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chemistry is dismissed in ten pages, and the fundamental principles illustrated by 

 the tetrahedral formula for the carbon atom are entirely passed over. So, too, the 

 periodic system, which constitutes the crowning generalisation of inorganic 

 chemistry, is set aside because it cannot be explained without reference to the 

 properties of individual elements. The hypothetical "beginner" would, therefore, 

 be in danger of getting a very restricted and erroneous view of the science of 

 chemistry if his studies were confined to this volume, and would need to recognise 

 clearly that only a single aspect is presented here. 



The essential merit of the book is, however, set forth in the paragraphs which 

 describe its value to the teacher, and through him — by an indirect method of 

 transmission — to the student. " Questions concerning fundamental principles 

 meet the teacher at every step, and the mental character of the developing chemist 

 is frequently determined by the way in which they are answered." " Generalisa- 

 tions are the fundamental base of the chemical symphony, and the various separate 

 parts may be varied according to need or desire." " The book . . . may serve 

 to show him how such generalisations are to be handled and how they can be 

 woven into his daily instruction in elementary chemistry." It is in this direction 

 that the author is likely to find recompense for the labour involved in his novel 

 undertaking, and many a teacher will find mental recreation, whilst his students 

 reap substantial benefits, from a perusal of the eleven chapters of which the volume 

 is composed. Attention may be directed specially to the careful distinction 

 between quantities and intensities in Chapter I., to the inclusion of glassy solids 

 and liquid crystals in discussing the " States of Matter" in Chapter II., and to the 

 ingenious classification of mixtures in Chapter III., where mud, clay, fog, and 

 foam appear in due order as examples of liquid-solid and liquid-gas mixtures. 

 The succeeding chapters on " Change of State " and on " Solutions " proceed along 

 familiar lines, and the long Chapter VI. on " Elements and Compounds" is in part 

 familiar to English readers as the author's Faraday lecture to the Chemical Society 

 in 1906. Chapter VIII. deals with "Colligative Properties," Chapter IX. with 

 " Reaction-Velocity and Equilibrium," Chapter X. with " Isomerism" and Chapter 

 XI. with u The Ions." The last chapter is brightened by a definition of a salt as 

 " a substance which has the properties of a pure substance in the undissolved con- 

 dition, while it exhibits the properties of two substances while it is in solution." 



The translation from the German has been admirably carried out, so much so 

 that it is difficult to resist a feeling that the English is an original edition of the 

 author's work. Two unimportant misprints appear on p. 28, line 19, and p. 34, 

 line 28, but the book is excellently presented, and will be read with considerable 

 enjoyment by many who have found but little inspiration in the catalogue of 

 detailed properties of individual elements and compounds which bulks so largely 

 in the routine of chemical instruction. 



T. Martin Lowry. 



The Vegetable Proteins. By Thomas B. Osborne, Ph.D. [Pp. xiii + 125.] 

 (London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1909. Price 3s. 6d. net.) 



This last addition to the valuable series of biochemical monographs which 

 Messrs. Longmans are issuing under the editorship of Drs. Aders Plimmer and 

 Hopkins is particularly welcome. It is really the first systematic attempt to deal 

 with an important branch of biochemistry in book form. No one could have 

 been better qualified to fill this gap in scientific literature than Dr. T. B. Osborne, 



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