e-ji SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Creative Chemistry. By Edwin E. Slosson, M.S., Ph.D. [Pp. xii + 311. 

 with 38 illustrations.] (London : University of London Press, 192 1. 

 Price I2S. bd. net.) 



This book is one of the series of New Century Books of Useful Science, and 

 originated in a series of articles written in 1917-18 for an American journal 

 for the purpose of interesting the general reader in the recent achievements 

 of industrial chemistry. It may be said at once that it would indeed be a 

 dull reader who would fail to be interested, and it would be difficult to imagine 

 a book better adapted to the purpose for which it was written. Each chapter 

 is complete in itself, dealing with one or other aspect of applied chemistry, 

 and in every case the significance to the community of properly trained 

 chemists is manifest, the author throughout making a strong appeal for the 

 maintenance of an efficient chemical service within his own country. In an 

 entirely unconventional and highly entertaining manner the author places 

 before his readers a wealth of information in such a way as to make everything 

 appear easily intelligible even to the entirely uninitiated, but a perusal of the 

 book may also be recommended strongly to advanced students. A glance 

 at the table of contents might surprise or even prejudice the serious reader, 

 as the titles of the chapters flavour rather of cheap American journalism than 

 of serious reading : as, for example. Feeding the Soil, The Race for Rubber, 

 The Rival Sugars, Solidified Sunshine, etc. ; but on closer acquaintance with 

 the contents of any one of these chapters the said reader vv^ill soon see that 

 first impressions are not always to be relied upon. It is not contended that 

 all the articles are equally good, but it is easy to see that the writer, besides 

 being endowed with that priceless gift a sense of humour, is also a widely 

 read man and a philosopher, and the result is a highly instructive as well as 

 entertaining book. Started as it was during the war, and completed in book 

 form after the declaration of peace, the book naturally presents the subject 

 from the point of view of the war, and points the lesson and further reveals 

 much of the information which was not available to the general public during 

 the war ; this applies especially to the chapter on Gas Warfare, entitled, 

 " Fighting the Fumes." Enough has been said to recommend the book to 

 as wide a circle of readers as possible, whether possessed of chemical knowledge 

 or not. 



P. H. 



All About CofEee. By William H. Ukers, M.A. [Pp. xxxii + 796.] (New- 

 York : The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1922. Price 

 70s. net.) 



The author, who is editor of the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, of New York, 

 has evidently undertaken this compilation as a labour of love, since the actual 

 writing of the manuscript has, according to his own words, extended over 

 four years, while the sorting and classification of material was commenced 

 ten years ago. It must certainly be acknowledged that the title of the book 

 very aptly describes its contents, for the author has produced what to all 

 intents and purposes may be described as an encyclopaedia upon coffee. By 

 consulting the principal European libraries and museums, the material has 

 been obtained for the first fourteen chapters, which are of antiquarian interest 

 — being concerned chiefly with the history of the introduction of coffee into 

 each of the more important European countries, and into America, as well 

 as giving particulars of the coffee-houses in which it was consumed. Then 

 follow four chapters dealing with the more scientific aspects of the question, 

 namely the Botany of the Coffee Plant, the Microscopy of the Coffee Fruit, 

 the Chemistry of the Coffee Bean, and the Pharmacology of the Coffee Drink, 

 the two latter from the pen of Mr. Charles W. Trigg, of the Mellon Institute 

 of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh. The chemistry of the constituents of 



