250 HL'MUS — HUMOC.EN, 



(8) V. P. Muller : " Studien iiber die natiirlichen Humus- 



formen." 



(9) Bulletin No. 47, U.S.A. Bureau of Soils. 



(10) Biochemical Journal (June, 191 5). 

 Biochemical Journal. No. 2 (1907). 



(11) Biochemical JoHrnal, No. 2 (1907). 



(12) Baumann: Untersuchungen iiber die Humusformen. 



( 13 ) X'arious recent papers, notably Proceedings of the Royal 



Society. 



Elementary Chemistry. — " A knowledge of 

 cheniistr)-, e\en if it never goes beyond the elementary stage, is of 

 advantage in all phases of life."' So opens the preface to a little 

 chemical text book* compiled by Dr. F. Mollwo Perkin and Miss 

 E. M. j aggers, and Tjased on a course of instruction followed for 

 ■npnie years in the laboratories of the Borotigh Polytechnic Insti- 

 tute. To contintie : " there is no manufacture in which chemistry 

 does not play a part. The })roduction of steel for engineering 

 work, the minting of coins, the mantifacttu-e of explosives and 

 of medicines, the polishes for our boots, and the ink with which 

 we write, all demand a knowledge of chemistry." In these days 

 of stress and strain, while Britain slowly awakes to a sense of 

 the fundamental importance of chemistry in industries vital to 

 national jjrogress, the President of the South African Association 

 of Analvtical Chemists points out that " practically every i)rocess 

 nowadays reqttires a chemist for efficiency," and adds " South 

 Africa does not hesitate to nm a steelworks without a chemist." 

 This would not be if all who are anxious to " do their bit" for 

 their country would get home to their minds the cpiotation at 

 the head of this paragra])h, and realise it in practice. .-Vlthough 

 (|uite suited for elementary chemistry classes, the book above 

 c|uoted is well adapted as a handbook for private study, and in 

 this direction, it is to be hoped that it will find extensive use. The 

 course therein followed does not proceed along the ordinarily 

 accei)ted — and scientifically more correct — lines of chemical 

 study, the aim being rather to proceed from the familiar to that 

 which is new and strange, leading from fact to fact in an inter- 

 esting and logical seciuence. First water and then the atmos- 

 ))here are discussed, their i)ro])erties examined, and the student 

 familiarised with the various api)liances essential for their study: 

 most of the iion-nu'tals and the ])rincipa1 metals are next briefly 

 treated, and finally electroplating, and some of the chief technical 

 ])rocesses. such as coal distillatioii. the aniline dyes, and ex]^lo- 

 sives are described, and, wherever possible, directions are intro- 

 duced for the performance of experiments. 



*F. M. Perkin and K. Al. Jasgcrs : "Text Ixxjk of ekMiiontarv 

 chemistry." .Sni. Svn. pp. viii, .^S^. London: Constal)k' & Co., Lid., iot6. 

 .3s. nett. 



