June i r, 1903J 



NATURE 



125 



lAementary Chemistry. By R. H. Bradbury, A.M., 



Ph.D. Pp. xii+157. (New York: .Appleton, 1903.) 



The volume, according^ to the author, is for beginners 



in secondary schools and colleges. Whether this im- 



l)iies any previous knowledge of chemistry on their part 



- not stated, but, to judge from the character of the 



intents, the book may be placed in the hands of any 



ginner. The author has evidently taken great pains 



i arrange his subject-matter, and to present it in a 



inple and logical form — not by any means an easy 



i-k — and the result is decidedly good. 



It is always possible to find points in the arrange- 



it-nt of a text-book which do not accord entirely with 



uiie's own views. For example, the first chemical 



experiment which is described is the electrolysis of 



vater to demonstrate its composition. It is difficult 



I present this process honestly to the beginner. 



lie author does his best by stating that "it is im- 



issible to e.Kplain the role of the sulphuric acid in an 



I mentary work, further than to say that while it 



inducts the current it is found unaltered after the 



I xperiment, and onh^ the water is decomposed." 



After all this is only dodging the difficulty, which 



might be so easily avoided by reserving the experiment 



for a later stage, when the author could take the reader 



into his confidence. 



The author in his preface acknowledges his in- 

 btedness to Bancroft's work on the phase rule and 

 ' the work of another modern writer on physical 

 rncmistry, but the elementary student will be relifeved 

 to tind that no reference to the phase rule, and very 

 little to " physical chemistry," is embodied in the text. 

 Arrhenius's theory of electrolysis is, however, intro- 

 duced, and there can be little objection to this, seeing 

 tliat a student may just as well begin to exert his 

 imagination on the atoms in solution as in the gaseous 

 form. It is just as difficult to form a mental picture 

 of charcoal as a constituent of carbon dioxide as of 

 the ion CO,. The only difference between the two 

 conceptions is that one is a demonstrable fact and the 

 dthcr a very useful fiction. 



.\n important feature of the book is the experimental 

 part which is to be used as a laboratory guide, and 

 contains a series of simple and useful' experiments 

 plentifully sprinkled with questions and notes of in- 

 terrogation. The volume is, in reality, two distinct 

 books .with separate indexes. Might onie suggest their 

 future publication in sejxirate parts; for not only is it 

 diflicult to remember that the index to the first part is 

 in the middle of the volume, but as the second part is 

 for use in the laboratory, the whole book, which looks 

 very nice in its olive-green cover, is bound to suffer 

 from the proximity of reagents? 



The book is well illustrated, and is further em- 

 bellished with the portraits of ten distinguished 

 chemists, among whom Moissan has the place of 

 honour in the frontispiece. J. B. C. 



Hampshire Days. By W. H. Hudson. Pp. xvi + 344; 

 illustrated. (London : Longmans, Green and Co., 

 1903.) Price los. 6d. 

 The author of " The Naturalist in La Plata " has found 

 a thoroughly congenial subject in Gilbert White's 

 country, and discourses, in the work before us, in a 

 delightfully gossipy way of the scenerv, people, birds, 

 insects, rmd plants of one of the most" beautiful of all 

 English counties. .\s usual, Mr. Hudson introduces, 

 when occasion arises, earnest trains of thought, which 

 raise his work far above the average of writings of this 

 nature. 



The greater part of the contents of this volume, we 

 are told in the preface, is new, although nearlv the 

 whole scope of the work is based on certain articles 

 which have appeared in Longman's Magazine. 

 Although devoted as a whole to Hampshire, the book, 



NO. 1754, VOL. 68] 



I as might be expected, mentions many episodes which 

 might perfectly well have happened in any other Eng- 

 lish county. Notable among these is the account of 

 the manner in which a young cuckoo ejected the right- 

 ful occupant — a robin — of the nest in which the in- 

 truder was hatched, an action of which the author was 

 fortunate enough to have been an eye-witness. Perhaps 

 the most curious feature in this drama was the utter 

 neglect of the ejected and dying robin by its parents. 

 In another part of the same chapter the author directs 

 attention to the prevalence of red in the coats of forest 

 animals at the time that the autumn russet prevails in 

 their surroundings. He has, however, omitted to men- 

 tion that it is just before this season the red deer and 

 the roe change their summer russet for their winter 

 blue. 



The account of .Selborne itself is continued in the 

 latter half of the book. Over the natural beauties of 

 the village and its surroundings, the author, needless 

 to say, waxes eloquent, although he is far from com- 

 plimentary to the personal appearance of its inhabitants. 

 After writing the sentence that " if you want to see, I 

 will not say a handsome, nor a pretty, but a passably 

 fresh and pleasant face among the cottagers, you must 

 go out of Selborne to some neighbouring village to look 

 for it," will the author, we wonder, venture to pay 

 another visit? We cannot, perhaps, bestow greater 

 praise on Mr. Hudson's " Hampshire " than by say- 

 ing it is fully equal to the best of his earlier efforts. 



R. L. 



Wortcrbuch der philosophischen Grundbegriffe. Von 

 Dr. Friedr. Kirchner. Vierte neubearbeitete Auflage 

 von Dr. Michaelis. Pp. vi + 587. (Leipzig : Verlag der 

 Durr'schen Buchhandlung, 1903.) Price 5.60 marks. 

 It is always difficult to indicate exactly the value of 

 a dictionary, and that difficulty is increased when 

 for the vices of omission it pleads the virtues of brevity. 

 .\ dictionary 0/ philosophy is hardest of all to judge 

 because of a certain inner conflict between the spirit 

 of philosophy and the nature of dictionaries. If the 

 publishers feel justified in saying that this book re- 

 sponds to a widely felt need, we must admit that a 

 fourth edition seems good evidence. To judge from 

 I the book, that need is for brief epitomes of great doc- 

 j trines and concise definitions of terms. Terms of art 

 I are a fit subject for the lexicographer, more especiallv 

 i such remnants of constructive ingenuitv as " Hac- 

 j ccitat," ".Aseitat," and the like. But philosophical 

 I concepts and theories are not so tractable ; here brevitv 

 ' is an ambiguous virtue, and the more ambitious articles 

 I seem to be so planned as to have full significance only 

 ' for the more advanced student who, on the other hand, 

 would bring to the book all he found there. " Kan- 

 tianismus," for example, occupies two-thirds of a page. 

 Of '' Hedonismus " in modern times we learn onlv 

 that it is more modest than of yore ; where the term ex- 

 plained is one in common use, the strictly philosophical 

 significance is omitted ; e.g. under " Liebe (epwy)," the 

 Platonic and Neo-Platonic significance is unmentioned : 

 the direction " Vgl. Dualismus " seems purely illusory. 

 Biography does not come within the scope of this book, 

 but the references are usually given with dates. .At 

 the end there is a " Zeittafef " which might well be 

 useful. It seems a matter for regret that the terms of 

 the " new psychology " have not been included; they 

 might at least outrival " Buridans Escl " or " Kroko- 

 dilschluss " as Grundbegriffe. Yet allowing for these 

 limitations, the book is a praiseworthy effort; it is 

 generally accurate, sensibly printed, and of a* useful 

 size. Such eccentricities as " Hutcheson 1609-1747 '* 

 (p. 14) can be corrected by the reader from the " Zeit- 

 tafel." The bibliography attempted in some articles 

 is a good feature worthv of more development. 



G. S. B. 



