LITERARY NOTICES. 



245 



rails, slieath-metal, and wire ; the casting 

 of iron, zinc, and alloys of copper, into 

 various objects ; the spinning and weaving 

 of various fibres, flax, cotton, jute, to be- 

 come materials of greater value ; also the 

 manufacturing of paper from rags, of horn 

 into combs, and of bristles into brushes 

 all these operations belong to this section. 



Chemical technology, on the other hand, 

 as Dr. Wagner observes, "deals with the 

 operations by which the raw material is not 

 only changed in its form, but especially as 

 regards its nature ; such, for instance, is 

 the case with the extraction of metals from 

 their ores ; the conversion of lead into 

 white-lead and sugar of lead (acetate of 

 lead) ; the conversion of sulphate of baryta 

 into chloride of barium and baryta white 

 (permanent or Chinese white) ; the conver- 

 sion of cryolite into sulphate of alumina, 

 alum, and soda ; the conversion of rock- 

 salt into sulphate and carbonate of soda ; 

 the conversion of carnollite and kainite into 

 chloride and bromide of potassium, sulphate 

 and carbonate of potassa ; the conversion 

 of copper into verdigris and sulphate of 

 copper ; the manufacture of paraffin, and 

 paraffin or crystal oils from peat, Boghead 

 coal, and lignite ; the preparation of kelp 

 and iodine from sea-weeds ; the manufac- 

 ture of stearine-candles (stearic acid prop- 

 erly) and soap from oils and fats ; the prep- 

 aration of sugar and alcohol from starch 

 the conversion of alcohol into vinegar ; the 

 brewing of beer from barley and hops ; the 

 manufacture of pig-iron into malleable iron 

 (puddling process), and the conversion of 

 malleable iron into steel ; the production 

 of gas, coke, and tar from coals ; the ex- 

 traction from the tar of such substances as 

 benzol, carbolic acid, aniline, anthracen, 

 asphalte, naphthaline ; the preparation of 

 tar-colors, as rosaniline, aniline blue, Man- 

 chester yellow, Magdala red, alizarine, 

 iodine green, picric acid, etc." 



These illustrations of the scope and 

 character of chemical technology give also 

 an idea of the quality and range of Dr. 

 Wagner's book. For twenty years he 

 has held an eminent position in Germany 

 as an authority upon technology, and his 

 voluminous annual reports upon the sub- 

 ject have been the standards of reference 

 in regard to its progress. The first edition 



of the present hand-book was published in 

 1850; and the eighth edition, which ap- 

 peared last year, is now translated, and is 

 the first that appears in English. The vol- 

 ume is a compact cyclopaedia of the most 

 recent and accurate knowledge on a wide 

 range of practical subjects, and will be of 

 great value to the industrial and manufac- 

 turing interests of the country. 



The Great Problem : The Higher Ministry 

 of Nature viewed in the Light of Modern 

 Science and as an Aid to Advanced Chris- 

 tian Philosophy. By John R. Leifchild, 

 A. M., author of " Our Coal-Fields and 

 our Coal-Pits," " Cornwall : Its Mines 

 and Miners," etc., etc. With an introduc- 

 tion by Howard Crosby, D. D., LL. D., 

 Chancellor of the University of New 

 York. 543 pages. George P. Putnam & 

 Sons. 



Mr. Leifchild's book, entitled "The 

 Higher Ministry of Nature," has been re- 

 published by the Putnams, who have appro- 

 priately prefixed to it the title " The Great 

 Problem." The general aim of the author, 

 who is a semi-preacher and semi-geologist 

 of London, is to show that the higher teach- 

 ings of Nature confirm true religious faith 

 instead of subverting it ; but he feels it in- 

 cumbent upon him to go into all the contro- 

 verted questions of the time in theology, 

 metaphysics, and science, and is equally 

 ready in the treatment of theism, pantheism, 

 the unknowable, Spinozism, Darwinism, evo- 

 lution, morals, the correlation of forces, 

 protoplasm, and other knotty matters too 

 numerous to mention. 



The American volume comes well com- 

 mended to the public. A gentleman high 

 in the honors of scholarship, and the re- 

 sponsibilities of education, and who presides 

 over our metropolitan university, has pre- 

 pared a compact and telling introduction to 

 Mr. Leifchild's volume, in which he assures 

 us that it is a work that strips off disguises 

 and goes to the core of things. His decisive 

 views are put in a narrow compass, so that 

 we are happily enabled to give them com- 

 plete to the readers of the Monthly. If any 

 should happen to think that the volume 

 lacks point and incisiveness, they will find 

 this quality eminently supplied in the 

 chancellor's brief prologue. When, how- 

 ever, he calls for a thousand such books, we 



