November 13, 1902] 



NA TURE 



29 



do not mention it, and I agree with Herr Haas that the 

 story is a mere invention. 



Of the arrival at Malacca some time in 1547 and of the 

 subsequent conversion by Xavier of three Japanese there 

 can be no doubt, however much we may distrust Pinto's 

 account of his share in bringing about their visit. The 

 chief of the three, Anjiro 1 Hachiro ?) induced Xavier him- 

 self to go to Japan, and in 1 549 the great apostle of the east 

 landed at Kagoshima, famous some three centuries later 

 for its stout resistance to an English squadron. 



Of Xavier's labours I can say little here. He remained 

 two years and some months in Japan, founded three 

 churches and baptized some 800 converts. Herr Haas 

 speaks highly of his labours. But he seems to have been 

 satisfied with mere external observances, and his ignorance 

 of the language must have reduced his dogmatic teaching 

 to its least expression. What would be interesting and 

 instructive to know would be what the Japanese, especially 

 the Buddhists and Confucianist scholars, thought of his 

 doctrines. No hint has come down to us — perhaps they 

 took no thought of a strange religion that seemed of no 

 great importance. The chapters on the social and 

 political conditions of Japan in the sixteenth century are 

 interesting — particularly the account they give of 

 Buddhism and Confucianism, both in themselves and as 

 a setting to Xavier's apostolate. 



Herr Haas's style is not unattractive, and in the 

 eulogy of Xavier rises into eloquence. But — to an 

 Englishman at least — many of the sentences, often 

 occupying half a page or more, are both tedious and 

 obscure. A portrait of Xavier taken from an old print is 

 prefixed, which, however, bears little resemblance to 

 that contained in Dr. Murray's " Japan." F. V. D. 



CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY. 

 Le Mixte ct la Combinaison Chimique: Essai sur I 'Evolu- 

 tion d'une IdA: By E. Duhem. Pp. 207. (Paris, 

 1902.) Price fr. 3.50. 



FROM the earliest times there have existed two 

 opposed views of the constitution of homogeneous 

 mixtures. According to one view, the mixture was in 

 reality as in appearance homogeneous. The elements 

 composing it disappeared as such and were replaced by 

 an entirely new thing, the mixture, from which, however, 

 by appropriate treatment the original elements might 

 be regenerated. According to the other view, the homo- 

 geneity was only apparent, and due to the feebleness of 

 our senses. Each element consisted ultimately of atoms, 

 which in the mixture retained their individual character, 

 being mingled, but in no sense fused. 



Prof. Duhem in the present essay, which, originally 

 appeared in the Revue de Philosophic^ follows the for- 

 tunes and discusses the scientific evolution of these ideas 

 from the time of Bacon and Descartes to the present 

 day. In a series of interesting chapters, he shows the 

 adaptation of chemical theory to facts as they accumu- 

 lated, tracing the development of the notions of element, 

 equivalent, substitution, type, valence, isomerism. It is, 

 however, to the last chapters that chemists will probably 

 turn with the greatest interest. In these the author 

 gives a critique of the atomic theory and an account of 

 NO. 1724, VOL. 67] 



chemical mechanics. His point of view may best be 

 given by quotation. 



The great achievement of atomic theory is the simple 

 interpretation of the law of multiple proportions. But, 

 the author asks, is the victory decisive ? Who can say 

 that this is the only possible explanation ? 



" When we see with what simplicity and clearness all 

 the principles of modern chemistry may be systematically 

 expounded, though the name and notion of atom are 

 alike absent, and what difficulties and contradictions arise 

 when it is desired to interpret these principles according 

 to the doctrines of the atomists, we cannot help thinking 

 that the sole success of the atomic theory is only an 

 apparent victory and one without a future, that the theory 

 does not show us the true objective basis of the law ot 

 multiple proportions, that this basis still remains to be 

 discovered, and finally, in a word, that the evidence of 

 modern chemistry is not in favour of the Epicurean 

 doctrine." 



In a foot-note, the author draws attention to the cir- 

 cumstance that what is here said of the law of multiple 

 proportions and its interpretation by atomic hypotheses 

 may be repeated word for word of the crystallographic 

 law of rational indices and its interpretation either by 

 the integrant molecules of Hauy or the space-nets of 

 Bravais. 



With regard to the general aspect of physics and 

 chemistry to-day, the author says : — 



"Physical science is not a metaphysic. It has no in- 

 tention to penetrate beyond our perceptions in order to 

 grasp the essence and ultimate nature of the objects of 

 these perceptions. Its end is to construct by means of 

 signs borrowed from the science of numbers and from 

 geometry a symbolic representation of what our senses, 

 aided by instruments, bring to our knowledge. Once 

 constructed, this representation lends itself to reasoning 

 more simply, rapidly and certainly than the purely ex- 

 perimental data for which it was substituted. By this 

 artifice, physics assumes a breadth and precision which it 

 could never have attained without clothing itself in this 

 schematic garment which we call theoretical or mathe- 

 matical physics. To each element which logical analysis 

 discovers in any physical concept there now corresponds, 

 not a metaphysical reality, but a geometrical or algebraic 

 character of the symbol which is substituted for the con- 

 cept. For the notion of a chemical substance, for 

 example, there is substituted a chemical formula ; the 

 idea of the analogy of two chemical systems is expressed 

 by a series of equalities between the indices which affect 

 certain letters ; the idea of derivation by substitution is 

 represented by means of certain lines or ' bonds ' ; and 

 the dissymmetry of a geometrical figure serves to repre- 

 sent a substance possessed of optical activity." 



We can thoroughly recommend the book for the 

 thoughtful consideration of those interested in chemical 

 philosophy. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Die Internationalen absoluten Masse iiisiesondere die 



elektrischcn Masse. By Dr. A. von Waltenhofen. 



Third edition. Pp. xi + 306. (Brunswick : Friedrich 



Vieweg und Sohn, 1902.) Price 8 marks. 



In preparing the third edition of this book, the author has, 



by introducing an amount of new matter, nearly equal to 



the whole of the second edition/sought to make the work, 



not only a complete study of the international system of 



units and measurement, and in particular of the electrical 



units, but also an introduction to the study of electrical 



