NA TURE 



\yan. 19, 1888 



show that it could ever have led to them. And all recent 

 attempts to directly apply the results of physical deter- 

 minations have 'proved most unfortunately barren of 

 results : a striking example of this is afforded by the 

 complete failure which appears to have attended Thorn- 

 sen's attempt to deal with the vast mass of thermal data 

 accumulated by his unwearied study of carbon com- 

 pounds. Chemists have not as yet received much assist- 

 ance from physicists : the determination of physical 

 constants has served to give precision to chemical state- 

 ments, but little else ; and it is not probable that it will 

 ever be otherwise. In fact, the attitude of the two classes 

 of observers towards natural objects is different, and 

 appears to be somewhat as follows. The physicists are 

 much like a party engaged in the investigation of a strange 

 nation : they walk through the streets of its towns and 

 most carefully observe how the houses are externally 

 constructed and arranged, and study the traffic in the 

 streets, but they do 'not enter the houses or take note of 

 the mental peculiarities of the people. The chemists, 

 however, enter the houses : they observe their internal 

 structure, they determine the influence of this internal 

 structure on the character and occupations of the inha- 

 bitants, of whose mental peculiarities they also en- 

 deavour to gain clear conceptions. Those chemists who 

 are satisfied to merely cross the thresholds without con- 

 tinuing their studies and researches, and who therefore 

 have much to learn before they can'appreciate the labours 

 of their more active and curious brethren, have no right 

 to take upon themselves the functions of law-givers. 



Lastly, a few words regarding the illustrations. It will 

 no doubt be said that these are only diagrammatic ; that 

 students are to perform the experiments themselves and 

 therefore will become acquainted with the actual appar- 

 atus. But even diagrams should be drawn to scale : Figs- 

 37, 38, and 43, are illustrations which show how frequently 

 this is not the case : if such very wide-mouthed flasks 

 were always used as are pictured in most of the diagrams 

 a small fortune would be expended in corks. An elemen- 

 tary work should be properly illustrated by drawings 

 which fairly represent the actual apparatus, as such a 

 book will necessarily fall into the hands of those who 

 have no knowledge of apparatus, and therefore need 

 guidance. 



From our remarks it will be gathered that we entirely 

 disapprove of the " Practical Chemistry " as a book for 

 beginners : we do not recommend it even to more ad- 

 vanced students. Teachers will no doubt be able to 

 cull a few useful hints from it, although there is a striking 

 absence of originality or novelty in all practical details. 



We have little to say of the " Elementary Chemistry.' 

 It is an infinitely better book than the companion volume, 

 and a fairly advanced student will find in it much infor- 

 mation of interest and Value not to be met with in any 

 other current work of the kind. But it is not an ele- 

 mentary chemistry in any proper sense of the term, and, 

 as in the companion volume, the attempt is made to 

 crowd far too much matter into the space at disposal. 



In expressing our opinion thus plainly, we have been 

 guided by the desire to do something to stem the 

 ever-flowing tide of so-called elementary text-books of 

 chemistry ; these are mainly the outcome of the existence 

 in this country of a vast amount of pseudo-chemistry, 



and of little true chemistry, and the very existence of 

 such books is doing an infinity of mischief in helping to 

 perpetuate the evil. We believe that it would be of great 

 advantage to chemical science to form an Association to 

 prevent the further publication of elementary works other 

 than such as had been carefully revised and approved of 

 by a Publication Committee of the Association. The harm 

 done by unsystematic and illogical teaching, and by vague 

 experimenting, can never be repaired, and it is incumbent 

 on an author to ponder the meaning and effect of every 

 word, line, and sentence of an elementary text-book. 



The authors of the " Elementary Chemistry " say that 

 the book does not profess to be a descriptive catalogue 

 of chemical facts regarding the properties of the indi- 

 vidual elements and compounds. But until a satisfactory 

 practical elementary chemistry shall have been written, 

 it is far better that students should gain simply an exact 

 knowledge of chemical facts, and that in their practical 

 work they should be guided by books which we all ac- 

 knowledge to be sound, though we may think that they 

 are far too restricted in range. Let each school purchase 

 as many copies as possible of a grand old standard work 

 such as Miller's large " Inorganic Chemistry," full of honest 

 common-sense and all but free^ from fads, and let this 

 serve as the book of reference. A fair understanding of 

 the broad principles which underlie the science may be 

 gained from books such as Cooke's " New Chemistry,' 

 and Wurtz's " Atomic Theory," both master-works in 

 their way. H. E. A. 



CHINESE CIVILIZATION. 

 China : its Sodal, Political, and Religious Life. From 

 the French of G. Eug. Simon. (London : Sampson 

 Low and Co., 1887.) 



THE reader who takes up this volume, expecting to 

 find it an ordinary popular sketch of Chinese life 

 and manners, similar to dozens of others which have 

 gone by and dozens which are doubtless yet to come, will 

 be totally mistaken. For in place of a colourless account 

 of China — if any account of that wonderful country with 

 its marvellous civilization could be written wholly devoid 

 of colour, — and a jejune outhne of the peculiarities of 

 the Chinese, the reader will find here one of the most 

 closely reasoned, original, and powerful defences of the 

 Chinese social and poUtical system that have ever been 

 pubhshed in Europe. Writers of eminence, indeed, there 

 have been who have selected some special peculiarity 

 of Chinese religion, society, or politics, and hav^e held it 

 up to the West as worthy of imitation, and as a mark of 

 profound wisdom ; but M. Simon defends Chinese polity 

 and civilization all along the line. He lived in China as 

 a French official in the critical years succeeding the war 

 of 1861-62 ; he travelled widely, and he observed keenly. 

 This volume was not written in the first flush of pleasure 

 and surprise at the strange and wonderful things he saw 

 about him ; he returned home, and has had ample time to 

 correct first impressions, to review conclusions formed on 

 the spot by the light of subsequent experience and know- 

 ledge, and years afterwards he is able to tell to the West 

 that, as of old, the wise men still come from the East, 

 and that the highest product of the human mind is to 

 be found in the civilization of China. The most civilized 



