418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



later. Furthermore, a beginners' book ought, 

 before all things else, to be interesting. " The 

 main peculiarity of the present book," says 

 the author, " is that it aims to teach chil- 

 dren the history of the country by making 

 them acquainted with some of the most 

 illustrious actors in it. A child is interested, 

 above all, in persons. Biography is for him 

 the natural door into history. The order of 

 events in a nation's life is somewhat above 

 the reach of younger pupils, but the course 

 of a human life and the personal achieve- 

 ments of an individual are intelligible and 

 delightful." By this means, also, the young 

 American gets distinct pictures of the careers 

 of the great men of his country. It is easy, 

 moreover, in a history of the biographical 

 type, to adopt the modern style of describing 

 the life of the people in former times, as 

 well as the progress of public events. The 

 author is convinced that the lamented lack 

 of moral teaching in our schools can be 

 largely supplied by the inspiring examples 

 found in the careers of our great men. The 

 author has availed himself abundantly of the 

 aid of pictures in giving the pupil a vivid 

 conception of the narrative. No precipe 

 mode of studying the book is prescribed, but 

 brief suggestions for a topical recitation are 

 appended to each lesson. The book is well 

 adapted to be used as a class reader, and 

 several school superintendents have already 

 declared their intention of employing it in 

 this way. The pictures are numerous and 

 bear the signatures of some of the most emi- 

 nent illustrators in America. The maps arc 

 bird's-eye views, and one, designed to show 

 the territorial growth of the United States, 

 has the successive additions of territory 

 printed on successive pages, the blank parts 

 of which are to be cut out. 



Chemistry: General, Medical, and Phar- 

 maceutical. By John Attfielp, F. R. S., 

 etc. Twelfth edition. Philadelphia: Lea 

 Brothers & Co. Pp. 770. Price, $3.25. 



This substantial volume is adapted to be 

 the life-long companion of the pharmacist 

 or physician a manual of instruction in his 

 student days and a work of reference in his 

 business or professional practice. The au- 

 thor expressly disclaims the recognition of 

 any such varieties of the science as medical 

 and pharmaceutical chemistry, and uses these 



terms only to indicate that he illustrates the 

 principles of chemistry by those facts of spe- 

 cial interest to the followers of medicine 

 and pharmacy. " From other chemical text- 

 books," he states in the preface, " it differs 

 in three particulars: first, in the exclusion 

 of matter relating to compounds which at 

 present are only of interest to the scientific 

 chemist ; secondly, in containing more or less 

 of the chemistry of every substance recognized 

 officially or in general practice as a remedial 

 agent; thirdly, in the paragraphs being so 

 cast that the volume may be used as a guide 

 in studying the science experimentally. The 

 order of subjects is that which, in the au- 

 thor's opinion, best meets the requirements 

 of medical and pharmaceutical students in 

 Great Britain, Ireland, America, India, and 

 the English colonies." A few leading prop- 

 erties of the elements arc first given, some 

 of the fundamental principles of the science 

 are next stated, and then the properties and 

 relations of the elements and the compound 

 radicals are presented in detail, attention 

 being directed to those qualities on which 

 analysis and synthesis depend. The chem- 

 istry of the carbon compounds is next con- 

 sidered. Practical toxicology and the chem- 

 istry of morbid physiological products then 

 receive attention. The concluding sections 

 form a laboratory guide to the chemical and 

 physical study of quantitative analysis. In 

 the appendix is a long table of tests for impu- 

 rities in medicinal preparations ; also a short 

 one of the saturating powers of acids and 

 alkalies, designed for use in prescribing and 

 dispensing. In his arrangement of the radi- 

 cals, the author " has preferred to lead up to, 

 rather than follow, scientific classification," 

 for the reason that systems of classification 

 give " undue prominence to one set of rela- 

 tions and undeserved obscurity to others." 

 The metric system is alone used in the sec- 

 tions on quantitative analysis ; in other parts 

 of the volume avoirdupois weights and impe- 

 rial measures are employed. Numerous ety- 

 mological notes are scattered through the 

 book. A list of questions follows each sec- 

 tion. The present edition contains what al- 

 terations and additions have become neces- 

 sary since the appearance of the eleventh in 

 1885. The work now includes the whole of 

 the chemistry of the United States Pharma- 

 copoeia and nearly all that of the British and 



