AlRIL 16, I903] 



NA TURE 



557 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Grundriss dcr qualitativen Analyse, vom Standpunkte 

 dcr Lehre von den Ionen. Von Dr. Wilh. Bottger. 

 Pp. xii + 249. (Leipzig : W. Engelmann ; London : 

 Williams and Norgate, 1902.) Price 7s. net. 

 This work is intended to fill in the outlines sketched 

 with such ability a few years ago by Prof. Ostwald 

 in his little book on analytical chemistry. In that 

 book it was shown how the facts and operations of 

 analysis may be viewed in the light of physicochemical 

 doctrines in general, and of the ionic theory in par- 

 ticular. Dr. Bottger now supplies the detail, so that 

 a student may make his way over the whole territory 

 of analysis hearing and speaking only the language 

 of the new dualism. 



It is probable that a casual examination of this book 

 will arouse feelings of exasperation in the minds of 

 those who think that the ionic theory should be kept 

 in a state of suspended animation, and not used until 

 somebody (at present unknown) has either made it 

 perfect or else has shown that it is unfit to live. To 

 those who see in the new dualism a theory which 

 accords in a singularly complete way with the pheno- 

 mena of analysis, Dr. Bottger's book will be extremely 

 welcome. 



It is too early yet to judge of the stamp of chemist 

 that will be produced out of students whose whole 

 chemical discipline has been in the school of thought 

 represented by this book, but one thing seems certain 

 in regard to analysis, and it is that such students will 

 be habituated more than has ever previously been the 

 case to look behind the mere reaction and learn some- 

 thing of the play of forces to which it is due. This will 

 undoubtedly be a great gain, for the bane of analysis 

 for educational purposes has been the tendency of 

 people to regard it more as an art than as a science. 

 Dr. Bottger divides the subject under the usual head- 

 ings — examination of a solution for the metallic con- 

 stituents in the six analytical groups, examination of a 

 solution for the anion in five groups, complete analysis 

 of a given substance, solution and fusion of solids, rarer 

 elements. A set of analytical tables is contained in a 

 pocket inside the cover. 



Very full explanations are given throughout of the 

 individual reactions and of the separation processes, 

 and short sections are devoted to such subjects as re- 

 versible reactions, mass action, solubility-product, &c. 



It is probable that Dr. Bottger's book will for some 

 time to come rank as the standard work on analysis 

 as considered from the point of view of the ionic theory. 



A. S. 



A Treatise on Roads and Pavements. By Ira Osborn 

 Baker, C.E. Pp. viii + 635; w T ith 171 illustrations. 

 (New York : John Wiley and Sons ; London : Chap- 

 man and Hall, Ltd., 1903.) Price 5 dollars. 

 The object of this book, as set out in the preface, is 

 to give a discussion from the point of view of an 

 engineer of the principles involved in the construc- 

 tion of country roads and city pavements. The con- 

 tents of the book relate almost entirely to American 

 practice, where, according to the author, 95 per cent, 

 of the mileage of the public highways consists of earth 

 roads, a form which has almost entirely vanished from 

 this longer established country. To the making and 

 manufacture of earth roads the author therefore de- 

 votes a considerable part of his book ; the remainder 

 deals _with roads having permanently hard surfaces 

 used in urban and suburban districts ; this part also 

 is based on American experience, because, to use the 

 author's words, " the principles of road making 

 worked out in America are probably best suited to 

 American conditions, and also because in most par- 



NO. 1746, VOL. 67] 



ticulars American roads and pavements are superior 

 to any other in the world." Yet, notwithstanding this 

 superiority over the rest of the world, which may be 

 open to question, the author admits that even in 

 America there is still room for improvement. 



The book is divided into twenty chapters, dealing re- 

 spectively with the location, making and management 

 of earth roads ; roads covered with gravel and broken 

 stone; horse tracks; street pavements, their design, 

 drainage, foundations, and materials for paving, in- 

 cluding bricks, asphalt, cobble stones, granite and 

 other cubes, wood and tar macadam; foot-ways and 

 bicycle tracks. 



Although the estimates of cost and methods of pro- 

 cedure do not apply to work done in this country, there 

 is a great deal in the book that may be read with 

 profit by English road engineers and surveyors. The 

 information and statistics given in the chapter on 

 traction might be useful to the committee of the British 

 Association that is now engaged in considering this 

 subject. 



International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. Vol. 

 v. First Annual Issue. Astronomy, E. Pp. xiii + 

 303. , Published for the International Council by 

 the Royal Society of London. (London : Harrison 

 and Sons, 1902.) Price 21s. 

 Readers of Nature are now familiar with the method 

 adopted in classifying the subject-matter brought to- 

 gether in these annual volumes, seventeen volumes of 

 which form a complete yearly issue of the catalogue. 

 The work before us is the first of these annual issues 

 dealing with astronomy, and one, therefore, of special 

 interest to astronomers, as the latter are already well 

 supplied with the valuable volumes of the Astronomis- 

 clier Jahresbericht (published by Walter F. Wislicenus 

 with the support of the Astronomischen Gesellschaft), 

 which have now reached their third year, and contain 

 in addition a brief abstract of nearly every paper. 



Comparing the two volumes from the point of view 

 of subject classification, there are some slight varia- 

 tions, which, however, make no material difference. 

 On p. 1 of the volume before us " spectroscopy " seems 

 to be added to the list of " primary divisions " as a 

 kind of appendix, but on further investigation this 

 arrangement, which is a very good one, seems to have 

 been adopted since this subject is common to more than 

 one of the primary divisions. Before using the book, 

 the British reader is advised to read the instructions on 

 pages xii. and xiii., and it seems curious that these 

 instructions are not translated into French, German, 

 and Italian, like the other portions of general informa- 

 tion. 



It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the 

 present publication and its value to astronomers in 

 aiding them to follow the work carried on in other 

 countries. 



Der echte Hausschwatnin und andere das Batihoh 

 zerstorende Pilze. By Dr. R. Hertwig. Second 

 and enlarged edition, by Dr. C. F. von Tubeuf. 

 Pp. vii+105; illustrated. (Berlin: Springer, 1902.) 

 Both mycetologists and practical men will welcome 

 the appearance of this second and revised edition of a 

 well-known work dealing chiefly with the life-history 

 of the fungus of dry rot (Merulius lacrymans) and the 

 best modes of preventing its devastations, but like- 

 wise discussing other kinds of wood-boring funguses. 

 In the first chapter the distribution of this fungus and 

 the woods it chiefly attacks are discussed in detail, 

 while in the second attention is concentrated on its 

 mode of development, and the means by which its 

 presence can be detected. Illustrations, one in colours, 

 in the latter chapter show the appearance presented by 



