388 



NATURE 



[December io, 1914 



Uebungsprdparate. By Dr. D. H. Wester. Pp. 



xi+129. (Berlin: Julius Springer, 1913-) 



Price 3.60 marks. 

 CO /QUALITATIVE analysis still forms the 

 V^ beg-inning- of all instruction in chem- 

 istry, but in its modern form it no longer takes 

 the guise of the familiar tables, supported by the 

 test-tube rack and the shelf of reagents. Indeed, 

 at the hands of the more advanced apostles of 

 physical chemistry it has been altered beyond all 

 recognition, and it is from this point of view- 

 that we must criticise the new contribution of 

 Prof. Stieglitz to the literature. The method of 

 instruction advocated by him aims at developing 

 the critical searching mind of the professional 

 productive chemist. The students taking his 

 course are supposed to have been prepared in 

 general chemistry on physico-chemical lines. 



In part i. of the new work the student is started 

 off on fundamental principles, and he is involved 

 at once in the consideration of osmotic pressure, 

 theories of solution, ionisation, chemical and 

 physical equilibria, as a preliminary to under- 

 taking the systematic analysis described in part ii. 

 For those few students who can stand it the 

 treatment is admirable, but it demands teaching 

 of the very highest class to make it at all success- 

 ful, as well as very great concentration on the 

 part of the student. 



The second volume is entirely a laboratory 

 manual devoted to the study of reactions and 

 systematic analysis. The text, which is inter- 

 leaved with blank pages, consists of a series of 

 instructions of the usual type with the variation 

 that the "ionic phraseology " is used throughout. 



From the point of view of those who follow the 

 new school the book is one of the best of its kind 

 — whether it will help to produce another Hoff- 

 mann or Faraday, or what is as important, a 

 Mond or a Muspratt, is more open to question. 



(2) Dr. Mellor's "Modern Inorganic Chem- 

 istry " has already won a place on the shelves of 

 most chemists, so that his new introduction, 

 written from a more elementary point of view, 

 should need no external recommendation. The 

 author's statements as to what a student may 

 expect from a general course of chemistry are 

 worth quoting even at a risk of repetition, as too 

 many of the modern text-books have already the 

 opposite tendency. They are: — (i) Skill in ob- 

 servation and experiment; (2) memory and know- 

 ledge of relevant facts ; (3) ability to reason and 

 think in a logical, systematic way ; (4) cultivation 

 of the imagination ; (5) development of a critical 

 and impartial judgment. 



The finished student with these attributes would 

 not seek long for a lucrative position. 

 NO. 2354, VOL. 94] 



(3) The volume under notice completes the new 

 edition of this well-known work, though we un- 

 derstand that a supplemental volume bringing the 

 whole work up to date is in course of prepara- 

 tion. The articles on the analytical examination of 

 the proteins are written by eleven authors whose 

 names are sufficient guarantee of the completeness 

 of the sections. It would be easy to quote small 

 details where errors or omissions had been made, 

 but it is fairer to comment on the vast mass of 

 information which the volume contains and to 

 praise the industry which has gone to its making, 

 the more especially as such work is well known 

 to be largely a labour of love. The new edition 

 of Allen's work will more than maintain the repu- 

 tation won by its forerunners. 



(4) Dr. Stabler 's work is an example of the 

 modern omnibus type of German dictionary, full 

 of every possible detail, and no doubt of the 

 utmost value. The facts that it is very costly, 

 so large as to make search in it a matter of diffi- 

 culty, that it is published spasmodically in any 

 sort of order, and contains a great amount of 

 padding, all militate against it being found out- 

 side a few large university libraries. Further- 

 more, like so many recent German works, it tends 

 to ignore much of the work done outside Ger- 

 many, and so sacrifices any claim to complete- 

 ness. 



(5) It will be generally admitted that not the 

 least of the advantages derived from the modern 

 advances in electro-chemistry are the many valu- 

 able methods of analysis which have been based 

 on them. In particular many of the methods are 

 in use in those cases where speed is essential. 



Prof. Classen's German text, which was pub- 

 lished originally as long ago as 1882, is very 

 widely known, and has passed through several 

 editions. Prof. Hall has done a considerable 

 service in bringing the English edition again up 

 to date. The table of contents illustrates suffi- 

 ciently how widely electro-analytical methods are 

 applicable both to the more simple operations, 

 such as the separation of metals from one another, 

 and also to more special technical analysis, such 

 as that of commercial copper, zinc, lead, and their 

 ores. All the more recent new methods are in- 

 cluded, and the apparatus required is fully 

 described and figured. 



(6) The danger of extreme specialisation has 

 been emphasised often enough, but so exagger- 

 ated is this now becoming that we are offered 

 from Germany a special course of phytochemical 

 preparations picked out for the would-be botanist. 

 A selection of organic compounds which are in 

 some way connected with plants is made, and the 



' manner of their preparation described in some 



