LITERARY NOTICES. 



499 



or "W. C. Eicliards, Pli. D., who, having 

 retired from the public lecture-field, of- 

 fers for sale his extensive collection of 

 instruments. The stock includes du- 

 plicates of important pieces, such as 

 coils, batteries, spectroscopes, vacuum- 

 tubes ; and it ofi'ers an excellent chance 

 for colleges, high-schools, and private 

 students, to supply themselves from 

 this collection. Those who are in 

 want of such instruments should send 

 to Professor Eichards for his catalogue. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Smithsoxian Miscellaneous Collections ; 

 The Constants of Nature. Part 1. 

 Specific Gravities ; Boiling and Melting 

 Points ; and Chemical Formula. Com- 

 piled by Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, 

 S. B. Washington, D. C, 1873. 



Tms volume of 263 pages is No. 255 of 

 the publications of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, and it is yet another evidence of the 

 care and thought bestowed by the vener- 

 able Secretary of that Institution upon all 

 means and aids suitable fpr the advance- 

 ment of human knowledge. 



It is Part I. of a series which is to con- 

 tain the Constants of Nature, tabulated in 

 such a way as to be immediately available 

 for the uses of scientific men, as well as for 

 general reference. 



A careful examination of its general 

 plan shows that this work has been ad- 

 mirably done by Prof. Clarke (now of How- 

 ard University, Washington). The work 

 can be consulted with great convenience 

 by means of the very complete Index, and 

 on turning to any page the information is 

 found in five columns side by side. The 

 first column contains the name of the sub- 

 stance, as, for example, Iodine ; in this col- 

 umn also the letter Z or s shows that the 

 substance has been examined in a liquid or 

 a solid state. 



The third column contains the specific- 

 gravity determinations which have been 

 made, accompanied by figures showing the 

 temperature at which they were made, and 

 a reference number to each line indicates 

 the authority (volume and page usually) 

 from which the datum is selected. Another 

 symbol in this column, " m. of 6," for ex- 



ample, shows that the determination was 

 the mean of six determinations. 



The next column gives the boihng-point 

 in degrees Fahrenheit, together with the 

 height of the barometer at which this ele- 

 ment was determined, and the fifth column 

 gives the melting-point. 



Sulphur has thirty-two lines devoted to 

 its properties ; Tin has eighteen ; Bismuth 

 eighteen, etc. 



As an example, we extract line No. 7 of 

 Sulphuric Acid. The No. 7 refers us to a 

 paper by H. L. Buff in the "Annals of 

 Chemistry and Pharmacy," fourth supple- 

 ment (1865-'66), p. 129, and also to vari- 

 ous articles quoted in that paper. The line 

 reads: "Sulphuric Acid; SO 3 ; 1.81958, 

 47°; 46° to 47° 760 m.m.; rs. 25°; " which 

 shows that the specific gravity was deter- 

 mined at 47° Fahr. to be 1.81958, that at 

 760 m.m., the boiling-point was from 46° 

 to 47° Fahr., and that this specimen re- 

 soHdified at 25° Fahr. 



It only remains to add from Prof. 

 Clarke's modest preface, that the work, 

 " exclusive of its supplement, contains the 

 specific gravities of 2,263 substances, and 

 over 5,000 determinations in all. There 

 are over 2,000 determinations of boiling- 

 point, representing 1,205 different sub- 

 stances ; and nearly 500 of melting-point 

 for 326 different substances. In all, the 

 names of 2,572 distinct bodies will be 

 found in the table." 



Physiology for Practical Use. Edited 

 by James Hinton. With Introduction 

 by E, L. TouMANS. New York : D. Ap- 

 pieton & Co., pp. 507. Price $2.25. 



Too few books have honest titles, for 

 these are as often chosen to mislead as to 

 instruct. The present is among those that 

 are accurately described by their names. 

 For, while there is a great deal of interesting 

 scientific physiology in this volume, its dis- 

 tinctive character is that it furnishes physi- 

 ological knowledge that can be continually 

 applied to practical use. Dr. Hinton, the 

 editor, "is an eminent aural surgeon of Lou- 

 don, and contributes the article to this vol- 

 ume on " The Faculty of Hearing. " We 

 published a portion of that article some time 

 ago in the Monthly, and all who read it will 

 attest that it was one of the best practical 

 presentations of the subject that has yet ap- 



