NoveEMBER 8, 1906 | 
NATURE 27 
and organic substances. The little book on “ Prac- 
tical Methods of Inorganic Chemistry,”’ by Dr. F. M. 
Perkin, embodies many familiar inorganic prepar- 
ations and a few useful quantitative estimations 
which will be of real service in the laboratory. 
An added interest would have been given by a 
reference to the original author of each preparation. 
Whilst the book may be confidently recommended, 
attention should be directed to the numerous errors 
which have escaped correction. In turning over the 
pages mistakes have been found on p. 13, in which 
a tarred filter-paper is recommended, and on the 
following pp. 24, 47, 48, 49, 50, 55, 63, 76, 80, 104, 
131, 139. Brinn (p. 63) should be Brin, Woolf (p. 
92) should be Woulfe, and Golschmidt (p. 121) Gold- 
schmidt. Urea is surely not diamido carbonic acid 
(p. 68). It is not an acid, but an amide, 
The volume on ‘‘Chemical Analysis,’? by Drs. 
Briggs and Stewart, is one of the University Tutorial 
Series, and, like its companions, is intended for the use 
of candidates for university examinations. The authors 
do not lose sight of this important fact, and the 
student is encouraged by an occasional reminder that 
his interests, as well as those of the science, are 
properly served. ‘‘ In case a student is told that only 
one metal is to be looked for, the process of analysis 
is of course much simplified,’’ and further, ‘‘it is 
foolish to follow up an unsatisfactory result in an 
examination.’’ That the book fulfils its purpose is 
clear from the numerous editions which it has seen, 
and, when all has been said, it is a thoroughly sound 
work on the subject with which it professes to deal. 
If it should fail in its aim to teach the principles of 
chemistry the fault does not lie with the authors, but 
with those examiners who insist upon a pabulum of 
this kind for their candidates. 
Dr. Sherman’s book on ‘‘ Methods of Organic 
Analysis’? belongs to an entirely different category 
from the foregoing. The subject of analysis is 
specialised, and appears in its proper réle as the 
handicraft of the well-trained chemist. The bool is 
chiefly devoted to the analysis of foodstuffs and the 
more common organic materials. The methods are 
minutely described, sources of error are pointed out, 
and references to original literature are given. The 
book is evidently compiled with care and from 
personal experience, and should be a valuable adjunct 
to the organic laboratory. Vo AB (Ce 
COTTON IN AMERICA. 
~ Cotton: its Cultivation, Marketing, Manufacture, and 
the Problems of the Cotton World. By Prof. C. W. 
Burkett and C. H. Poe. Pp. ix+331. (London: 
A. Constable and Co., Ltd., 1906.) Price 8s. 6d. 
net. 
HE story of cotton as told by Prof. C. W. 
Burkett, professor of agriculture in the North 
Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 
and by Mr. C. H. Poe, the managing editor of a 
newspaper which caters for the American cotton 
NO. 1932, VOL. 75] 
farmer, is a story of great interest, though very in- 
complete. The book would be more correctly 
scribed by the title of ‘‘ American Cotton,”’ 
Egypt, and other cotton fields, and the efforts of 
England to widen the sources of supply by producing 
cotton within the British Empire, are little more than 
subjects for the authors’ derision, 
The reader 1s to understand that there is no cotton 
in the world like American cotton; that there is no 
on earth suitable for as 
de- 
for India, 
soil so growing cotton 
| American soil; that nowhere on the globe are cotton 
farmers equal to those of America; and that the only 
requisite to constitute an ideal state of things is for 
all the cotton farmers to join Mr. Harvie Jordan’s 
association, and to regulate the acreage and the price 
according to the principles of that association. What 
| those principles are the authors do not define, but in 
the official journal of the association for September 
27, 1906, they are stated thus :— 
‘Dismiss all consideration of spinner, or consumer ; 
let the spinner lool out for himself and the producer 
for himself. This is business.”’ 
’ 
Further ‘‘ business,’’ much of the same nature, is 
indicated by the authors in a chapter on stopping 
leaks in cotton profits, wherein they say “‘ the greatest 
leak of all is the shipping of 60 per cent. of our 
cotton to Europe instead of turning it into the finished 
product here.”’ 
If it is the ambition and the determination of the 
United States of America not to let any cotton 
“leak ’’ out of the country, and, according to the 
authors, the fibre cannot be successfully grown else- 
where, it would be interesting to learn what they 
propose to do with the cotton-manufacturing industry 
of Europe! On the Continent ‘‘ American greed ’’ 
has become a by-word, but so far English people 
have had no cause so to express their opinion of 
Americans, and we refuse to believe that the authors 
of ‘‘ Cotton ’’ express anything more than a narrow, 
selfish class interest in their advocacy of American 
cotton for Americans, and at such a price as the 
growers’ associations determine. 
The value of the book lies in section ii., which 
contains a description of how the cotton-plant grows 
and is grown. To cotton farmers this section alone 
is worth the 8s. 6d. asked for the book. It treats of 
the botanical structure of the plant, seed selection, 
environment, climatic conditions, fertilisers, farm 
tools required, injurious insects, planting, cultivating, 
picking, and the cost of making cotton. 
In speaking of ginning, we are told the tendency 
is to run the gins at high speed, but that this, though 
increasing the output, decreases the value of the lint. 
Whilst the great speed of the power gins is held up 
for admiration and wonder, it has to be confessed 
that ‘‘ the old gin, when run by horse-power, was not 
open to this objection (maltreating fibre) urged 
against high steam power. Then you never heard 
of cut or broken fibres, or of crimped or knotted lint, 
such as is now caused by the impact of the saws 
when the cylinders rotate at high speed.’’ There is a 
further confession that ‘‘no noteworthy improvement 
