i8o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



are already incorrectly stated. Thus the impression given on page 227 that 



the best extracts of chlorophyll are obtained by the action of water-free solvents 



on dried leaves is quite incorrect. 



J. H. P. 



A Text-Book of Experimental Metallurgy and Assaying. By Alfred 

 Roland Gower, F.C.S. [Pp. xiv + 163.] (London : Chapman & Hall, 

 191 3. Price 3^. bd. net.) 



This little book is modelled on earlier editions and forms a concise and well- 

 arranged guide for the beginner in practical assaying and metallurgical work. 

 The explanatory text is very brief, and, as the author states in his preface, the 

 knowledge, on the part of the student, of elementary theoretical chemistry is 

 assumed. The first portion of the book is given over to the description of simple 

 experiments, such as may be carried out in any assaying laboratory, dealing with 

 the various processes connected with the production of metals from the oxides, 

 sulphides, and other compounds ; the use of fluxes and the formation of slags ; 

 and the formation of alloys. The second half of the work presents a series 

 of experiments that serve to illustrate the methods adopted for the assay of 

 the precious metals and for the dry and wet assays of the baser metals and alloys. 



Several appendices are placed at the end of the book and comprise weights 

 and measures, melting-points and specific gravities of the metals, and a table 

 of international atomic weights. Appendix D, which occupies eight pages, is 

 a list of chemical formula? purporting to represent the principal reactions which 

 take place in metallurgical operations. It is, however, difficult to see that any 

 useful purpose is served by tabulating such matter as this, for the formulae are 

 necessarily incomplete and give no idea of the conditions under which the changes 

 are supposed to take place. 



Appendix E gives a brief description of the chief ores and contains what might 

 be termed "rule of thumb" methods for their discrimination. Other appendices 

 comprise a table of factors and other aids in the solution of the ordinary assay- 

 problems. 



The book as a whole is eminently practical, but the practical side has been 



given so much prominence that the scientific aspect of the metallurgical methods 



is somewhat lost sight of. The book, however, should prove of great value to the 



elementary student if used with caution. Its use should certainly follow on a 



ground-work of elementary chemistry and an appreciation of the scientific 



principles that underlie and control the various reactions to which metallurgical 



science owes its existence. 



H. H. T. 



The Antiquity of Man in Europe. Being the Munro Lectures, 19 13. By 

 James Geikie, LL.D., D.C.L. [Pp. xx + 328. With 21 plates, 9 other 

 figures, and 4 maps.] (Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd. Price io.r. 6d. net.) 



Dr. Robert Munro founded the "Munro Lectureship in Anthropology and 

 Prehistoric Archaeology " at Edinburgh University about two years ago, and was 

 himself the first lecturer. Prof- J. Geikie is thus the second scholar to hold the 

 position, and his ten lectures are now issued as a book which, in spite of certain 

 somewhat serious omissions, is absorbingly interesting from beginning to end. 



It is unfortunate, however, that the lectures cannot be considered quite up-to- 

 date. They were delivered after the famous Piltdown discovery was made 



