December 15, 19 10] 



NATURE 



201 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



I Die Wisscnschaftlichen Griindlagen der analytischen 



\ Cheniie. By W. Ostwald. tiinfte Auflage. Pp. 



\ii + 233. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1910.) Price 



> marks. 



, 1 HE appearance of a fifth edition of this well-known 



book aJfords gratifying evidence of the widespread 



1 recognition that the study of analytical processes from 



I the theoretical point of view is a necessarv- adjunct 



' to the practical work of the laborator)-. At the same 



time, the continued demand for a book of this char- 



' acter is a striking testimony to the general utilitj' of 



the ionic hypothesis in the consideration of the 



problems of analytical chemistry. In spite of the 



many attacks, persistent and vigorous, which have 



been made upon the theory of Arrhenius, it has to be 



admitted that its position as a working hypothesis is 



stronger to-day than it was at the time of issue of the 



-t edition of this volume. 



The changes to be foimd in the new edition are 

 nparatively few. The principal novelt\' consists in 

 -lightly modified treatment of the theoretical portion 

 a result of the introduction of the view that the 

 chiometric laws are, in a certain sense, a conse- 

 ■nce of the methods which are employed for the 

 paration and identification of compounds. In this 

 inection the conception of phase is introduced, and 

 ce a phase may be either a pure substance or a 

 ution, the problem of differentiating between these 

 1 classes is obviously one which falls within the 

 ere of analytical work. 



I.ittle need be said of the section dealing with the 



.'lications of the ionic theor}- to specific chemical 



ictions. In the explanation of the action of the 



iicators used in acidimetr\-. it is now admitted that 



J the indicator ion has probably a different structure 



' from that of the non-ionised indicator molecule. Few 



anges have, however, been found necessarv as a 



-lit of recent work, and the characters are retained 



ich have earned for the book the right to be 



mted amongst the classics of the literature of 



iinalytical chemistry'. H. M. D. 



\The '-Wellcome" Photographic Exposure Record and 

 Diary, 191 1. Pp. 280. (London: Burroughs, 

 \\ellcome and Co., n.d.) Price 15, 

 IS little pocket-book is a veritable vade mecum of 

 'tography in tabloid form, and while the present 

 iter never wishes to be without his copy when out 

 h his camera, he is sure other workers,' when they 

 ome acquainted with the contents of these pocket- 

 >ks, will express the same sentiments. 

 There is no necessity to recapitulate in detail the 

 rary portions of this book, but suffice it to say 

 it they are of a ver>- interesting and useful char- 

 *er, and besides dealing with the technical difficul- 

 - of exposure, development, &c., and colour photo- 

 tphy, they include directions concerning negative- 

 king, tank or stand developing, printing, toning, 

 nsifying. and so on. In addition to the portion 

 oted to the recording of negatives exposed, there is 

 ■pie room for memoranda to replace the use of an 

 iinan- notebook. An important feature is the simple 

 fi effective exposure calculator attached to the inside 

 the cover, the correct exposure being read off under 

 conditions of light and subject bv a turn of the 

 ■le. For this issue, this calculator is rendered even 

 ;^ore simple for those who alwavs emplov plates or 

 Urns of one speed. By the insertion of a special disc, 

 ich may be obtained gratis from the publishers, the 

 'osure can be read off at a glance for anv stop. 

 's special disc will be particularlv useful to those 

 o expose yards of film in their Kodaks or other 

 no cameras. 



XO. 2146, VOL. 85I 



It should be remembered that three editions of this 

 " Record and Diary " are published, with correspond- 

 ing data for the northern hemisphere and tropics, the 

 southern hemisphere and tropics, and the United 

 States of America. Handy in form, and bound in a 

 neat green cover, it will find favour with most photo- 

 graphers. 



Reason and Belief. By Sir Oliver Lodge. Pp. xiv + 



212. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1910.) 



Price 35. 6d. net. 

 This is a contribution to the literature of reconcilia- 

 tion. The science and religion of the nineteenth 

 centur}- were hopeless!}' at variance, chiefly in conse- 

 quence of the latter's claim to pronounce in matters 

 of cosmology {e.g. Mr. Gladstone's '" Impregnable 

 Rock of Holy Scripture "). But the conditions are 

 now different. Religion is being regarded as " an atti- 

 tude of the soul to all that it knows of cosmic law " 

 — in Myers's phrase — rather than as a matter of 

 dogma ; and science, also, is learning humility-. Crude 

 materialism is seen to be no complete solution of the 

 riddle of the universe, for we do not know what 

 " matter " is. Moreover, psychology is bringing to 

 light certain phenomena which orthodox scientific 

 theories do not seem to cover. The time, therefore, 

 is ripe for a rapprochement ; and among leaders of 

 thought on the scientific side of the reconciliation 

 movement, Sir Oliver Lodge is by far the most 

 eminent and the most influential. 



Man is a being who is temporarily clothed in 

 matter, for purposes of education. He has lived be- 

 fore birth, and will live after "'death," in modes only 

 dimly conjecturable at present. If so, what difficulty 

 is there in supposing that an exceptionally great and 

 loving spirit, seeing the race's need, may voluntarily 

 take a bodv of flesh, in order to teach his similarly 

 incarnated brother spirits? This shows the way to a 

 reconciliation of reason and belief on a cardinal doc- 

 trine of Christianity. 



The volume is enriched with apt quotations from 

 many sources — Wordsworth. Browning, Tennyson, 

 Swinburne, M\ers, Francis Thompson, &c. Its stvle 

 is popular and clear, but the thought throughout is 

 deep and suggestive. The latter part has an illu- 

 minating chapter on the scope of science, and also 

 deals with the teaching of the Old Testament in the 

 light of evolution, and with anticipated criticism. 



J. A H. 



Altitude Tables, computed for Intervals of Four 

 Minutes between the Parallels of Latitude 0° and 

 30° and Parallels of Declination 0° and 24°, de- 

 signed for the Determination of the Position-line at 

 all Hour Angles without Logarithmic Computation. 

 By F. Ball. Second edition. Pp. ix + 245. (Lon- 

 don : J. D. Potter, 1910.) Price 15s. net. 

 The appearance of a second and improved edition 

 of these tables is welcome on several grounds, 

 but mainly as an indication of increasing accuracy in 

 nautical calculations. We hope, too, that the demand 

 for such tables may be regarded as a proof of the 

 growing popularity of the method of determining the 

 position of a ship at sea proposed by Captain Marcq 

 St. Hilaire, of the French Xa\y. This method, though 

 theoretically superior to that of finding the Sumner 

 lines by the ordinan,'^ process, has not been generally 

 adopted, on account of the slight increase in the com- 

 putations required. Seeing that in the St. Hilaire 

 method, the observations may be made at any time 

 with equally good and consistent results, whereas in 

 the ordinary- method, observations taken near the meri- 

 dian mav have to be repeated nearer the prime ver- 

 tical, the objections that have been alleged against 

 the newer method on account of the length of the 



