I50 



NATURE 



[June i6, 1898 



Analysis of Ores, <Sr*^.— Mr. James M. Camp's method 

 for rapid analysis of blast furnace cinders apparently gives 

 results useful to the blast furnace manager, but the 

 determination of manganese, from Mr. Camp's own 

 showing, cannot be neglected. 



The writer has used the colorimetric method both for 

 iron and manganese, especially iron ; it is most im- 

 portant to make frequent iron determinations, for ob- 

 viously iron in the slag is equivalent to loss of metal 

 in the pig-bed. The colour method is rapid, good for 

 iron in slag, and more accurate than the weight process. 



Determination of Silica in Ores.—On& notes that 

 potassium sulphate or hydrofluoric acid are sparingly 

 used, American chemists relying chiefly on the sodium 

 carbonate method. In this country preference is given 

 to the use of the former ; chemical results are considered 

 more accurate, with economy of time. 



Determination of Iron. — The bichromate method 

 leaves nothing to be desired as regards slags, ores or 

 minerals in general, but is not very suitable for the 

 accurate determination in iron or steel. Most chemists 

 are content in iron or steel analysis to give the iron by 

 difference, but if a method could be devised whereby the 

 absolutely pure iron could without question be deter- 

 mined within -001 per cent., such a factor would in the 

 present state of our knowledge be invaluable. Those 

 who have studied the recent developments of the 

 chemistry of iron will understand this. 



On the whole, American practice seems inferior to the 

 English ; some of the methods quoted are practically 

 obsolete in this country. This applies more especially 

 to manganese determinations — only two chemists when 

 using the gravimetric method for manganese take note 

 of the previous necessary removal of barium when ores 

 are being analysed, to say nothing of other possible 

 impurities. 



Very many of the processes given seem devised merely 

 for speedy work, regardless of accuracy ; on the other 

 hand, some needless complications have been introduced 

 with consequent loss of valuable time. 



John Parry. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Electro-physiology. By W. Biedermann. Translated by 

 Frances A. Welby. Vol. ii. Pp. vii -f- 500. (London : 



Macmillan and Co , Ltd., 



Miss Welby has now completed her translation of this 

 work. The second volume is equal to the first in scientific 

 interest and importance, and the technical difficulties of 

 rendering it into English have been overcome with even 

 greater success. 



Prof Biedermann deals with the main subject of the 

 volume, that of the " electro-physiology " of nerve, much 

 more from a physiological than from an electrical point 

 of view. In every branch of it he is able to give us the 

 results of his own work, or of those of the distinguished 

 colleague with whom he was for so many fruitful years 

 associated at Prague ; so that the student who desires to 

 appreciate the experimental basis of Hering's doctrine 

 cannot have a better guide than is here provided for him. 

 It must not, however, be supposed that the work is 

 mainly theoretical ; on the contrary, on the subjects of 

 which it treats, it is the best " reference-book " that the 

 physiological worker has at present at his disposal. 



In addition to the chapters on nerve, the volume 



NO. 1494, VOL. 58] 



contains a very carefully written chapter on the electrical 

 endowments of the plant-cell, another on electric fishes,, 

 and a third on the electrical response of the retina to the 

 stimulus of light. In discussing the first two of these 

 special subjects, Biedermann derives his data chiefly 

 from English sources. In the elaborate and copiously 

 illustrated chapter on electric fishes, the reader will find 

 a complete account of Prof Ewart's investigations of the 

 development and structure of the electrical organ in the 

 rays ; and of Prof. Gotch's researches on Torpedo. In 

 like manner the chapter on the electromotive properties 

 of excitable tissues of plants is mainly based on English 

 researches on Dioncea., of which it contains a very full 

 resume. It is a satisfaction to the writer of this notice 

 that the main results of his own investigations have been 

 accepted by his German colleague, and particularly to 

 observe how fully he has appreciated the evidence they 

 afford of the essential identity of the elementary pro- 

 cesses of plant and animal life. J. B. S. 



Open-air Studies in Botany : Sketches of British Wild- 

 flowers in their Homes. By R. Lloyd Praeger, B.A., 



B.E., M.R.I.A. Illustrated. (London : Charles Griffin 



and Co., Ltd., 1897) 

 These open-air studies should appeal to people who 

 live in the country, and who care about the wild plants 

 around them. A glance through the pages recalls many 

 a country ramble, and a good point about the treatment 

 in the book is that an attempt is made to connect the 

 flora of a locality with the physical conditions which 

 prevail there. It is a pity, however, that the author 

 should have not adopted the names in common use for his 

 plants— ^.^. Scilla festalis the wild hyacinth or Volvulus 

 for Convolvulus both look and sound pedantic. More- 

 over the glossary, which forms a necessary appendix, is 

 sometimes disfigured by misleading statements ; thus a 

 carpel is stated to be that part of a flower which contains 

 an ovary. But in spite of occasional slips and blemishes, 

 the positive merits of the book should secure for it a 

 fair measure of success. 



The Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. Name 

 Index. Vols. I-L (1869-96). Edited by Bennett H. 

 Brough. (London : E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd., 1898.) 

 The Iron and Steel Institute was founded in 1869, and 

 since its establishment it has done most useful work by 

 arranging periodical meetings for the discussion of prac- 

 tical and scientific subjects bearing upon the manufacture 

 and use of iron and steel. The papers published in the 

 Institute's Proceedings are here indexed, and they make 

 a solid contribution to knowledge. The volume con- 

 tains a short history of the Institute, a list of papers 

 contained in the first fifty volumes arranged chrono- 

 logically, a list of these papers arranged according to 

 subjects, an index of the authors, and a complete index 

 to the authors of all papers, communications, and abstracts 

 published in the fifty volumes. The complete index will 

 thus be of service in showing the development of the 

 science of iron and steel. 



A Simplified Euclid. Book I. By W. W. Cheriton. 



Preface by Elliott Kitchener. Pp. iv -f iii. (London ; 



Rivingtons, 1898.) 

 So many simplified Euclids have been published during 

 the last few years, that an addition to their number 

 should seem superfluous. In the one before us the com- 

 piler claims that after teaching the subject for some 

 years he thinks that the form he proposes in this book 

 should supply a long-felt want. The method he adopts 

 is to print the proposition exactly as it should be written 

 out by a schoolboy, using sufficient abbreviations to save 

 time in writing without confusing the mind of the pupil. 

 Each proposition is printed on the left-hand side of the 

 page, notes and exercises being printed on the right. 

 The book has many points in its favour. 



