SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



567 



throughout. The relation of oxidation — 

 oxidation within the cells — as the essential 

 act of respiration — to the disappearance of 

 food, the production of waste matters, and 

 the development of force, is dwelt upon. 

 The influence of alcohol is discussed in all 

 its aspects, not in a separate chapter, but 

 whenever it comes in place in connection 

 with the several topics and subjects treated. 

 Other narcotics are dealt with. A chapter 

 on inflammation and taking cold is believed 

 to be an entirely new feature in a school 

 textbook. Summaries and review topics 

 are arranged at the end of each chapter; 

 subjects from original demonstrations and 

 the use of the microscope are listed ; and 

 many hygienic topics, such as air, ventilation, 

 drinking water, clothing, bathing, bacteria, 

 etc., are specially treated. 



The prominent characteristic of Profess- 

 ors F. P. Tenable and /. L. Howe's text- 

 book on Inorganic Chemistry according to 

 the Periodic Law * is expressed in the title, 

 and is the adoption of the periodic law as 

 the guiding principle of the treatment, and 

 the keeping of it in the foreground through- 

 out. So far as the authors have noticed, the 

 complete introduction of this system has not 

 been attempted before in any textbook. 

 They have made the experiment of following 

 it closely in their classes, and their success 

 through several years has convinced them 

 of its value. " In no other way have we 

 been able to secure such thorough results, 

 both as to thorough, systematic instruction 

 and economy of time. The task is rendered 

 easier for both student and teacher." After 

 the setting forth of definitions and general 

 principles in the introduction, the elements 

 are taken up and described according to their 

 places and relations in the periodic groups, 

 and then their compounds are described suc- 

 cessively, with hydrogen, the halogens, oxy^> 

 gen, sulphur, and the nitrides, phosphides, 

 carbides, silicides, and the alloys. The treat- 

 ment is systematic, condensed, and clear. 



The purpose of Mr. John W. Troeger's 

 series of Nature-Study Readers is declared by 

 the editor to be to supply supplementary read- 



* Inorganic Chemistry according to the Periodic 

 Law. By F. P. Venable and James Lewis Howe. 

 Easton, Pa : The Chemical Publishing Company. 

 Pp. 266. Price, $1.50. 



ing for pupils who have been two years or 

 more at school. They are composed, more- 

 over, with a view to facilitating the recogni- 

 tion in the printed form of words already 

 familiar to the ear, and to making the child at 

 home with them. In carrying out this pur- 

 pose the author takes advantage of the child's 

 fondness for making observations, especially 

 when attended by his companions or elders. 

 In doing this the aim has been kept in view 

 not to weary the child with details, and yet 

 to give sufficient information to lead to accu- 

 rate and complete observations. Most of the 

 chapters in the present volume, Harold's 

 Rambles, the second of the series, contain 

 the information gleaned during walks and 

 short excursions. Among the subjects con- 

 cerned are birds, mammals, insects, earth- 

 worms, snails, astronomy, minerals, plants, 

 grasses, vegetables, physics, and features 

 connected with the farm. These Nature- 

 study readers are published as a branch of 

 Appletons' Home-Reading series. (New York: 

 D. Appleton and Company. Price, 40 cents.) 



Another of Appletons' Home-Reading 

 Books is News from the Birds, which the 

 author, Leander S. Keyser, explains has been 

 written with two purposes in mind : first, to 

 furnish actual instruction, to tell some new 

 facts about bird life that have not yet been 

 recited ; and, second, to inspire in readers a 

 taste for Nature study. It is by no means a 

 key for the. identification of the birds ; but, 

 instead of telling all that is 01 may be known 

 respecting a particular bird, the author has 

 sought only to recite such incidents as will 

 spur the reader to go out into the fields and 

 woods and study the birds in their native 

 haunts. For the most part the author has 

 given a record of his own observations, and 

 not a reiteration of what others have said. 

 He has gone to the birds themselves for his 

 facts, and has made very little use of books. 



It has been Mr. Ernest A. Congdorfs aim, 

 in preparing his Brief Course in Qualitative 

 Analysis (New York : Henry Holt ; 60 cents), 

 to render it as concise as possible while mak- 

 ing the least sacrifice of a study of reactions 

 and solubilities of chemical importance. The 

 manual covers the points of preliminary re- 

 actions on bases and acids ; schemes of anal- 

 ysis for bases and acids ; explanatory notes 

 I on the analyses ; treatment of solid substances 



