June 9, 1910] 



NATURE 



425 



application to the Local Government Board for Scot- 

 land. Incidentally, it may be said that the per- 

 centage now probably approaches 50; yet a volume 

 on "The Health of the Nations," issued in 1910, con- 

 tains no clue even to the fact that Scotland is a 

 separate administrative area of Great Britain. 



This kind of report is not reassuring as to the other 

 countries ; but doubtless the various correspondents 

 will be able to put inquirers "on the track" of more 

 definite information. The work of collation is well 

 done by Mrs. Ogilvie Gordon, and the volume forms 

 a good intellectual point of repair for the many 

 women everywhere concerned to consider and im- 

 prove the life and labour conditions of women. 



PROGRESS OF CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL 

 SCIENCE. 



Fortschritte der Chemie, Physik, tind physikalischen 

 Chemie. Neue Folge des Physikalisch-chemischen 

 Centralblattes. Vol. I., 1909. Edited by Dr. Her- 

 mann Grossmann and others. Pp. 386. (Leipzig : 

 Gebriider Borntraeger ; London : Williams and 

 Norgate, 1909.) Price 16 marks. 



THIS work on the progress of chemistrj-, physics, 

 and physical chemistry, which represents the 

 first annual volume of a new series of the " Physikal- 

 isch-chemische Centralblatt," is issued in monthly 

 parts, and contains a number of interesting reports by 

 specialists on various branches of chemistry- and 

 physics, the period under review being 1908 and a 

 portion of 1909. ~~ 



Two articles on radio-activitj^ and electronics indi- 

 cate the interest attached to these rapidly developing 

 branches of science, and it is gratifying to find that 

 a substantial part of the pioneering work in this 

 section results from the labours of British chemists 

 and physicists. 



The important subjects of spectroscopy, catalysis, 

 thermochemistn.-, chemical equilibrium, velocity of 

 reaction, and the theor\' of gases are dealt with in 

 special reports. Recent observations on the influence 

 of light on chemical change are summarised in the 

 article " Photochemistry," by A. B)"k. 



The study of colloids is a branch of general chem- 

 istry now making rapid advances, and the researches 

 of 1908 in this field are discussed by A. Miiller, who 

 also deals with the practical application of these in- 

 vestigations to the technical process of dyeing, tan- 

 ning, photography, and biological chemistr)-. 



The editor. Dr. H. Grossmann, contributes a memoir 

 on complex chemical compounds, in which he reviews 

 the work done in this branch of chemistrj- during the 

 first half of the year 1909. He groups these so-called 

 "molecular compounds" under four headings: — (i) 

 Compounds with complex cations ; (2) compounds with 

 complex anions ; (3) auto-complex compounds ; and 

 (4) organic-inorganic complex compounds. 



One of the most interesting articles in this volume 

 is that on the incandescent mantle industry, written 

 by C. R. Bohm, who describes the rise and develop- 

 ment of this important branch of manufacture, and 

 gives a brief outline of the processes involved in the 

 NO. 2119, VOL. S^] 



production of Welsbach mantles on a commercial 

 scale. 



The report on pharmaceutical chemistry is note- 

 worthy because it includes a description of the syn- 

 thesis of racemic suprarenine by Stolz and Flacher. 

 The latter chemist has since separated this product 

 into its two optical antipodes. The lajvorotatory base 

 is identical with the active base of the suprarenal 

 capsules, and, when introduced into animals by in- 

 travenous injection, produces a very marked increase 

 in the blood pressure. The dextrorotatory supra- 

 renine, under similar conditions, is practically in- 

 operative. 



In addition to the above mentioned monographs, the 

 volume contains reports on the recent development of 

 chemical science under the various headings of 

 physical, inorganic, organic, analytical, physiological, 

 and agricultural chemistr}\ These summaries con- 

 tain the same information, and discuss topics similar 

 to those dealt with in the annual reports on the pro- 

 gress of chemistry published in recent years by the 

 Chemical Society, and are therefore hardly likely to 

 be preferred by the English reader. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Radium. By J. P. Lord. Third edition. Pp. x+103. 



(London : Harding, Bros, and Co., 1910.) Price 



2S. 6d. net. 

 This book, to quote from the preface, consists "of 

 a careful compilation of the more material facts needed 

 for an elementary understanding of radio-active pheno- 

 mena, especially in relation to therapeutic and kindred 

 progress," and the author's aim has been " to steer 

 a middle course between the popular and the scientific 

 literature of the subject, avoiding over-technicality, on 

 the one hand, and on the other, that looseness of 

 which the popular treatment of a scientific matter is 

 peculiarly susceptible." On the whole the book seems 

 fairly well fitted to fulfil its object. The author has 

 successfully avoided over-technicality, but has not 

 been entirely successful in retaining accuracy. In 

 discussing the energy of radium, the view appears to 

 be taken that because the radiations escaping are 

 limited to a thin layer beneath the surface, the heat 

 generated is also limited by the thickness of the layer. 

 The commercially important ratio of radium to 

 uranium in minerals is given as 700 milligrams of the 

 former per ton of the latter, which is more than twice 

 as great as the actual ratio. The present commercial 

 price of radium is given as slightly more than 

 loooZ. per grain, which is particularly unfortunate in 

 such a book, since small quantities can be bought at 

 the present time at about one-quarter or one-fifth this 

 rate. 



The chief interest of the book is the description and 

 photographs given of certain new mines of autxmite 

 (hydrated uranium calcium phosphate) near Guarda, in 

 Portugal, in the exploitation of which the publishers 

 of the book apparently are interested. The deposits 

 are described as occurring in lodes, varying from an 

 inch to three or four feet in thickness, containing the 

 uranium ore in crystals. A set of radiographs taken 

 with the new material, of f>ercentage of uranoso- 

 uranic oxide varying from 39 to i'5, is included, 

 together with some plates of instruments commonlv 

 employed in the measurement of radio-activity. The 

 last three chapters are devoted to the medical uses 

 of radium, on the present state of which the author 

 appears well informed. 



