59« 



NA TURE 



[October i8, 1900 



farmer's bulletins issued by each experiment station, 

 and distributed post-free throughout the State to every 

 farmer asking to receive them, are of considerable 

 educational value. The work of all the State colleges 

 and experiment stations is unified by the Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 

 This Association consists of delegates appointed by the 

 colleges and stations, and by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and meets for several days once a 

 year to hear reports and discuss methods of work. The 

 Association has permanent executive committees, which 

 carry out the work initiated by the Association. 



Although both colleges and experiment stations are 

 State institutions, they are more or less under the influ- 

 ence of the National Department of Agriculture, as every 

 institution receives annual grants from Government 

 funds, for the proper use of which the Department of 

 Agriculture is made responsible. The United States 

 Department of Agriculture is on a very large scale ; the 

 sum appropriated to its use by Congress in 1899 was 

 2,829,702 dollars. It includes many sub-departments, pro- 

 vided with a numerous staff of scientific workers. It has 

 excellent laboratories, a botanic garden, museum and 

 library containing 68,000 volumes, three-quarters of which 

 are on agricultural subjects. It undertakes investigations 

 of all kinds. It publishes in the Experitnent Station 

 Record summaries of all the work done by the experiment 

 stations. The publications it issues for gratuitous circu- 

 lation are most voluminous, and embrace all subjects 

 with which it is thought the farmer or student should be 

 acquainted. In 1899, 26,420 pages were published, and 

 7)075f97S copies printed. Of the present year-book the 

 edition is 500,000 copies, with 20,000 extra copies for the 

 Paris Exhibition. 



We have already mentioned the sum annually spent by 

 Congress on the Department, we may conclude by saying 

 that the annual income of the State agricultural and 

 mechanical colleges is stated in the year-book to be 

 6,008,379 dollars, while the income of the experiment 

 stations amounts to 1,143,334 dollars. Such is in brief 

 the provision made in the United States for the improve- 

 ment of the science and practice of agriculture m the 

 country. R. Warington. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Lehrbuch der Anorganische?t Chemie. Von Dr. A. F. Holle- 



man. In gemeinschaft mit dem Verfasser bearbeitet 



und herausgegeben von Dr. Wilhelm Manchot. Pp. 



xii + 440. (Liepzig : Veit and Co., 1900.) 



This is an advanced text-book of inorganic chemistry, 



distinguished from others chiefly by the embodiment in it 



of chapters of modern physical chemistry. The book, 



indeed, gives the impression of having been produced by 



shuffling the detached chapters of two others — one, an 



ordinary treatise on inorganic chemistry, the second on 



physical chemistry. 



It is almost impossible to discern the system which 

 has guided the compilers. The book begins with some 

 generalities about the scope of science, and the differences 

 between physics and chemistry. It then proceeds to de- 

 scribe some chemical operations, such as dissolving, 

 filtering and distilling. This is done in language suitable 

 for children, and illustrated by two diagrams, in one of 

 which a filter paper is seen to project considerably above 

 the rim of the funnel. The elements having been named, 



NO. 161 6, VOL. 62] 



oxygen is next described — such terms as critical temper- 

 ature being taken as understood by the reader, who has 

 just been told how to- separate salt from sand. After a 

 description of hydrogen, the indestructibility of matter is 

 discussed, and then comes water. The laws of chemical 

 combination and the atomic theory occupy the next few 

 pages, then chlorine and its compounds. We now come 

 upon the laws of Gay Lussac and Avogadro, ozone and 

 hydrogen peroxide, then modern methods of determining 

 molecular weights, with a discussion of semi-permeable 

 membranes. And so the book proceeds. Dissociation 

 is discussed between iodine and fluorine, electrolytic dis- 

 sociation between the halogens and sulphur, the phase 

 rule under sulphur, thermochemistry, including thermo- 

 dynamics between sulphur and nitrogen. 



It is impossible to say anything in praise of this 

 arrangement or want of arrangement. It can hardly 

 be defended on logical or didactic grounds, and one is 

 tempted to think that there is nothing more than a 

 striving for novelty at the bottom of it. 



The book does not aim at teaching how chemists do 

 their work, discover facts, and establish theories ; and 

 surely if it were desired to present descriptive inorganic 

 chemistry on the basis of the general theories of modern 

 physical chemistry, it would have been better to have 

 begun with an account of these theories and to have 

 woven them into the descriptive part throughout. 



Whilst speaking thus of the general scope of Prof. 

 Holleman's book, it is right to add that in detail there 

 are features that call for commendation. The descriptive 

 part is well abreast of the times, and many of the inter- 

 calated chapters on physical chemistry are clearly and 

 concisely written. A concluding chapter summarising 

 Werner's voluminous papers on the metal-ammonium 

 compounds is a valuable addition. 



On the whole, it may be said that as a work of 

 moderate dimensions conveying the chief facts of in- 

 organic chemistry and an account of those physico- 

 chemical theories which bear especially on inorganic 

 chemistry, Prof. Holleman's book will probably find con- 

 siderable acceptance in Germany, but it is neither to be 

 expected nor desired that it will set a fashion in its plan 

 of construction. A. S. 



Flora of Bournemouth^ indudittg the Isle ofPurbeck. By 



E. F. Linton, M.A. With map. New edition. Pp. 



vii -f 290. (Bournemouth : Sold by H. S. Commin,. 



Bright's Stores, and W. Mate and Sons.) 

 The local flora embodied in the pages of the book before 

 us appears to be usefully compiled, though perhaps the 

 volume as a whole would have been improved had it 

 been printed on thinner paper, so as to form a more 

 convenient pocket companion. Opening; with a short 

 introduction on the physical and geological characters 

 of the district, the author gives a list of some 1137 

 plants (flowenng plants and ferns) as occurring within 

 the area treated of, and adds localities, as is usual in 

 works of this nature. The book should prove useful to 

 those lovers of wild flowers who are visiting the Bourne- 

 mouth district, to many of whom it may perhaps be a 

 matter of surprise that so large a percentage of the 

 British flora occurs within a twelve-mile radius from the 

 town. ' 



Carnations and Picotees for Garden and Exhibition. By 



H. W. WegueHn, F.R.H.S. Pp. viii4- 125. (London: 



George Newnes, Ltd., 1900.) 

 This is a book which will be useful to those who are 

 fond of carnations. The cultural hints are clear, and 

 lists are given of many of the best sorts. The text is 

 a little diffuse in places, but in a work of this character 

 that is a pardonable characteristic. The author is en- 

 thusiastic on his subject, and his book is worth reading, 

 if only to show what can be done with the flowers as 

 materials for open borders. 



