466 



NATURE 



[February 9, 191 1 



genous vegetation of Australia, and eleven of the 

 thirty-two genera described by Bentham and Hooker 

 are in part, or wholly, Australian, with a total of 

 thirty-seven species. Of these Araucaria and Agathis 

 (Dammara) are the only genuine cone-bearing genera ; 

 the former being also represented by recent species 

 in Brazil and Chili, and the latter is spread over the 

 Malayan Archipelago and extends to New Zealand 

 and some of the Pacific Islands. 



Coming to the plan of the book and the treatment 

 of the subject, it should be explained that the main 

 object of the investigations was to ascertain, describe, 

 and illustrate the " commercial possibilities " of the 

 various species of the Australian Coniferae. The genus 

 Callitris (otherwise Frenela) — to which Mr. Baker 

 applies the popular name Cypress generically, in spite 

 of his title — as now generally circumscribed, is almost 

 restricted to Australasia (Australia and Tasmania). 

 Two species, however, occur in New Caledonia, a fact 

 overlooked apparently by Mr. Baker. There are 

 eighteen Australian species, and they are spread over 

 the whole country. Its nearest allies are African, and 

 they have sometimes been referred to the same genus ; 

 but Mr. Baker, following other authorities, retains the 

 North African Tetraclinis, and the South African Wid- 

 dringtonia, which he diagnoses anew. Callitris is the 

 only genus of Coniferae of general dispersion in Aus- 

 tralia, and the vast areas covered by some of the species 

 will come as a surprise to most botanists. Mr. Baker 

 gives very full details of the distribution of the Aus- 

 tralian Coniferae, but more especially within the State 

 of New South Wales. Callitris glauca is found in all 

 the States, "but nearly always away from the coast." 

 Ten pages are devoted to its distribution in New South 

 Wales, where it is known to occur in eighty-seven 

 counties, covering hundreds of thousands of acres. 

 C. glauca is perhaps the most important of all the 

 small trees of Australia, as its timber (as well as that 

 of other species of Callitris) is impervious to the 

 white ant. 



This species is illustrated by about thirty figures, 

 from the habit of growth of the individual to the 

 anatomy of the various parts. Altogether the work 

 contains 296 figures of anatomical structure and 

 chemical secretions, all photographic reproductions, 

 some in colour and mostly of excellent quality. In 

 addition there are about seventy unnumbered plates 

 or full-page illustrations, some of which are scenic, 

 others individual trees, while others represent her- 

 barium specimens of the natural size. Unfortunately 

 an indfex to the figures and plates is wanting. There 

 are also three maps, one of which illustrates the 

 distribution of the Coniferae of New South Wales so 

 far as at present known. In the compilation of this 

 map the authors had the assistance of about 130 

 persons, mostly schoolmasters and mistresses. Assum- 

 ing that they aff^orded trustworthy information, it is 

 evidence of an interest in natural history not easily 

 paralleled. As already mentioned, the chemical com- 

 position of the various products, the results of very 

 protracted investigations, is given in considerable 

 detail. In addition there is much practical informa- 

 tion. Comparing the number of species cited, it will 

 be seen that an average of twelve pages is devoted to 

 NO. 2154, VOL. S::! 



each; more or less, according to their importance 

 Much space is devoted to anatomy and chemistry, and 

 more might have been profitably given to morphology 

 and a discussion of the theoretical structure of the 

 female cone and the male catkin of the earlier writers. 

 The term gymnosperm is mentioned, but no definition 

 follows, and for a description of the family the reader 

 is referred to Bentham and Hooker's "Genera 

 Plantarum," as Mr. Baker considers it "would be 

 superfluous to repeat it," losing sight of the fact that 

 this classical work is expensive and accessible to com- 

 paratively few persons, besides not being up-to-date 

 in many details. W. B. H. 



PRACTICAL INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 A Manual of Practical Inorganic Chemistry, including 

 Preparations and Qualitative and Quantitative 

 Analysis, with the Rudiments of Gas Analysis, 

 specially adapted to cover Preliminary and Inter- 

 mediate University Courses and the First Three 

 Stages of the Syllabus of the Board of Educatioti. 

 By Dr. A. M. Kellas. Pp. viii + 347. (London: 

 H. Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton, 1910.) 

 Price 55. net. 



THIS volume belongs to the series of Oxford medi- 

 cal publications, in which an " Introduc- 

 tion to Practical Chemistry " was published by the 

 same author in 1909. A comparison of the two 

 volumes shows that nearly two hundred pages of the 

 texts are identical, and there can be little doubt that 

 the type set up for the earlier publication has been 

 used in the production of the major portion of the 

 present volume. 



Amongst the new matter may be noted a section 

 dealing with preparative work of a more advanced 

 character. The preparations described include the 

 chlorides and oxides of. sulphur, phosphorus, and 

 silicon, the chlorides of iron, aluminium, and tin, 

 bleaching powder, potassium chlorate, chromate, 

 bichromate and permanganate, sodium nitrite, cal- 

 cium hypophosphite, and sodium thiosulphate. The 

 list of metallic compounds, of which the mode of pre- 

 paration is described, has, moreover, been extended 

 so as to include practically all the inorganic com- 

 pounds in the British Pharmacopoeia. A summary of 

 these compounds is given, in which the impurities to 

 be looked for are in each case indicated. This exten- 

 sion is evidently designed for the special purposes of 

 pharmaceutical students, and can scarcely be regarded 

 as an enlargement in the scope of the work from a 

 chemical or an educational point of view. 



In the section dealing with the identification of acid 

 radicles, the reactions of some thirty-three acids are 

 given in the Manual as compared with sixteen in the 

 Introduction. The short section devoted to quantita- 

 tive analysis in the. latter has been expanded from 

 about twenty-five to sevent3--five pages in the new 

 volume, and in addition to several new gravimetric 

 estimations, the commoner volumetric methods are 

 described. This and the last section, in which the 

 author gives an account of the apparatus and methods 

 used in quantitative gas analysis, represent the 

 greater part of what is not to be found in the previous 

 volume. 



