2 20 



NATURE 



[January 4, 1900 



taking flight at last for Arabia and the peninsula of 

 Hindustan. Then, in a long section, we make the circuit 

 of the Pacific together with a digression to Hawaii, and 

 after jumping from Greenland to the Appalachians, and 

 thence to Guiana, finally come to rest on the highlands of 

 Brazil. We find traces, no doubt, of a geographical 

 order in the above, but think that to have kept to 

 continents, while carefully pointing out the relation to 

 ocean basins, would on the whole have produced clearer 

 ideas. 



We also feel the want of a concluding chapter, giving a 

 summary of the results which follow from a study of the 

 details contained in the foregoing sections ; the principles, 

 if we may so call them, of mountain building and sculp- 

 ture, and the connection between their forms and 

 materials. The latter was sketched briefly, but ac- 

 curately so far as it went, by Ruskin years ago in the 

 fourth volume of "Modern Painters," and might now 

 have been elaborated m more detail by Dr. von 

 Lendenfeld from the mass of materials which he has 

 collected. We may illustrate the want of inductive 

 treatment by the case of Monte Rosa. The map, 

 especially if slightly extended eastward, would have 

 given the author an opportunity to discuss an interesting 

 problem leading up to general principles. What 

 causes the extraordinary gap between Monte Rosa 

 and the Strahlhorn? The range of the Mischabel- 

 horner seems to be cut off at the southern face of the 

 latter, while another range, running from the west, 

 terminates even more abruptly in the eastern and 

 northern faces of Monte Rosa. In the intervening 

 gap, some four miles wide, nothing on the edge of 

 the great snow-field rises higher than the hump of 

 the Cima de Jazzi itself, obviously terminating a ridge 

 which extends eastward from the Rififelhorn. What 

 is the explanation of this ridge— also cut off abruptly like 

 •the others, and of the gap itself? The map suggests to us 

 a solution of the mystery. Beneath a precipitous descent, 

 seldom less than 6000 feet vertical, lies the head of the 

 Macugnaga valley. Here, as in many other cases in the 

 Alps— it is probably equally true of the Theodule gap 

 west of the Breithorn — the denuding forces have acted 

 with greater potency on the Italian side of the water- 

 shed, and they have actually quarried away the mountain 

 centre from which these great ridges once radiated and 

 replaced it by the great amphitheatre into which the 

 Macugnaga glacier now descends. 



But while venturing on these criticisms we are thankful 

 for what the book gives us, especially for a glossary to 

 help the unlearned and for an excellent index. We lay 

 it down with something like envy. It is one of a series 

 illustrative of the Earth ; it is well and almost profusely 

 illustrated, excellently printed, and its price is 14 marks. 

 We presume then that works of this nature find in 

 Germany a sale sufficiently large to make them remuner- 

 ative to publishers. But would any English firm be 

 adventurous enough to undertake such a series, or even 

 to publish the volume before us ? We fear not. Our 

 German cousins value education more than we do, 

 and apparently desire mental food more solid than half- 

 penny newspapers, penny dreadfuls, shilling shockers, or 

 even novels with a purpose. 



T. G. BONNEY. 



NO. 1575, VOL. 61I 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Beginselen der Scheikunde. By Dr. M. C. Schuyten. 



Pp. 109. (Antwerp : Van Ishoven, 1899.) 

 This is an elementary text-book on qualitative analysis, 

 which aims also at imparting some of the fundamental 

 principles of chemistry. A short introduction explaining 

 the difference between physical and chemical change is 

 followed by a list of the more important elements (iron 

 is omitted) with their symbols. From this we pass on to 

 a brief account of some fourteen elements, which are to 

 furnish material for experimental investigation. The 

 author then selects the unfortunate case of copper and 

 sulphur to illustrate the difference between a mixture and 

 a compound. It is needless to say that a more illogical 

 and false illustration could scarcely be conceived. 6*3 

 grams of copper powder and 3'2 grams of sulphur are 

 mixed together. The student must puzzle out for himself 

 why these precise quantities are taken. Having satisfied 

 himself by the help of a pocket lens that both substances 

 are still present when they are shaken up, the mixture is 

 heated. The blue-black mass which results is now, we 

 are told, a chemical compound consisting of 6312 parts 

 of copper and 31 '83 parts of sulphur, when the author 

 must be fully aware that it is a non-homogeneous mixture 

 of cuprous and cupric sulphide and free sulphur. One is 

 tempted to suggest another example of the same order. 

 Take i lb. of sugar and \ lb. of butter, and mix them to- 

 gether. The butter and sugar may still be observed 

 with a lens. Proceed to heat them until the required 

 consistency is obtained. The substance is no longer 

 sugar and butter. Consequently, the resulting toffy is 

 not a mixture, but a compound made up of the original 

 ingredients in the proportions taken. 



Passing over this unsatisfactory start, the system laid 

 down by the author has much to recommend it. Before 

 the student begins systematic analysis, he is set to per- 

 form experiments on the preparation of simple com- 

 pounds, as well as to study such general reactions as 

 oxidation reduction, the action of acids on metals, &c. 

 The text is interspersed with notes of interrogation, 

 and, in addition, a few questions are appended to each 

 lesson. 



Where the book fails is in its attempt to condense a 

 large amount of information into a small compass, 

 and in the lack of sufficient experimental details and 

 adequate illustrations of apparatus. 



\ beginner, who had no further help than this book 

 affords, would meet with difficulties at every step. No 

 doubt the author's object is to place something in the 

 student's hands which will supplement his own laboratory 

 teaching, and from this point of view its publication may 

 be justified. 

 Student's Edition of a Standard Dictionary of the 



English Language. Edited by James C. Fernald. 



Pp. viii -F 915. (New York : Funk and Wagnalls 



Company, 1898.) 

 The Sta?idard Intermediate School Dictionary of the 



English Language. Edited by James C. Fernald. 



Pp. viii -F 533. (New York : Funk and Wagnalls 



Company, 1899.) 

 Both these dictionaries are based upon Funk and 

 Wagnalls' Standard Dictionary. The student's edition 

 gives the orthography, pronunciation, meaning and 

 etymology of upwards of 60,000 words and phrases. It 

 is furnished with appendices of proper names, foreign 

 phrases, faulty diction, disputed pronunciations and 

 abbreviations, as well as with a number of useful tables, 

 including those of the chemical elements, metric weights 

 and measures and many others. The student's dictionary 

 also contains some 1225 pictorial illustrations. The 

 school edition provides brief and accurate etymologies, 

 and is furnished with as many as 800 pictures. Both 

 volumes are beautifully printed and serviceably bound. 



