SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



419 



accustomed places on the return of summer, 

 and the song sparrow sings in the same tree 

 he frequented the year before ; but the wood- 

 chuck, the raccoon, and the deer are not so 

 often found exactly where we think they 

 belong. To seek an interview with such folk 

 is like taking a chance in a lottery ; there are 

 numerous blanks and but few prizes. But 

 because wild life is not in constant evidence, 

 like the wild flower, is no proof that it is 

 uncommon. To those who keep in touch 

 with Nature, it becomes a very familiar 

 thing, and to live a while where the wild 

 creatures make their homes is to cross their 

 paths continually." Mr. Mathews is in touch 

 with Nature. He does not exactly know 

 where to find the wild and shy, for they do 

 not come at call, but he can put himself 

 where he will meet them if they come around 

 — and " one can never tell at what moment 

 some surprising demonstration of wild life 

 will occur at one's very doorstep." In this 

 book Mr. Mathews records some of his meet- 

 ings, at home and in his daily walks, offering 

 as his excuse for the record, that he has 

 lived long enough among wild animals to " re- 

 spect their rights of life, and speak a good 

 word for them when occasion offers." 



The Short Manual of Analytical Chemis- 

 try* prepared by Mr. John Muter, follows 

 the course of instruction given in the South 

 London School of Pharmacy. Encouraged by 

 the continued favor which the book has re- 

 ceived in Great Britain, the author offers a 

 special edition of it to American students, a 

 concise and low-priced manual, designed to 

 introduce them to the chief developments cf 

 analytical chemistry from the simplest oper- 

 ations upward. It includes many organic 

 questions generally overlooked in initiatory 

 books. By working through it the author 

 claims the student may expect to become 

 familiar with a great variety of processes, 

 and to be in a position to use with satisfac- 

 tion the more exhaustive treatises dealing 

 with any special branch he may desire to 

 follow. In preparing it for American stu- 

 dents, the directions, wherever the British 



*A Short Manual of Analytical Chemistry, 

 Qualitative and Quantitative, Inorganic and Or- 

 ganic. By John Muter. Second American edition. 

 Illustrated. Adapted from the eighth British 

 edition. Philadelphia : E. Blakiston, Son & Co. 

 Pp. 238. Price, $1.25. 



methods differ from the American, have been 

 modified to agree with the latter. The pro- 

 cesses given include the qualitative analysis, 

 all the general operations and those relating 

 to detection of the metals, of acid radicals 

 and their separation, of unknown salts, of 

 alkaloids and certain organic bodies used in 

 medicine — with a general sketch of toxico- 

 logical procedure ; and in quantitative analy- 

 sis, directions on weighing, measuring, and 

 specific gravity ; gravimetric analysis of metals 

 and acids, ultimate organic analysis, special 

 processes for the analysis of air, water, and 

 food ; analysis of drugs, urine, and calculi ; 

 and analysis of gases, polarization, spectrum 

 analysis, etc. 



The pure geometry of position is mainly 

 distinguished, according to Professor Reye's 

 definition,* from the geometry of ancient 

 times and from analytical geometry, in that 

 it makes no use of the idea of measurement. 

 Nothing is said in it " about the bisection of 

 segments of straight lines, about right angles 

 and perpendiculars, about ratios and propor- 

 tions, about the computation of areas, and 

 just as little about trigonometric ratios and 

 the algebraic equations of curved lines, since 

 all these subjects of the older geometry as- 

 sume measurement. . . . We shall be con- 

 cerned as little with isosceles and equilateral 

 triangles as with right-angled triangles ; the 

 rectangle, the regular polygon, and the circle 

 are likewise excluded from our investigations, 

 except in the case of these applications to 

 metric geometry. We shall treat of the center, 

 the axes, and the foci of so-called curves of 

 the second order, or conic sections, only as 

 incidental to the general theory ; but, on the 

 other hand, shall become acquainted with 

 many properties of these curves, more gen- 

 eral and more important than those to which 

 most text-books upon analytical geometry are 

 restricted." Of all the other branches of 

 geometry, the descriptive is the most help- 

 ful in facilitating the study of the geometry 

 of position ; and perspective or central pro- 

 jection plays an important part in it. It 

 stands in a certain antithetical relation to 

 analytical geometry on account of its method, 

 which is synthetic, and whence it is some- 



* Lectures on the Geometry of Position. By 

 Theodor R. Beye. Translated and edited by 

 Thomas F. Hulgate. New York : The Macmillau 

 Company. Pp. 148. Price, §2.25. 



