February 7, 19 18] 



NATURE 



44. 



they g-o downstairs and out to the conduit to 

 wash their faces and hands. (The reg-ulations of 

 Eton and Westminster only required them to wash 

 their hands.) There were no baths, and, as at 

 Cambridg-e and at Glasg^ow, " going into the 

 water " in the Meads was an offence against pro- 

 priety which earned a flogging, if not expulsion. 

 Of floggings on all days, but organised on Bloody 

 Friday, it is unnecessary to speak. No food 

 before 9, whether the early morning was spent 

 in school or "on Hills," then bread and beer for 

 breakfast; at 12, for dinner, boiled beef, bread, 

 and beer ; 3.30, bevers of bread and beer ; 5, supper 

 of mutton, bread, and beer; " further refresh- 

 ment " before going to bed, and a nipperkin of 

 beer in chambers, to last the night. (It reminds one 

 of F. W. Maitland's discovery, " Doomsday Book 

 and Beyond," that the allowance of a Canon of 

 St Paul's, probably including two servants, was 

 eighteen gallons a week.) Vegetables are not 

 mentioned, and there is no reason for thinking 

 that they were comprised in the diet. " In winter 

 we may, perhaps, be allowed a fire in Hall "— 

 charcoal, in a brazier, beneath the lantern in the 

 roof. There was no other fire in college. And, 

 for mental food, Latin and Greek authors, with, 

 /" on Saturdays, for the higher classes, the cate- 

 chism of Xowell (the learned divine) in Greek, by 

 heart." Mathematics, taught by the writing mas- 

 ter, made a timid entry towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century. Physical science was first 

 tolerated (the word is used advisedly) in 1867. 



■All servants were male, with the exception of 

 one anus culinae (old woman in the kitchen) over 

 an, apparently, short period, and the nurse who 

 made her appearance in Sick-House just after 

 Mathew had left. The list is of great interest as 

 pointing the contrast between the economic con- 

 ditions of the seventeenth century and modern 

 times : one manciple, one bread-butler, one beer- 

 butler, two cooks, one baker, two brewers, one 

 miller, one horsekeeper, one gardener, one porter, 

 two scullions, one cleaner of trenchers, one old 

 woman of the kitchen. As in all other colleges, 

 the society killed their own beef and mutton, 

 ground their own wheat, baked their own bread, 

 grew their own hops, and brewed their own beer. 

 For a society of 105 persons, of whom most of 

 the scholars and all the " quiristers " performed 

 many menial duties for the masters as well as for 

 themselves, the establishment was large and 

 " economically " wasteful. A. H. 



i ORGANIC CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 



Allen's Commercial Orfi^anic Analysis. Fourth 

 edition, entirely re-written. Vol. ix. Edited 

 by W. A. Davis. With index for all the 

 volumes. Pp. xviii + 836. (London: J. and A. 

 Churchill, 191 7.) Price 30.?. net. 



THE issue of this volume marks the completion 

 of a task begun some ten years ago, when 

 the production of a revised and entirely re-written 

 edition of Allen's well-known work was under- 

 taken. Ten years is a somewhat lengthy period 

 NO. 2519, VOL. 100] 



in modern chemical history. A considerable 

 amount of literature dealing with organic analysis 

 has appeared during the last decade, and many 

 new processes have been devised within this 

 period ; it was therefore desired to bring the text 

 of the whole work, and especially of the earlier 

 volumes, as nearly "up to date" as was prac- 

 ticable. This has be'en done in the present volume 

 — the ninth — by means of a series of sup- 

 plementary articles, written for the most part by 

 the original contributors, and embodying any note- 

 worthy advances in the various branches of 

 organic chemical analysis dealt with in the eight 

 preceding volumes. 



Without attempting to indicate by any means 

 all the additional matters, mention may be 

 made of a few out of many interesting points 

 noted on looking through the book. 



In the section on "Alcohols " a method is given 

 for the detection and estimation of methyl alcohol 

 in ethyl alcohol, which marks a real advance in 

 the subject. By this method, due originally to 

 Denig^s so far as the detection is concerned, the 

 presence of as little as o'2 per cent, of methyl 

 alcohol in ethyl alcohol can l^e detected with cer- 

 tainty within twenty minutes, and only twice as 

 much time is required to estimate the proportion 

 of methyl alcohol with sufficient exactness for most 

 purposes. 



For the estimation of starch, particularly in 

 foliage leaves and similar material, a method of 

 employing taka-diastase is recommended. Starch 

 is converted by taka-diastase into maltose and 

 dextrose, free from the dextrin produced with 

 ordinary diastase of malt. The resulting sugars 

 are determined by the usual methods. 



In the article on "Butter" it is of interest to 

 note that the composition of margarine has under- 

 gone great changes during the last few years. 

 Except in the case of margarine intended for 

 pastry and cooking, the use of animal fats is 

 rapidly dwindling ; their place has been taken by 

 products obtained from the coconut and palm 

 kernel. A certain percentage of butter fat, how- 

 ever, is often present. The various changes have 

 made the analysis of modern margarine mixtures 

 a very complicated problem. The introduction of 

 hydrogenated ("hardened" or "semi-hardened") 

 fats complicates the matter still further, as the 

 process of hydrogenation largely destroys the 

 identity of the original oil or fat. 



An abuse of scientific knowledge is indicated in 

 connection with the production of essential oils. 

 Artificial esters such as terpinyl acetate, glyceryl 

 acetate, and ethyl citrate are prepared for use 

 as adulterants of these oils. The esters, as is 

 doubtless well known to the persons who employ 

 them, have chemical characters such that essential 

 oils adulterated with the esters appear to contain 

 natural esters considerably in excess of the arti- 

 ficial adulterant added. Methods for the detec- 

 tion of such admixtures are indicated in the book. 



Since the previous articles on alkaloids were 

 written, a good deal of work on individual alka- 

 loids has ijeen published, but not much which 

 affects alkaloids as a class. The question of the 



