242 



KNOWLEDGE. 



June, 1911. 



to unlearn, seems a greater evil than the difficulty of making 

 the fact clear that the value 16 is only an arbitrary standard, 

 and the possibility that some students may acquire for a time 

 the notion that atomic weights are necessarily whole numbers. 

 By the way. why was a table of atomic weights of 1905 chosen 

 for the appendi.x ? The current table contains several more 

 elements and gives \alues differing in many respects from those 

 in a table that h&s been out of date for five vears. 



C. A. M. 



A Concise History of Chemistry. By T. P. Hiluitch. 



B.Sc. A.I.C. 263 pages. 16 illustrations. 75-in.X5-in. 



(Methuen & Co. Price 2 6.1 



It is no easy task to survey, within the limits of one small 

 volume, the entire history of chemistry, from the days of 

 alchemy to the present time, and in this case the difficulty was 

 increased by the fact that the book was also designed to meet 

 the requirements of certain examinations in the subject of 

 historical chemistry. A book upon these lines runs the risk 

 of being little more than a skeleton of facts, names and dates. 

 The author, however, has escaped this pitfall, and has given 

 us a most readable outline without sacrificing the necessary 

 compression, and has enabled ns to follow easily the 

 development of the main theories of modern chemistry. 

 There is also an e.xcellent account of the history of the different 

 elements and their chief compounds, and the book concludes 

 with biographical notes of many of the great chemists, tables 

 summarising the sequence of discoveries and theories, and a 

 good name and subject index. 



The chief fault in the book is the complete omission of anv 

 reference to many important branches of the science, such as 

 biological chemistry, and the scanty treatment of other 

 subjects. For instance, in the section dealing with technical 

 chemistry the subject of oils and fats is mentioned, but there 

 is no reference to any worker of later date than Chevreul ; 

 while in the account of the progress of experimental methods 

 there is no mention of the now classical iodine absorption 

 method of von Hiibl. 



The selection of the names included in the biographical 

 notes appears somewhat capricious. Thus the names of 

 Odling and of Newlands are omitted, while the names of many 

 whose contributions to chemistry have been of much less 

 weight are included. Doubtless these omissions will be 

 remedied in the next edition. 



C.A. M. 



All liifnuliictioii to Cliciiiiciil Theory. — Second edition. 

 By .\, Scott, D,Sc., F,K.S. 272 pages, iS|-in, x Dj-in, 



(Adam and Charles Black. Price 5 - net.) 



Slowly, out of a confused mass of p.iintully accuumlated 

 detail, there has been evolved a philosophy of chemistry which 

 has shown that there was a certain law and order connecting 

 the apparently isolated facts. Several large works upon the 

 subject have appeared from the pens of such masters as 

 Mendeleef and Ostwald. and the present handbook, 

 which has deservedly reached its second edition, forms an 

 excellent introduction to these. It takes a brief survey over 

 the whole ground upon which the theory of chemistry has 

 been raised, and is so fully and clearly written as to be easily 

 followed by any student who has acquired some knowledge of 

 the facts of the science. Among the subjects treated .at 

 considerable length in the difierent chapters are the determina- 

 tion of atomic weights, classification of the elements, carbon 

 compounds, the principles of thermal chemistry, and solution 

 and electrolysis, and these are illustrated by numerical 

 examples wherever necessary. 



The author's aim has been to deal only with points concern- 

 ing which there is little or no dispute, and as far as possible to 

 exclude speculative matter; but we venture to think that 

 there has been a somewhat too rigid .adherence to this rule in 

 a book, one of the objects of which should be to stimulate the 

 imagination of the reader. Thus the subject of radio-activity 

 is practically ignored, although it is in this direction that most 

 progress in the immediate future may be expected. In the 



few remarks upon radium (page 70) some doubt is implied as 

 to whether that substance is really an element ; but since this 

 view is opposed to the now generally accepted opinion — an 

 opinion based upon the properties of radium and its salts, its 

 position in the periodic system, and its characteristic spectrum 

 — it would have been of interest to have learned the reasons 

 for this doubt. 



The book is clearl>- printed in large type, and has a good 

 index, but its use as a handbook would ha\e been enormously 

 increased by references to the original papers and by the 



addition of a classified bibliograpliy. 



M.VTHKMATICS. 



C. A. M. 



.4 First liooh of Geometry. — By J. \'. H. Coat);s, B.Sc. 

 142 pages. 1 27 illustrations. 7-in. X 4vin. 



(Macniillan & Co. Price 1,6.) 



This book seems to have been compiled in compliance with 

 the recommendations recently issued by the Board of Educa- 

 tion, on the teaching of Elementary Geometry. Naturally 

 there is nothing new except in the arrangement of the subject 

 matter, and in some pleasing pictures of a small boy in 



knickerbockers engaged in " field work." ,,, ,^ ,, 



W , IJ, r.. 



Elements of .\na\ytieal Geometry. — By G. A. (ilHbON, 



M.A., LL.n!, and P. Pixkerton, M.A., D.Sc. 475 pages. 



149 illustrations. 7i-in. x5-in. 



(Macniillan lS: Co. Price 7 6.1 

 This biiok contains a great deal of matter not usually 

 included in elementary treatises on Cartesian Geometry. 

 Much space is allotted to the plotting of curves, and not only 

 curves of the second degree, but some of what are usually 

 classed as Higher Plane Curves are discussed as fully as 

 elementary methods permit. Geometrical treatment after the 

 manner of Euclid is freely adopted, so that the chapters on 

 Conic Sections are a combination of analytical and geometri- 

 cal methods. There was no real justification for the separation 

 of the two in older books, and this one seems to include all the 

 essential parts of what we used to learn as Geometrical 

 Conies, We hoped to have found the notation of the Calculus 

 introduced somewhere in the book. Surely it must be 

 possible to combine the elements of Differential Calculus with 

 the elements of .Analytical Geometry in a way that is less 

 tedious and yet not unsound. Here the authors, instead of 

 making the beginner's yoke lighter, have added to it, and the 

 bei^inuings of the Calculus seem further off than ever. But a 

 student who has worked through this book will be thoroughly 

 prep.ared for it when at length it does come. 



\V. D. E. 



IIX'HNCJLOGV. 



Journal of the Mnnieipal Sehool of Teelinology, Man- 



chester.—Xo]. III. 1910. Edited by J. Baknes, M.A., B.Sc. 



392 pages. 130 illustrations. 9T-in. X 7i-in. 



(The Education Committee.) 



This journal forms a record of original investigations under- 

 taken by members of the Teaching Staff and Students of the 

 School in the Session 1909. In most cases the papers have 

 been reprinted from the journals and publications of learned 

 societies. 



Although the application of science to industry is the object 

 of the instruction given in the school, the researches contri- 

 buted by the %arious dcpartu\ents are not entirely techno- 

 logical ; theoretical investigations have not been shirked, but 

 indeed form quite a large part of some of the papers. 



Mechanical Engineering is represented by three important 

 investigations : — Professor J, T. Nicholson's masterly research 

 of " Heat Transmission in Steam Boilers," .i further 

 paper on the same lines by Mr, H. P, Jordan, and an 

 exhaustive account of some experimental work on "Twist 

 Drills." Well-illustrated dissertations on " Single-Phase 

 Traction." " \'ai^aboud Currents," " Elash-Over Voltages," 



