October 7, 1920] 



NATURE 



175 



addresse<J, a list of patents restricted to their 

 numbers, with a general reference to technical 

 journals in which further particulars may possibly 

 be discovered, is of no great educational value. 

 The extension of his principles has, in fact, led 

 the author into an impasse, and by carrying it 

 still further on similar lines his volumes threaten 

 to become unwieldy and their material ill-digested. 

 Although we have no great sympathy with the 

 spirit which has actuated the author in the com- 

 pilation of these treatises, and, indeed, may be 

 said to pervade them, in bare justice it must be 

 admitted that they contain a great mass of useful 

 facts, and the reader who will steadily work 

 through their 1500 pages will acquire a consider- 

 able stock of information on general industrial 

 chemistry. But we question whether this is quite 

 the pabulum on which to feed the young chemist, 

 even if intended for technology-. Prof. Molinari 

 thinks that the slow progress, and even the ruin, 

 of many Italian chemical industries are to be 

 attributed to the erroneous direction of chemical 

 training in the universities. Nevertheless, this 

 training was presumably modelled on that of 

 French and German schools of chemistry, and 

 similar evil results have not followed in France 

 or Germany. There must be other causes — 

 social, economic, temperamental — to account for 

 the general lack of success of which the author 

 complains. We seriously doubt if it will be reme- 

 died in the manner he indicates. The experience 

 of every other country in Europe which has ac- 

 quired a commanding position in chemical in- 

 dustry is against him. It is only in America that 

 a similar sentiment has been seen, and, until com- 

 paratively recently, America has shown no great 

 aptitude in creating chemical industry. Now, 

 thanks to the enormous development of chemical 

 teaching of a university type in the United 

 States, a great impetus has been given to the 

 higher branches of chemical technology, espe- 

 cially since the war, and largely owing to the 

 colbpse of Germany. But the system of chemical 

 training in the best American institutions is not 

 markedly different from that which prevails m 

 the leading European schools. Japan affords a 

 like example. Practically all her leading teachers 

 and technologists have been trained in Continental 

 laboratories, and have introduced their systems 

 into the Japanese universities and technical in- 

 stitutes. It would be interesting to know the 

 views of such eminent Italian chemists as 

 Patern6, Ciamician, and Nasini concerning Prof. 

 Molinari 's surmise as to the cause of Italy's back- 

 ward condition in chemical industry. We should 

 be surprised to learn that they would attribute it 

 NO. 2658, VOL. 106] 



to faulty methods of teaching the science and 

 theory of chemistry. It may turn out to be due 

 to a superficial system of instruction in chemical 

 technology, in which chemical theory is insuffi- 

 ciently considered and the methods and practice of 

 chemical manufacture are imperfectly expounded. 



(3) Vol. ix. of the "Text-book of Inorganic 

 Chemistry " edited by Dr. Newton Friend is con- 

 cerned with the elements of Group viii. of the 

 Periodic Table, on which system of classification 

 the entire work is based. The volume is divided 

 into two parts, of which this instalment is the 

 first. It deals with cobalt, nickel, and the metals 

 of the platinum group, six in number. Strictly 

 speaking, this is a departure from the plan uni- 

 formly followed in the preceding volumes, in 

 which the element of lowest atomic weight in the 

 several groups is treated of first; in this case it 

 should be iron. It is proposed, however, to deal 

 with iron and its compounds in a separate section 

 forming part ii. of this particular volume. There 

 are, no doubt, good reasons for this course. 

 Iron occupies an exceptional position, and the 

 space needed for its consideration may well neces- 

 sitate a special section. But this fact does not 

 necessarily require any alteration in the estab- 

 lished plan of sequence— viz. that the element of 

 lowest atomic weight should take precedence 

 of its fellow-members in the group. We 

 surmise that the only reason for the change in 

 treatment was that on account of "the enormous 

 amount of research " that has been carried out 

 in connection with the properties of iron and of 

 its compounds, delay has occurred in putting to- 

 gether the material. It is, of course, a small 

 matter, and leads to no practical inconvenience. 

 But in the interests of uniformity it is worth 

 rectifying, which can easily be done in a later 

 edition of the entire work. 



The present volume well maintains the reputa- 

 tion which its predecessors have conferred upon 

 the work as a whole. In general plan and 

 arrangement and method of treatment it is similar 

 to these. It opens with a chapter on the general 

 characteristics of the elements of the group with 

 which it is concerned. The anomaly in the posi- 

 tion of cobalt in the Periodic Table is duly pointed 

 out. In the table cobalt is placed between iron 

 and nickel, although the bulk of experimental evi- 

 dence goes to show that the atomic weight of 

 cobalt is distinctly greater than that of nickel. 

 No sufficient explanation of this anomaly-has been 

 given. It is one of those apparent exceptions to 

 the universality and comprehensiveness of the 

 doctrine which await solution. Similar difficulties 

 have occurred before, and subsequent research 



