THE BOOK SHELF 305 



Creative Chemistry, 'Et>wi^1^.^i.ossoi^,M. S. Ph. D. 311 pages, 

 37 pages full page illustrations, The Century Company. 



One now and then finds a work of fiction so fascinating that 

 he will not lay it down till he has read the last page. He wiU 

 find the chapters of Creative Chemistry as enthralling as any 

 novel, and to him who reads it the common things which he 

 uses every day, food, clothing, colors, perfumes, metals, will 

 have become things of magic. There is a chapter on "Fighting 

 with Fumes" as well as one on "Feeding the Soil"; one on 

 "Metals Old and New" and one on the "Rival Sugars." In 

 all there are fourteen chapters, each chapter a revelation, and 

 so simply and clearly written that previous knowledge of sci- 

 ence is not necesssry to understand it. Not the least interesting 

 is the first chapter on the "Three Periods of Progress," but many 

 a true scientist will not agree with the statement that "Nature 

 is our treacherous and unsleeping foe, ever to be feared and 

 watched and circumvented", though all who know her at first 

 hand will admit that we should and must learn from Nature and, 

 indeed, wrestle with her, for it is by discovering and using her 

 laws that man has become the wielder of power, instead of its 

 victim. The introduction reveals the serious purpose of the 

 book and there is a list of Reading References for each chapter 

 that adds greatly to its value. If each of the "Centtiry Books 

 of Useful Science" of which series this is the first, is written by 

 as successful an interpreter as Mr. Slosson, those who read 

 "Creative Chemistry'' will not fail to read them all. 



M. E. 



