John Heron, Esq., to annex Long 

 Island to New Jersey (p. 579). 



A Guide to Stereochemistry. With an 

 Appendix : Models for Use in teaching 

 Organic Chemistry. By Arnold Eiloart, 

 Ph. D., B. Sc. New York : Alexander Wil- 

 son, 26 Delancey Street, Agent. Price, $1 

 net ; postage free. 



The scope and purpose of this book may 

 be best indicated by the following quotation 

 from the author's preface : 



" Although no new branch of chemistry 

 is foimd more interesting by chemists and 

 students than that which treats of the ar- 

 rangement of atoms in space, so that lec- 

 tures on the subject are everywhere wel- 

 come, yet it has been difficult to give guid- 

 ance and permanence to this interest. . . . 

 It seemed desirable in attempting to supply 

 such a book to make it as compact as pos- 

 sible without stripping the subject of the 



charm so natural to it. In this Guide, there- 

 fore, estabhshed facts have been promptly 

 accepted as such. . . . Living issues appro- 

 priate the pages thus gained, so that more 

 than the usual proportion of space is occu- 

 pied by the later and more daring develop- 

 ments of stereochemistry ; the theories con- 

 cerning the space-relations of nitrogen are a 

 case in point. At the same time especial 

 care has been taken to notice the criticisms 

 of those hostile to such innovations." 



It should be added that this work, while 

 it may be used as a text-book by students, 

 will also be read as a critical and historical 

 review of the subject. 



The American Book Company adds 

 Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice to itc 

 series of English Classics for Schools. An 

 account of the sources whence the play was 

 derived, a notice of the occasion on which it 

 was written, suggesting that it was designed 

 to take advantage of current sensational 

 events, and an analysis, are given in the in- 

 troduction. 



The Letters from Queensland (Australia), 

 reprinted from the special correspondence of 

 the London Times by Macmillan & Co., con- 

 tains, besides sketches of travel and scenery 

 and incidental observations of Chinese and 

 Kanaka labor, valuable information and sta- 

 tistics about the sugar industry and mineral 

 wealth of the colony, cattle and sheep rais- 

 ing, and a political chapter on the Separa- 

 tion Question, or the question of the divi- 

 sion of the colony by the separation of North 

 Queensland. 



Moses or Dartvin ? A School Problem for 

 all Friends of Truth and Progress, is the title 

 of three papers on Evolution and Darwinian- 

 ism which were originally delivered as lec- 

 tures by the author, Dr. Arnold Bodel, at 

 Zurich and St. Gall, Switzerland. Their im- 

 mediate purpose was to direct the attention 

 of the public " to the calamitous gulf lying 

 between the higher and the common schools " 

 which he further describes by the words 

 "Truth for the few" (higher school pupils, 

 to whom the scientific doctrines of evolution 

 are taught) and " Errors for the many " 

 (lower school pupils, who are taught " the 

 Mosaic myth "). The translator and Ameri- 

 can editor, Frederick W. Dodel, furnishes a 

 preface, in which is a disquisition on School 



