NATURE 
[| NOVEMBER 8, 1900 
PRACTICAL 
«lL Practical 
CHEMISTRY. 
Chemistry Note-book for Matricula- 
tion and Army Candidates. By S. E. Brown. Pp. 
v+56. (London: Methuen and Co., n.d.) Price 
Is. 6d. net. 
Chemistry Note-books. Sections iiv. By E. J. 
Sumner. (Burnley: Cooper Printing Co., Ltd., n.d. 
Privately printed.) Section i., 6d.; section ii., gd. ; 
seclions iii. and iv., 1s. each, net. 
The Science of Common Life. By J. B. Coppock. 
Pp. vi+273. (London: Swan Sonnenschein and 
Co.. Ltd-; 1906.) Price 3s. 6a: 
Practical Methods of Inorganic Chemistry. By 
Dr. F. M. Perkin. Pp. vii+155. (London: Archi- 
bald Constable and Co., Ltd., 1906.) Price 2s. 6d. 
net. 
Chemical Analysis, Qualitative and Quantitative. 
By Drs. W. Briggs and R. W. Stewart. Fourth 
edition, revised by H. W. Bausor. Pp. xii+200. 
(London: University Tutorial Press, Ltd., W. B. 
Clive, 1906.) 
Methods of Organic Analysis. By Dr. H. C. 
Sherman. Pp. xii+245. (New York: The Mac- 
millan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 
1905.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 
ae writing many books there is no end’ can 
be truly said of chemistry, but need not be 
‘said with a sigh. Whether the author aspires to 
‘say something new and useful, or tries to, smooth the 
wough road for the anxious candidate, or merely 
writes to supply a want felt more by himself than 
ithe reader, the appearance of so much new literature, 
whatever its character, implies a widespread activity 
in practical teaching. 
There is a hopeful look about most of these 
volumes on practical chemistry for junior students. 
With the exception of Briggs and  Stewart’s 
““ Chemical Analysis,’? which has a certain flavour 
of chemistry as it was taught, the new volumes show 
that the subject offers something more instructive 
and exhilarating than the mere testing of simple or 
even complex salts—a few years ago the staple 
chemical diet of all beginners. 
Although Mr. Brown’s ‘‘ Note-book ’’ is written to 
prepare candidates for examination, this is no dis- 
paragement. Mr. Brown wisely does not attempt to 
explain in words what is more easily and quickly 
‘demonstrated, so that the volume is partly a book 
of instructions to the student, partly a guide-book to 
the teacher, and very largely a note-book of blank 
wages. The experiments, of which a number are 
minutely described, are well chosen and arranged, and 
provide an effective and varied programme, which 
-should give a boy an excellent foundation to build 
upon. There is a doubt in the writer’s mind whether 
this combination of text-book and note-book is 
entirely satisfactory, for the book will be used on the 
‘bench, and who does not recall the spotty and un- 
wholesome appearance of the laboratory rough book 
towards the end of term, when acid and _ alkali, 
oxidising and reducing agent, have had time to work 
itheir natural and varied effect ? 
NO. 1932, VOL. 75] 
The object of Mr. Sumner’s little note-books is 
rather a novel one. There are four sections corre- 
sponding to a four years’ course. The printed matter 
is mainly a revision of what the student is supposed 
to have accomplished during the year and entered in 
his own manuscript note-book; but it is not complete, 
and certain blank spaces are left to be filled in at the 
end of the year’s course from the aforesaid note- 
book. Thus the student is provided with a fair and 
accurate account of his year’s work for reference. 
One does not wish to dogmatise about a matter of 
this kind of which one has had no experience, but, 
unless the student’s notes are very badly kept, it 
seems doubtful whether the mere act of transcribing 
will be anything more than ‘‘a dull, mechanic 
exercise.’’ The original manuscript will probably 
be the better reference in the end, for the student will 
be more familiar with its contents. On the other 
hand, a good word must be said for the excellence 
of the manner and matter of the different sections, 
from which a teacher, as well as a student, may 
derive valuable suggestions. 
The little volume by Mr. Coppock, with the attrac- 
tive title of ‘‘ The Science of Common Life,’’ contains 
a series of carefully selected and well-arranged ex- 
periments, but the evident care of the author is 
completely marred by a confused, verbose, and 
illiterate style of writing which would scarcely do 
credit to an ordinary schoolboy. The book abounds 
in such sentences as the following :—‘‘Take a 
thermometer and warm it for about 20° higher up 
than its reading.’’ ‘‘ We thus get squared paper if 
their distance apart is made equal to that of the 
printed lines.’’ ‘*‘ These gases consist of those found 
on page 206 together with large quantities of 
ammonia, which is removed on purification.’? Here 
is a sentence destitute of a verb and also, it may be 
added, of a meaning :—‘‘ The radiation depending 
upon the nature of the body and a closed screen to 
the sky, which holds the heat.’’ ‘‘ Eider-down quilts, 
furs and flannels are warm compared with corre- 
sponding linen articles.’’ Imitation furs are not un- 
known, but an eider-down quilt, or a fur, or flannel 
made of linen would be an inexpensive and no doubt 
attractive article of commerce. 
The descriptions and explanations are as slovenly 
as the style is bad:—‘‘ There is another oxide of 
carbon called carbon monoxide . . .; this is the gas 
often seen on a fire.’? Chapter ii. opens with the 
statement :—‘‘ It is a common expression to say that 
one thing is heavier than another,’? which might 
almost have passed as a truism; but the author is of 
another opinion, and proceeds to show that it might 
conceivably be the other way round—this by way of 
introduciag the notion of density. 
There is a mass of inaccurate detail with which it 
is needless to deal. Sufficient has been said to show 
that the book cannot be honestly recommended as a 
satisfactory or trustworthy guide. 
It is now generally recognised that the attractive- 
ness of a first year’s college course may be greatly 
enhanced and its interest stimulated by varying the 
routine of analysis with the preparation of inorganic 
