264 



NATURE 



\_7uly 17, 1879 



supplemented by numerous visits to other alkali- manufac- 

 turing districts of Britain and the Continent. The author's 

 present position as professor at a technical high school 

 enables him to state frankly what he knows and what he 

 has seen, since he can expect no benefit from keeping any- 

 thing back." 



Every one who reads the rolume before us will feel that 

 Prof. Lunge has admirably succeeded in the serious task 

 which he has set himself to accomplish, and there is no 

 doubt that he has thus not only filled up an important 

 lacuna in our chemical literature — for in no sense can any 

 other existing work on the subject be said to be satisfac- 

 tory — but he has given us a work which must become a 

 standard one. 



The importance and magnitude of the British sulphuric 

 acid trade will best be understood when we remember 

 that cheap glass and cheap soap — or light and cleanliness 

 — depend upon the cheap production of oil of vitriol ; and 

 when we learn that Great Britain manufactures about 

 five-eighths of the production of the world, and that the 

 annual amount made in this kingdom now reaches the 

 enormous figure of 832,000 tons. 



Nor is it in quantity alone — although that is, after all, 

 the true measure of a successful trade — that the English 

 manufacturers stand pre-eminent. In all the great im- 

 provements which have taken place, England has fully 

 held her own with her perhaps more highly-educated 

 Continental rivals. Thus, although the introduction of 

 pyrites in place of brimstone is often accorded to Messrs. 

 Perret of Chessy, in 1835, there is no doubt that Mr. 

 Hill of Deptford patented the process in 1818, whilst the 

 first to employ pyrites on a large scale was Thomas 

 Farmer of London. Passing again to the mechanical 

 devices for burning pyrites, we find that Dr. Lunge gives 

 an unfavourable opinion as to the construction and mode 

 of working of the Continental burners, and acknowledges 

 that the English form is that which yields the best results, 

 and is now being largely introduced in both France and 

 Germany. 



Then, again, as regards the construction of the now 

 all-important leaden chamber, we find that an English- 

 man, Dr. Roebuck of Birmingham, was the first to erect 

 such a chamber in 1746. And if it is to the genius of 

 Gay-Lussac in 1827 that we owe the idea of the recovery 

 of the excess of escaping nitrous fumes, by passing the 

 exit gases through a shower of strong sulphuric acid, we 

 must remember that this part of the manufacture was 

 not perfect until Mr. Glover proposed the addition of his 

 denitrating tower. All these, and many other inventions 

 and appliances made by intelligent English manufac- 

 turers, are clearly stated by Dr. Lunge, who appears to 

 be perfectly free from bias, and discusses the whole sub- 

 ject with a thoroughly scientific spirit. Our English 

 system of Government inspection of sulphuric acid works 

 also comes in for a proper share of notice and commen- 

 dation, although we do not find mention made of the 

 labours of the recent Noxious Vapours Commission, 

 founded upon whose report the Government have 

 brought forward a new Noxious Vapours Act, which is 

 to include a large number of works, especially vitriol 

 works, which as yet are not placed under inspection. 

 Several of the various proposals which have been made 

 by the chief inspector, Dr. Angus Smith, and his staff, 



are dwelt upon. Especially we would notice Fletcher's 

 valuable anemometer for the measurement of the draught 

 in flues and chimneys, upon the results of which the 

 escapes of acid are ascertained. 



Dr. Lunge has lived so long amongst us that he not 

 only fully appreciates highly our manufacturing skill, but 

 he is able to express his appreciation in terse and lumi- 

 nous English. The illustrations, too, with which the 

 volume teems are of the highest excellence, drawn, as 

 they all appear to be, to scale, and engraved with the 

 care and precision which is characteristic of the great 

 pubhshing house of Vieweg and Sons of Brunswick. 

 From whatever point of view we consider his labours, 

 there is no doubt that they will be highly valued both by 

 students and manufacturers, and we can confidently re- 

 commend this first volume of Dr. Lunge's work to all 

 those who, from the scientific or from the practical side, 

 are interested in this most important chemical manu- 

 facture. H. E. ROSCOE 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



On the Origin of the Laws of Nature. By Sir Edmund 

 Beckett, Bart. (London : Society for Promoting 

 Christian Knowledge, 1879.) 



This is a very clever little book, and deserves to be widely 

 read. Its subject, however, is scarcely one for our 

 columns. For it is essentially "apologetic," and its 

 strong point is not so much accurate science as keen and 

 searching logic. It dissects with merciless rigour some of 

 the more sweeping assertions of the modern materialistic 

 schools, reducing them (when that is possible) to plain 

 English so as to make patent their shallow assumptions. 

 When, from the inherent vagueness of a statement, the 

 author finds himself unable to present it in intelligible 

 and simple language, he gives by apt analogy a clear view 

 of its absurdity. He follows out in fact, in his own way, 

 the hint given by a great mathematician (Kirkman) who 

 made the following exquisite translation of a well-known 

 definition : — 



" Evolution is a change from an indefinite, incoherent, 

 homogeneity to a definite, coherent, heterogeneity, through 

 continuous differentiations and integrations." 



[Translation into plain English^ "Evolution is a 

 change from a nohowish, untalkaboutable, all-alikeness, 

 to a somehowish and in-general-talkaboutable not-all- 

 alikeness, by continuous somethingelsifications and 

 sticktogetherations." 



The following quotations, taken almost at random, give 

 a fair idea of the style of the book : — 



" You may say perhaps that this is just Hume's 

 famous argument against miracles, viz. that all experience 

 is against them, while lying is not at all contrary to 

 experience. But that again is a mere paradox, or a 

 verbal trick which either begs the question or is absvurd. 

 For if by ' all experience ' he meant literally all experience, 

 that simply begs the question ; and if he meant only 

 general experience, it sinks into the platitude that miracles 

 are uncommon. Again, if the prevalence of lying were a 

 sufficient reason for disbelieving any extraordinary story, 

 then we must not believe that any extraordinary event 

 ever happened : which is absurd." 



" In that respect there is no difference between a single 

 atom and that congeries of atoms which for the time 

 makes up a man : at any rate atheistical philosophers 

 admit none : according to them it is matter (i.e. the 

 atoms of it) 'that has the promise and potency of life,' 

 and man is only a machine resulting from their sponta- 

 neous action under laws and forces which always existed 

 without any cause. But if the most determined man in 



