i62 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



independence of thought" : so writes Dr. Fenton in his preface ; if such views 

 were more widely held, our science would be on a far higher moral plane than that 

 on which it now rests ; it would be admitted to be of real value as educational 

 discipline ; as now taught, it is probably better avoided. It is perhaps open to 

 question whether Dr. Fenton altogether lives up to his own profession — he 

 somewhat spoils the effect of his prefatory statement by excessive advocacy of 

 one hypothesis and he can even be unfair. The statement (p. 201) that " the 

 theory of ionic dissociation met with violent opposition at first and is still bitterly 

 ' resented ' by certain chemists of undoubted reputation " is nothing short of 

 improper. The use of resented, even in inverted commas, is not justifiable and 

 it is not the office of the writer of a text-book to appraise the reputations of 

 those who have dared to differ in a particular discussion — reputation has nothing 

 to do with the matter ; all that we are concerned to know is whether objectors 

 have been actuated by honesty of purpose and whether they have looked facts 

 in the face. Unfortunately, at the present day, owing to the ease with which 

 literary advertisement is secured and the prevalence of log-rolling, " reputation " 

 covers a multitude of sins and is too often a means of misleading public opinion. 



Dr. Teuton's book is of particular interest as showing what has been taught 

 in the University at Cambridge as chemistry and how those who are being 

 trained as chemists have been led to regard the subject. The course developed 

 in it is stated to be that in General and Physical Chemistry which it is 

 customary to give to candidates for the Natural Science Tripos. If such be the 

 case, we fear that far too much has been attempted ; that no really chemical 

 foundation can have been laid. As to the first of these contentions, Dr. Fenton 

 admits in his preface that the teaching has been carried on at high pressure. 

 One is reminded of Mark Twain's inimitable stories of racing on the Mississippi — 

 how the hams put on board as cargo were burnt under the boiler while the 

 pilot sat on the safety valve. Mr. Fenton stokes his students with ions instead 

 of hams and raises their mental osmotic pressure far beyond bursting point by 

 loading them up with all the higher problems of so-called Physical Chemistry, 

 not omitting the Phase Rule and the Colloidal State : most appropriately perhaps, 

 as a colloid state of intelligence must be developed by so heavy a course 

 administered in so short a time. 



The subjects dealt with are Molecular and Atomic Weights, Valency, Chemical 

 Change, Electrolytic-dissociation, Acids, Salts and Bases, Hydrolysis, Solutions, 

 the Phase Rule, Diffusion and the Colloid State. It is difficult to say where the 

 art of chemistry comes into this scheme. Mathematical formulas abound ; this, 

 that and the other "law" is duly advertised : in short, all that passes for mathe- 

 matics and physics nowadays among students of chemistry is more or less 

 thoroughly expounded— yet chemistry proper is but scantily treated. Several 

 chapters are devoted to chemical change but the conditions which determine it 

 are nowhere defined or discussed — yet work has been done on the subject of late 

 years. Under Catalysis, Dr. Fenton does not actually tell the student that the 

 function of the catalyst is merely to modify the velocity of a change, not to 

 determine it : unlike most writers, he spares us the statement " Ostwald has said 

 that this is the case, therefore it must be so " ; yet he goes far towards fathering 

 such doctrine. Early in the chapter the statement is made, " In all the above 

 mentioned examples (including the hydrolysis of sugar by acids) it can be shown 

 experimejitally that the change in question does actually take place when the 

 catalyst is absent, the only observed difference being the greatly increased rate 

 when the catalyst is present!" This is simply untrue — no one yet has shown 



