September 17, 19 14] 



NATURE 



59 



77ie Examination and Thermal Value of Fuel: 

 Gaseous, Liquid, and Solid. By J. H. Coste 

 and E. R. Andrews. Pp. xvi + 278. (London: 

 C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 65. net. 



The importance of the scientific examination of 

 fuels and the avoidance of wasteful methods of 

 utilisation is becoming- more and more recognised 

 as it is realised that economy, both individual and 

 national, must be exercised in their application. 

 This small treatise deals with the methods of 

 sampling-, analysis, and determination of the 

 calorific value of fuels of all classes, and the 

 examination of flue gases. 



The book will prove of considerable service in 

 the laboratory, but it must be confessed that in 

 some sections it is lacking in that personal assist- 

 ance, the result of experience, one is led to hope 

 for in the preface. 



In gas analysis, for example, many are the pit- 

 falls besetting explosion analyses, but beyond the 

 usual outline of procedure, little help is g-iven in 

 avoiding the difficulties. Again, whilst the Petrol- 

 eum Act regulations for testing the flashing- point 

 of burning oil (which is of minor importance as a 

 fuel) are quoted in extenso, the flash point of 

 heavier oils (those of special importance as fuel 

 oils) is dismissed with the briefest description of 

 the Pensky-Martens apparatus, and no descrip- 

 tion of the method of working- is given or refer- 

 ence made to the precautions necessary to obtain 

 1,'^ood results. 



The sections on calorimetry are undoubtedly 

 the most satisfactory portions of the book, with 

 much evidence of personal experience. Very 

 ample consideration is g-iven to questions affecting- 

 the accuracy of the results and the comparative 

 value of different types of calorimeters. Now that 

 purchase on calorific value is becoming more 

 general and legal standards of calorific value of 

 i^aseous fuels already established, the whole sub- 

 ject of calorimetry has become of primary im- 

 portance, and this book is certainly a useful 

 addition to the literature on the subject. 



Rapid Methods for the Chemical Analysis of 

 Special Steels, Steel-making Alloys, and 

 Graphite. By C. M. Johnson. Second edition, 

 rewritten. Pp. xi + 437. (New York : J. Wiley 

 and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, 

 Ltd., 1914.) Price 125. 6d. net. 

 The first appearance of this book dates back to 

 1908, and the edition now brought out contains 

 quite twice as much material as its predecessor. 

 The chapters have increased from sixteen to 

 twenty-one, whilst the subdivisions of chapters, 

 which were so strang-e in the first edition, are still 

 further elaborated. The new chapters deal prin- 

 cipally with the analysis of ores, refractory 

 materials (acid and basic), fluorspar, lubricating 

 oils, and coal; whilst uranium, cobalt and nitrogen 

 are added to the section on steels. Besides these 

 the chapter on the determination of carbon is 

 amplified considerably, and an interesting account 

 of the estimation of oxygen in tungsten p>owders 

 and in steels has been inserted. The valuation of 



NO. 2342, V-OL. 94I 



nickel chrome steels and Monel metal have been 

 given chapters to themselves. Unfortunately, the 

 new portions (which deal practically entirely with 

 the author's own work — the general literature 

 being rather neglected) have been inserted in such 

 a way as to give the book a very patched appear- 

 ance. The arrangement has also resulted in 

 several rather tiring duplications. A blue pencil 

 wielded by a friendly though very free hand would 

 have tended to a much improved book. In a work 

 of this nature one naturally looks for all things 

 up to date, and in consequence one is surprised to 

 find no appreciation of the " reductor methods " 

 that are so extremely useful m analysis of this 

 kind. Among many other omissions may be men- 

 tioned the work of Gooch and his pupils on 

 vanadium, molybdenum, etc., the recognised volu- 

 metric methods for manganese in ferro-manganese, 

 the ignition of Briinck's precipitate to nickel oxide, 

 and the iodometric estimation of copper. 



Leslie Aitchison 



The Latest Light on Bible Lands. By P. S. P 

 Handcock. Second edition, revised. Pp. xii-^ 

 371. (London: S.P.C.K., 1914.) Price 65. 

 net. 



Archeology is a two-edged sword for those who 

 would "prove the Bible," an uncertain lamp which 

 may unexpectedly throw a distressing light on the 

 mental calibre of chosen races ; nay, more, tradi- 

 tions of similarities in Flood-narratives, or civer- 

 gences in Creation-stories, may not unnaturally 

 set up doubts in credulous minds as oppositions of 

 science falsely so-called. It was one of the dis- 

 coveries of Macalister at Gezer that Philistinism 

 was a misnomer for boorishness, for the Philis- 

 tines by the traces of their culture and civilisa- 

 tion there discovered have proved themselves to 

 be far more worthy artists than the Hebrews. 

 Mr. Handcock 's book is of a kind which is pub- 

 lished from time to time, giving the latest dis- 

 coveries so far as they are analogous to the Old 

 Testament, and recapitulating what was hitherto 

 known. Here is again the Babylonian account of 

 the Flood and ths Creation of Man by Marduk 

 from his own blood (why is no reference made to 

 Mr. King, who first published the tablet contain- 

 ing the latter storj?) ; an account of the Gilgamish 

 epic and the Flcod-story, told sufficiently accur- 

 ately in their main points, although the distinction 

 which the author makes m the epilogue is too nice 

 for us (" ' the gods came dow-n to smell the sacrifice 

 like flies,' a description which in its materialism 

 contrasts somewhat strikingly with the dign'fied 

 words of the Biblical writer, ' And the Lord 

 smelled a sweet savour. ' ") ; and a proper rejec- 

 tion of the Chedorlaomer theory. The chapters on 

 the latest diggings in Palestine form a useful 

 precis of what has been published by excavators, 

 and Mr. Handcock gives also a full index of Old 

 Testament place-names. In judicious hands his 

 book will go far to provide a guard against one 

 edge of the sword ; it has been the writer's endea- 

 vour to allow the facts to speak for themselves. 



R. C. T. 



