648 



A^A TURE 



[October 31, 1901 



though he believes that its existence requires to be proved. 

 A question of the kind must be decided by "expert 

 anthropologists," for "arch;eology has its own place, and 

 should recognise its own limitations ; it can prove con- 

 nections of culture, but not identities of race." We can 

 only hope that the arch.ieologists who hold different views 

 from those of Mr. Randall-Maciver will take these obser- 

 vations to heart and turn from the error of their ways. 

 It is, we must confess, a little disconcerting to find such 

 a strictly scientific authority as Mr. Randall-Maciver 

 reduced to suggesting that " it is well worth considering 

 whether the pre-dynastic race of Egypt is not in the main 

 a blending in various proportions of Semite and Negro." 

 It is much to be hoped that his promised work on the 

 whole subject will clear up some of its difficulties, but it 

 seems doubtful, judging by the work of Mr. Randall- 

 Maciver and Prof. Sergi, whether the archaeologist will 

 obtain much useful help from the craniologist. 



The New Basis of Geography. A Manual for the P>r- 



paralion of the Teacher. By Jacques W. Red way. Pp. 



xvi-)-226. (New York: The Macniillan Company. 



London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1901.) Price 4^-. bd. 



net. 

 Not that the basis is really " new," for the author, who is 

 perhaps the most successful writer of geographical school- 

 books in the English tongue, knows a great deal better. 

 In his preface he says in effect that the novelty of his 

 basis is only apparent to the ignorance of the average 

 teachers, and the newer they find it the more shame to 

 them. "This book," he explains, "is intended to set 

 forth in an elementary manner the relations between 

 human activities and geographic environment." It does 

 so very well. The style is facile and free, permeated by 

 an air of genial familiarity with the subject, and with the 

 class of reader appealed to. There is a tendency to semi- 

 epigrammatic sentences, shattered fragments of which 

 will be recognisable in the breccia of the pupil-teacher's 

 examination papers for a generation to come : — " War 

 has its horrors, but it is less horrible than ignorance." 

 "Accuracy is the one virtue that cannot possibly belong 

 to a flat map." " It is not necessary to worry about the 

 plane of the ecliptic.'' 



The last proposition will probably be popular, if one 

 may say so without disrespect to other " imaginary 

 lines." 



Mr. Redway has produced a thoroughly practical, well- 

 informed and thoughtful book ; one which can not only be 

 read with pleasure by the teacher in the study, but prac- 

 tised with profit in the school. True, it does not accord 

 with any of the "codes" in this country, but the princi- 

 ples it lays down will be found perfectly amenable to any 

 pattern of red-tape harness. Stress is laid on the superi- 

 ority of the method of teaching by letting the pupil dis- 

 cover his own facts — "The reading method might fit a 

 young man to be a private secretary ; the discovery 

 method fits him to be the employer of private secretaries." 



References to books are given as well as hints on 

 method, and Mr. Redway is generous in commending 

 the works of other writers. We feel sure that his strongly 

 practical exposition of the nature and value of geographi- 

 cal principles will do more to promote sound geographical 

 education than any amount of learned advocacy by 

 theorists can ever accomplish. 



Expertises et Arbitrages. By F. Rigaud. Pp. 177. 



(Paris: Gauthier-Viilars. Masson and Co., 1901.) 

 In this volume, which belongs to the Encyclopedie 

 scientifique des Aide-Mcmoire series, the author gives a 

 precis of standard legal works on reports and arbitrations, 

 and summarises the principles and laws which should be 

 considered by arbitrators and experts more familiar with 

 technical knowledge than law. From this practical point 

 of view the book may prove of service. 



NO. 1670, VOL. 64] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 {The Editor does not liotd himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejedei 

 iiiaiiiiscnpls intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonvnioiis communications.'^ 



Note on a Point of Chemical Nomenclature. 



Senier and Goodwin have, in a recent paper (foiirn. Chem. 

 Soc. vol. Ixxix. p. 258), made use of the term "alphyl" as a generic 

 name for the aromatic radicles. The continued use of this term 

 with the meaning attached to it by the above authors is one 

 which may lead to some confusion. It is undoubtedly of advan- 

 tage to be able to distinguish by special names fatty from aro- 

 matic radicles. With this end in view Bamberger proposed 

 sometime ago (Berichte, xxvii. 2583) " alphyl" &% a general 

 term for aromatic radicles, such as phenyl, tolyl, &c. He 

 derived this word from "alkyl-phenyl," and as it supplied a 

 want it was speedily adopted by investigators* and appeared in 

 scientific papers and text-books. Vorlander in 1S99 (Jour.fiir 

 praktischc Cheinie, lix. 247) drew attention to the possibility of 

 error centred in the new name. As he remarked, every student 

 of chemistry on hearing the word "alphyl" for the first time 

 would think, not of an aromatic compound, but of one belonging 

 to the fatty or aliphatic division. lie then pointed out that 

 alphyl was, on the contrary, a thoroughly suitable name for a 

 monovalent hydrocarbon radicle of the fatty series, and that an 

 aromatic radicle might be designated by " arryt." 



For monovalent fatty radicles we have the name " alky I" 

 suggested years ago by J. Wislicenus and derived from 

 "alcohol." There is no reason for superseding that term, but 

 its meaning might with advantage be enlarged. Vorlander's 

 proposal was that all monovalent hydrocarbon radicles, whether 

 fatty or aromatic, should be called " alkyl" groups, this term 

 being in opposition to "ar;'/"used by Liebermann (Berichte, 

 xxi. 3372) for acid-radicles. We may then subdivide the alkyl 

 group into fatty and aromatic divisions, giving each a special 

 name. 



The following scheme sets forth the proposed nomenclature : — 



I. Alkyl. All monovalent hydrocarbon radicles. 

 (-;) Alphyl. Aliphatic radicles (CH.5, C^Hj, &c.) 

 (6) Ariyl. Aromatic radicles (CsH^. &c.) 



[() .Alpharryl. Aromatic radicles possessed o. a fatty 

 character (benzyl, Sec.) 



II. Acyl Acid radicles in general (CH3.CO, C6n5CH2CO). 



Bamberger, the proposer of the term "alphyl" for aromatic 

 radicles, acknowledged the ambiguity and adopted Vorlander's 

 proposal [Lieb. Ann. cccv. 289). One modification he suggested, 

 and this was the change from " arryl " to "aryl." Since that 

 time he has used in all his work the term "aryl" where he 

 previously used "alphyl." This is a custom which now gener- 

 ally obtains in Germany, and " alphyl " in its original sense has 

 almost altogether disappeared from papers and text-books. 

 Should now the term "alphyl" be used in England for an 

 aromatic radicle, it will creep again into such reference periodi- 

 cals as the CenlralbJatt and there occur side by side with 

 "alphyl" and "aryl" in their later meanings, as has already 

 been the case, and this will lead to manifest lack of clearness 

 and confusion. Some English chemists use "aryl" for an 

 aromatic radicle (./. Sudborough, on acetylation of arylamines, 

 Proc. Chem. Soc. xvii. p. 45). It would therefore be of great 

 advantage to acree on a uniform use of these different terms. 



A. T. DE M. 



Folklore about Stonehenge. 



I REMEMBER, when I was a child, between seventy and eighty 

 years ago, being told that the stones could be succ-sslully 

 counted only by laying a loaf of bread beside each. T<i mark 

 each stone by something to prevent one being missed or counted 

 tw^ce over seems natural ; but why a loaf of bread ? Is this an 

 idea surviving from the " ciiltus tapidnm" referred to in your 

 review of " Carnac and Stonehenge " in Nature of September 

 12? I think it probable that I had this from a nursery-maid 

 who came from Mere in Wiltshire, and who had a taste for the 

 marvellous. O. FisHER. 



HarUon, Cambridge, October 19. 



