LITERARY NOTICES. 



271 



character of his book, show mental 

 unsoundness, and suggest that the 

 mind's organ is not in a proper condi- 

 tion. One thing is certain : the maker 

 of such a book is not a fit man to be in 

 charge of educational interests. If he 

 is beside himself, that ends it; if not, 

 the case is still worse : the Board of 

 Education should have granted him 

 leave of absence, and sent him away to 

 recruit. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The International Scientific Series, No. 

 XXVI. Modern Chromatics, with Ap- 

 plications to Art and Industry. By 

 Ogden N. Rood, Professor of Physics in 

 Columbia College. With 130 Original 

 Illustrations. D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 

 329. Price, $1.15. 



In his contribution to the " International 

 Scientific Series" of a volume on modern 

 chromatics, Professor Rood has filled a gap 

 in the scientific literature not only of this, 

 but also of European countries. There was 

 wanted a well-executed popular treatise on 

 the science of color for general readers, in 

 which they will find a familiar and satisfac- 

 tory explanation of chromatic phenomena 

 as they are now interpreted, and as illus- 

 trated in the aspects of nature and in the 

 applications of art. 



Professor Rood was asked to prepare 

 such a volume for this series because he 

 possesses in an eminent degree the qualifi- 

 cations necessary to do justice to the sub- 

 ject. In the first place, he was specially 

 prepared to undertake it by his education 

 and training as an experimental physicist. 

 At home in this general field of research, 

 with an aptitude for subtile and refined in- 

 vestigations, he has always been particular- 

 ly interested in this line of inquiry, and has 

 attained a European reputation as an au- 

 thority upon the subject. From this point 

 of view, probably, no man was so well 

 equipped to make an instructive volume on 

 chromatics that should be fully up to the 

 times as Professor Rood. 



But he possesses another qualification 

 which is no less important for the work. 

 He is himself an artist, with both enthusi- 



asm and a true genius for the profession, 

 and who has devoted much time to drawing 

 and painting. His sketches are prized by 

 many who are so fortunate as to possess 

 them, and it is well understood that, if he 

 had chosen to devote himself to it, he would 

 have attained preeminent distinction as an 

 artist. This combination of scientific knowl- 

 edge with practical experience in the art 

 of managing colors could not fail to be of 

 great advantage. Numerous questions and 

 problems relating to chromatics which are 

 interesting and important to artists came 

 before him, and were elucidated with such 

 skill and useful results that he was callel 

 upon to give lectures, explaining his views, 

 before the art classes at the New York Acad- 

 emy of Design. 



When solicited to prepare the present 

 volume, Professor Rood replied that he was 

 not a book-maker, and had no inclination 

 merely to compile or to write a volume upon 

 the science of color. He said that to make 

 such a book valuable in the present state of 

 the subject would involve a very consid- 

 erable amount of scientific investigation in 

 clearing up numerous points to get the work 

 in anything like satisfactory shape. For 

 these researches time would be necessary, 

 which would inevitably delay the publica- 

 tion. The volume was prepared under these 

 conditions, so that, in a very important 

 sense, it is a new work. Every chapter of 

 it bears witness to the patient and pains- 

 taking solicitude of the author to make his 

 statements clear, valid, and complete. A 

 consultation of his index will show to how 

 large a degree the volume is original. Only 

 results and explanation are given in the text, ' 

 and those who care to go over the experi- 

 mental demonstrations by which they have 

 been reached will consult the scientific peri- 

 odicals in which the descriptive papers are 

 to appear. 



Professor Rood, as we have intimated, 

 declines to classify himself as a book-maker, 

 and does not seem to have ever been trou- 

 bled in the slightest degree with the ambi- 

 tion of authorship. He has written many 

 technical papers for scientific journals, which 

 may be thought rather a poor apprentice- 

 ship for getting up a popular book. But 

 he has attained a degree of excellence in 

 the literary art of his book which is not a 



