LITERARY NOTICES. 



271 



older economists were disposed to view the 

 science too largely from the point of view of 

 the needs and actions of the " economic man " 

 an ideal construction actuated only by eco- 

 nomic motives, instead of those of the actual 

 man, in the determination of whose economic 

 action many motives enter besides those that 

 are strictly economic. Paramount among 

 these are the ethical forces, family affections, 

 and other altruistic feelings, which in any 

 given set of conditions are sufficiently uni- 

 form to produce conduct that may be pre- 

 dicted. The introduction of considerations 

 of this kind as economic factors, while leav- 

 ing the older conclusions substantially as 

 they were, tends to give to them much less 

 sharpness of outline, and presents economic 

 laws more as statements of general tenden- 

 cies than as a set of fixed and invariable 

 conditions. 



The book is well printed and bound and 

 of convenient size, and is provided with 

 marginal notes indicating the subject-matter. 

 An appendix concerned with the application 

 of mathematics to economic problems, and 

 an index complete the volume. 



Manual of Chemical Technology. By Ru- 

 dolf von Wagner. Translated and ed- 

 ited by William Crookes, F. R. S. From 

 the thirteenth enlarged German edition 

 as remodeled by Dr. Ferdinand Fischer. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 24 

 + 968. Price, $7.50. 



So great have been the changes in the 

 chemical treatment of materials in the vari- 

 ous industries since the author's last edition 

 of this work appeared that the present edi- 

 tion is practically a new book. The elev- 

 enth edition was completed by Wagner 

 shortly before his death in 1880. The 

 twelfth edition, which was issued in 1886, 

 was edited by Dr. Fischer, who cut out the 

 matter that had become obsolete, and in- 

 serted references to recent improvements in 

 the processes treated, but made no exten- 

 sive changes. In the present edition the 

 work has been wholly remodeled; the al- 

 phabetical arrangement of the subject-matter 

 has been replaced by a classified grouping ; 

 new subjects have been introduced, the latest 

 developments in old subjects have been in- 

 serted, and about half the six hundred il- 

 lustrations are new. 



Since fuel is indispensable in every de- 



partment of technology, it is first considered, 

 over one hundred pages being given to this 

 subject and lighting. Both the preparation 

 and use of heating and lighting materials 

 are considered. The greater part of this 

 section is new matter. In Section II, Met- 

 allurgy, a new subdivision on potassium and 

 sodium is inserted. Section III is devoted 

 to Chemical Manufacturing Industry, includ- 

 ing the production of sulphur, sulphuric acid, 

 soda, explosives, ammonia, salts of the met- 

 als, etc. New topics in this section are 

 water, manures, and thermo-chemistry. Sec- 

 tion IV, on the Organic Chemical Manufact- 

 ures, has been written entirely anew. This 

 chapter includes alcohols and ethers, organic 

 acids, benzol colors and other organic color- 

 ing matters, etc. The fifth section is de- 

 voted to glass, earthenware, cement, and 

 mortar ; the sixth deals with Articles of Food 

 and Consumption ; and the seventh with the 

 Chemical Technology of Fibers, while the 

 eighth is a miscellaneous group, comprising 

 the products of hides, bones, and fats, the 

 essential oils, resins, and the preservation of 

 wood. Thermometric, hydrometric, and other 

 tables are appended to the volume. The 

 translation has been carefully edited by Prof. 

 Crookes, with the omission of some passages 

 of merely local application and the insertion 

 of notes and bibliographical references, mak- 

 ing the version much more valuable to Eng- 

 lish readers than a simple translation would 

 have been. 



The Working and Management of an Eng- 

 lish Railway. By George Findlay, 

 General Manager of the London and North- 

 western Railway. New York : Macmillan 

 & Co., 1891. Pp. 354. Price, $1.50. 



In this small volume of three hundred 

 odd pages Mr. Findlay has detailed the work- 

 ing and management of one of the great 

 English railways the London and Northwest- 

 ern. His description includes the financial 

 and business as well as the mechanical oper- 

 ations of the road. What strikes the reader 

 of these pages the most forcibly is the thor- 

 oughness with which all the details of oper- 

 ation have been worked out, and the care 

 exercised over these details to assure the 

 perfect operation of the road at all times. 

 To this end the road is placed under the most 

 detailed supervision, as well as being pro- 

 vided with the various modern appliances 



