1898] SOME NEW BOOKS 429 
INTRODUCTIONS TO CHEMISTRY 
CHEMISTRY FOR ScHOOLS: an Introduction to the Practical Study of Chemistry. By 
C. Haughton Gill. Tenth Edition. Revised and enlarged by D. Hamilton 
Jackson. Crown 8yo, pp. x+356, with 105 figs. London: "Stanford. 1898. 
Price 4s. 6d. 
THE ORGANIZED SCIENCE SERIES. First Stage. Inorganic Chemistry (Practical). By 
F. Beddow. 8vo, pp. vili+166, 37 figs. London: Clive. 1898. Price 1s. 
Or the making of elementary text-books of chemistry there appears 
to be no end. We have recently received copies of the above works, 
and although it scarcely enters into our province to review them 
critically, we may say that they both appear to be very clearly written, 
and to be well adapted to the requirements of the student. Neither 
of them differs very startlingly from others of the kind. Perhaps of 
the two the smaller book shows more originality of treatment. We 
are glad to see that, even in so elementary a book, at least thirty 
pages are devoted to quantitative experiments. In “ Chemistry for 
Schools,” the five-page chapter on Crystalline Systems is quite in- 
adequate, and in parts unintelligible. It is time that text-books of 
chemistry contained really clear and detailed expositions of at least 
the elementary principles of crystallography. 
L’ANNEE BIOLOGIQUE, 
WE welcome the second volume of this excellent ‘ Biological Record,’ 
even though it be issued some twenty months after the last of the 
publications with which it professes to deal. In regard to accuracy of 
quotation and comprehensiveness, it is an improvement on the first 
volume, noticed in Natural Science for August 1897. As we said 
before, absolute completeness is hardly to be hoped for, and certainly 
is not attained by Professor Delage and his collaborators. For in- 
stance, although most of the appropriate papers that appeared in our 
own pages during 1896 are indexed, we see no reference to Miss 
Newbigin’s valuable contribution on the pigments of animals ; or does 
this not come under ‘ Biology’? However, there is a list (in itself 
useful) of nearly 900 periodicals said to have been consulted in the 
preparation of the volume. The abstracts, so far as we have checked 
them, seem done with intelligence and accuracy; critical remarks are, 
as a rule, inserted between square brackets. At the beginning of each 
subject an attempt is made to give a general view of advance in that 
field, and in certain cases this has led to the publication of elaborate 
essays. Such are that on phagocytosis in the animal kingdom, by J. 
Cantacuzene, with preface by E. Metchnikoff, and that on marine 
zoogeography, by G. Pruvot. The publishers are Schleicher Freres, 
15 Rue des Saints-Peéres, Paris, and the price is 20 francs. 
VARIA 
WE have received from Messrs Friedliinder & Son, of Berlin, a copy 
of Naturae Novitates for 1897. This valuable record is issued in parts 
twice a month; and finally indexed, bound, and sold for four marks, 
at the middle of the succeeding year. It is a record of all books that 
appear dealing with Natural History and the exact Sciences, and is 
invaluable in its fortnightly form for ready reference, as well as in 
