62 



NATURE 



[May 2, 1918 



reading." The authors beUeve that students will 

 understand modern science better if they know 

 more of its development, and we share this belief. 

 Prof. Sedgwick is mainly responsible for the 

 treatment of the "natural sciences"; Prof. Tyler 

 for the mathematical. " The mathematical group, 

 from their relatively greater age and higher 

 development, afford the best examples of maturity ; 

 the natural sciences illustrate more clearly recent 

 progress." 



A considerable proportion of the volume — per- 

 haps too much — is devoted to early history. In a 

 very interesting way we are told of the gropings 

 of the incipient scientific spirit in early civilisations, 

 of early mathematics in Babylonia and Egypt, of 

 beginnings in Greece and among the Ionian_philo- 

 sophers, of science in the Golden Age of Greece, 

 of Alexandrian science, of science in the Roman 

 world, and of Hindu and Arabian science. We arc 

 gradually led to the beginnings of modern natural 

 science, which may be typified by the fundamental 

 work of Galileo. The progress of the seventeenth 

 century is illustrated by the work of men like 

 Harvey, Boyle, Hales, and Huygens ; the begin- 

 nings of modern mathematical science are found in 

 Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz. The next chap- 

 ter deals with the eighteejnth century, and we read 

 of Black, Cavendish, Priestley, Lavoisier, Scheele, 

 and others in chemistry ; the pioneers in the study 

 of heat, light, sound, and electricity; the classifi- 

 cations of Linnaeus, the descriptions of Buffon, 

 the comparative anatomy of Hunter, the physio- 

 logy of Haller, and so on. The story of the nine- 

 teenth century, all too short, is mainly concerned 

 with the conception of energy, the rise of modern 

 chemistry, and the development of genetic inquiries 

 along many lines — geological, astronomical, bio- 

 logical, and anthropological. 



There are seme very interesting appendices, e.g. 

 the oath of Hippocrates, the sixth part of the " Opus 

 Majus " of Roger Bacon, the dedication Copernicus 

 wrote to his " Revolutions of the Heavenly 

 Bodies," Harvey's dedication of his work on the 

 circulation, Galileo Galilei's condemnation and re- 

 cantation, Newton's preface to the " Principia, " and 

 excerpts from Jenner and Lyell. There is a brief 

 discussion of the origin of some inventions of the 

 last two centuries. In a useful chronological list 

 great names and dates in science are placed oppo- 

 site great names and dates in general history and 

 literature. And the volume ends with a selected 

 list of reference books bearing on the history of 

 science. 



We appreciate the authors' scholarly and careful 

 work, which will be of great value to serious 

 students. The task attempted was perhaps too 

 ambitious ; for twenty authors, rather than two, 

 would be required to show the true inwardness of 

 the progress of scientific inquiry in its various 

 departments. Sometimes the reader does not get 

 enough material to enable him to understand the 

 drift of the history ; sometimes he will be apt to 

 lose the wood in the trees. The success of the 

 authors is most marked in the chapters dealing 

 with early days, and in those sections where they 

 NO. 2531, VOL. lOl] 



have concentrated attention on the development 

 of particular conceptions, such as energy or 

 organic evolution. We like the frequent citation 

 of typical passages from authorities, and we 

 admire the solid competence of the whole work. 

 There are some interesting illustrations, e.g. of; 

 Tycho Brahe's quadrant, Huygens 's clock, and 

 Newton's theory of the rainbow. 



REFRIGERATION AND RELATED 

 SUBJECTS. 



La Statique des Fluides, la Liquefaction des Gaz, 

 et rindustris du Froid. By E.-H. Amagat and 

 L. Deoombe. Premiere Partie : Statique des 

 Fluides Purs. By E.-H. Amagat and L. 

 Decombe. Deuxi^me Partie : La Probleme de la 

 Liquefaction des Gaz, I'Industrie du Froid. B7 

 L. Decombe. Pp. vi + 265. (Paris and Li^ge : 

 C. Beranger, 1917.) Price 18 francs. 



'T^HE first part of this book deals with the pro- 

 -I- perties of liquids and gases, giving a very 

 clear summary of some of the more important ex- 

 perimental work carried out in this branch of 

 physico-chemical research. Amagat's work and 

 conclusions are recorded in considerable detail, as 

 well as much of the work of other physicists. The 

 researches carried out by the great French physi- 

 cist are of such importance that readers will be 

 glad to have this connected account of them. 



The compressibility of gases at different tem- 

 peratures receives full consideration, and is illus- 

 trated by reproductions of the dpv/dp isothermals 

 for ethylene, methane, carbon dioxide, air, and 

 hydrogen. The curves for the last-mentioned gas 

 are taken from the work of Onnes and Braak 

 {1907) from —180° C. to —217° C, demonstrating 

 that hydrogen at sufficiently low temperatures ex- 

 hibits a minimum value for pv on the isothermals, 

 as do other gases at higher temperatures. Van 

 der Waal's equation, constituting an important 

 advance with regard to our knowledge of the com- 

 pressibility of gases, is given a prominent position 

 ill the book. The equations of Clausius, Sarrau^ 

 Amagat, and Onnes are briefly dealt with. 



The application of the reduced equation of state 

 (corresponding states) by Amagat to the deter- 

 mination of critical constants, by ascertaining the 

 conditions of coincidence of the dpv/dp isothermals 

 of different substances, is described in detail, and 

 illustrated by superposition of the curves for 

 carbon dioxide and ethylene and carbon dioxide 

 and ether. Leduc's work on molecular volumes 

 in corresponding conditions receives attention, as 

 well as the application of the method to the accu- 

 rate determination of molecular and atomic 

 weights. An interesting comparison of the results 

 obtained for the atomic weights of a number of 

 elements determined in this way with those ob- 

 tained from density determinations shows that a 

 high degree of accuracy obtains In most cases. 



The study of refrigeration, dealt with in the 

 second part of the book, opens with a brief ac- 

 count of the history of the liquefaction of gases. 

 A chapter is devoted to the consideration of the 



