October 1, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



229 



that Mr. Dixon's theory is so happy as some others. He 

 supposes that the " route " is remembered and recognized 

 from the great height at which the birds travel by 

 certain landmarks, river- valleys, etc., and that it is then 

 " taught to the young while journeying south in company 

 with the old birds in autumn." But Mr. Dixon himself 

 points out (p. 203) that " migration progresses day and 

 night." How can birds see the landmarks and river- 

 valleys at night when they often travel, as has been 

 proved, at a height of two cr three miles above the earth ? 

 Again, Mr. Dixon tells us that birds cross the North Sea 

 and other wide water areas. What guides Ihem en these 

 occasions? Beycnd these cbjections we have it on the 

 authority of Herr Giilke, of Heligoland, who for more 

 than fifty years has watched migration from the best 

 station in the world, that in many species the young 

 precede the old birds. But Mr. Dixon seems to doubt 

 this fact. There is, unquestionably, some as yet un- 

 discovered faculty or sense which directs birds on 

 migration. 



Although some of his conclusions are illogical, Mr. 

 Dixon's bock is replete with interesting suggestions and 

 facts, and possesses a number of valuable tables ; and, in 

 conclusion, we would heartily recommend it to the general 

 reader as a work of much interest, end to the ornithologist 

 8S one that deserves his careful study. 



Analytka} Chemistry. By N. Menschutkin. Translated 

 from the third Geiman edition by J. Locke. (Macmillan.) 

 Menschutkin'snameisfamiliartoEnglish chemists, and 

 he and Mendele'eff have done much to increase foreign 

 appreciation of Russian investigators. The Russian 

 original of the present volume has been well received 

 in that country, and has passed through five editions, 

 but the translator has preferred the German edition 

 for presenting the bock to English readers. From a 

 comparison of this translation with a copy of the 

 fifth Russian edition, we have come to the conclusion 

 that the work of translation has been well done. 

 Some very interesting chapters in the Russian original 

 on the analysis of minerals, and on the volumetric 

 determination and separation of bases and acids, have, 

 however, been entirely omitted from the English 

 edition. Menschutkin's book fully justifies its chief 

 claim, I.*-., " to teach the student the art of chemical 

 thought." The very clear system of classification, and 

 the lucidity of the details, make it an indispensable 

 text-book for the beginner as well as a most useful 

 book of reference for the advanced student of chem- 

 istry. It is to these two main features that its wide 

 circulation all over the Continent, and especially in 

 the universities of Geimany, must be attributed. 

 In gravimetric determinations, the basic precipita- 

 tion for the separation of the metals of the III. group 

 is not treated as fully as it deserves, and no mention 

 is made of the quantitative estimation of lithium, 

 though it is very essential for the analysis of mineral 

 waters. Some minor errors have been found in some 

 of the melting and boiling points (pp. 90. 125, 14.5, 

 149, 205, 225). Of greater importance for the piactical 

 analyst are a few errors as to the solubility of some 

 of the salts (pp. 82, 135, 140, 182, 193, 208). 

 Drawings of apparatus are very much missed, since 

 they wou!d have added considerably to the convenience 

 of the book. 



John Ikilton and the Bise of Modem Chemistry. By Sir 

 H.E.Roscoe.F.R.S. (Cassell&Co.) The name of .John 

 Dalton is known and revered throughout the scientific 

 world. By the discovery of the laws of chemical 

 combination, and the foundation of the atomic theory. 



he established chemistry as an exact science, and reduced to 

 order the chaos of facts concerning the reactions between 

 diii'erent substances. The story of the work of this giant 

 among the sons of science is the story of one whose life 

 was devoted to the extension of natural knowledge. As a 

 man, his character was full of interest ; and as a chemist, 

 his work commands the admiration of all scientific students. 

 Born on September 6th, 1766, at Eagleffield, Cumberland, 

 Dalton attended the village schools there until eleven years 

 of age. A year later he opened a school of his own, and 

 from that time up to his death he earned his living by 

 teaching. His earliest observations were of meteorological 

 changes ; and the instruments he used in these first 

 beginnings, as in his later scientific work, were home-made. 

 Not until 1793 did he become connected with Manchester, 

 in the town hall of which a life-size statue of him faces 

 one of .Joule, who is to modern physics what Dalton is to 

 chemistry. After serving six years as tutor in an academy 

 at Manchester, he resigned his post, and, while working as a 

 private teacher, devoted his spare time to scientific inquiry. 

 Limits of space prevent us from tracing the work that led 

 to the atomic theory, which is the foundation-stone of 

 chemical science. At the end of an essay read before the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester in 1803, 

 a table was given " of the relative weights of ultimate 

 particles of gaseous and other bodies." This was the first 

 published table of atomic weights, and it exhibited the 

 fact that, while atoms of the same element have the same 



John Daxton, F.R.S. 



