214 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



then paint samples are brought for 

 analysis. It is a collection of notes by 

 a chemist who has had much experience 

 along this line. 



In the field of applied chemistry quite 

 a number of books have come out lately, 

 the most useful of which is probably the 

 seventh volume of 'The Mineral Industry.' 

 The field of mineral resources and indus- 

 tries of the world is very thoroughly sur- 

 veyed, and the volume is brought as 

 closely down to date as possible. In this 

 respect it has a great advantage over 

 the corresponding publication of the 

 United States Government. Among the 

 subjects which are treated very thor- 

 oughly in the present volume are cal- 

 cium carbid, fire brick and paving brick, 

 coal mining methods and their economic 

 bearing, progress in the metallurgy of 

 copper and of gold, notes on the prog- 

 ress of iron and steel metallurgy (by 

 Henry M. Howe), sulfuric acid, progress 

 in ore dressing (by Robert H. Richards). 

 It is a book necessary to the teacher, 

 of great value to the economist and of 

 much interest to the general reader. 

 The second edition of McMillan's "Elec- 

 tro-metallurgy* is a considerable im- 

 provement on the former edition, and is 

 brought well down to date. The greater 

 part of the book is devoted to the elec- 

 tro-deposition of metals, and is thorough 

 and satisfactory. It is, however, unfor- 

 tunate that the treatment of electro- 

 metallurgical ore-extraction should be 

 very inadequate, this whole subject, to- 

 gether with electro-refining, being con- 

 fined to a single chapter of thirty pages. 



Lange's 'Chemische-technische Un- 

 tersuchungsmethoden' is passing through 

 its fourth edition, of which the second 

 volume is just out. This treats of metals 

 and metallic salts, fertilizers, fodders, 

 explosives, matches, gas manufacture, 

 ammonia and coal tar and inorganic 

 colors. The book aims at exhaustive 

 treatment, and while some subjects are 

 in parts weak, as is naturally the case 

 where there are many different authors, 

 it is as a whole the best work in its 

 field. 



A book in a new line is H. and H. 

 Ingle's Chemistry of Fire and Fire Pre- 

 vention' (Spon and Chamberlain). The 

 book takes its origin from lectures de- 

 livered to an audience of insurance men. 

 After three chapters on the history and 

 theory of combustion, various industries 

 more or less connected with fire are 

 taken up; coal gas, dust explosions, fuel, 

 illuminants, explosives, oils, volatile 

 solvents, paints and varnish making, 

 textile manufactures, spontaneous com- 

 bustion, are some of the subjects treated. 

 The last chapter is a quite useful one 

 on fire prevention and extinction. The 

 book contains much useful information 

 and should prove of very considerable 

 value outside of the rather limited au- 

 dience to which it is addressed. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The past few months have witnessed 

 the publication of many important 

 works on zoological subjects, and among 

 these it may not be amiss to note first 

 Kingsley's 'Text-Book of Vertebrate 

 Zoology,' since it adopts a new method, 

 that of showing the bearing of embryol- 

 ogy upon the morphology of vertebrates, 

 and in turn, of morphology upon their 

 classification. Its object is stated to be to 

 "supplement both lectures and labora- 

 tory work, and to place in concise form 

 the more important facts and generali- 

 zations concerning the vertebrates," and 

 the author has succeeded in crowding a 

 large amount of information into the 

 439 pages of the work. The illustrations 

 are numerous, and for the most part 

 very good, comprising some figures that 

 have appeared in other text-books and 

 some that are the outcome of Dr. Kings- 

 ley's own work. It is to be noted that 

 in place of many of the standard Euro- 

 pean forms that have done morphologi- 

 cal duty for years, we have such Ameri- 

 can types as Acanthias, Necturus, Am- 

 blystoma and Sceloporus, a change for 

 which we are duly grateful. 



Parker and Haswell's admirable 

 'Manual of Zoology' has been revised 



