1898] SOME NEW HOOKS 429 



Introductions to Chemistry 



Chemistry for Schools : an Introduction to the Practical Study of Chemistry. By 

 C. ETaughton Gill. Tenth Edition. Revised and enlarged by D. Hamilton 

 Jackson. Crown 8vo, pp. x + 356, with 105 figs. London: Stanford. 1898. 

 Price 4s. 6d. 



The Organized Science Series. First Stage. Inorganic Chemistry (Practical). By 

 F. Beddow. 8vo, pp. viii + 166, 87 figs. London : Clive. 1898. Price Is. 



Of the making of elementary text-hooks of chemistry there appears 

 to he no end. We have recently received copies of the above works, 

 and although it scarcely enters into our province to review them 

 critically, we may say that they both appear to be very clearly written, 

 and to be well adapted to the requirements of the student, Neither 

 of them differs very startlingly from others of the kind. Perhaps of 

 the two the smaller book shows more originality of treatment. We 

 are glad to see that, even in so elementary a book, at least thirty 

 pages are devoted to quantitative experiments. In " Chemistry for 

 Schools," the five-page chapter on Crystalline Systems is quite in- 

 adequate, and in parts unintelligible. It is time that text-books of 

 chemistry contained really clear and detailed expositions of at least 

 the elementary principles of crystallography. 



L'Annee Biologique. 



We welcome the second volume of this excellent ' Biological Eecord,' 

 even though it be issued some twenty months after the last of the 

 publications with which it professes to deal. In regard to accuracy of 

 quotation and comprehensiveness, it is an improvement on the first 

 volume, noticed in Natural Science for August 1897. As we said 

 before, absolute completeness is hardly to be hoped for, and certainly 

 is not attained by Professor Delage and his collaborators. For in- 

 stance, although most of the appropriate papers that appeared in our 

 own pages during 1896 are indexed, we see no reference to Miss 

 Newbigin's valuable contribution on the pigments of animals ; or does 

 tli is not come under ' Biology ' ? However, there is a list (in itself 

 useful) of nearly 900 periodicals said to have been consulted in the 

 preparation of the volume. The abstracts, so far as we have checked 

 them, seem done with intelligence and accuracy; critical remarks are, 

 as a rule, inserted between square brackets. At the beginning of each 

 subject an attempt is made to give a general view of advance in that 

 field, and in certain cases this has led to the publication of elaborate 

 essays. Such are that on phagocytosis in the animal kingdom, by J. 

 Cantacuzene, with preface by E. Metchnikoff, and that on marine 

 zoogeography, by G-. Pruvot. The publishers are Schleicher Freres, 

 15 Rue des Saints-Peres, Paris, and the price is 20 francs. 



Vabia 



We have received from Messrs Friedlander & Son, of Berlin, a copy 

 of Naturae Novitates for 1897. This valuable record is issued in parte 

 twice a month; and finally indexed, bound, and sold for four marks, 

 at the middle of the succeeding year. It is a record of all books that 

 appear dealing with Natural History and the exact Sciences, and is 

 invaluable in its fortnightly form for ready reference, as well as in 



