July 7, 1904] 



NA TURE 



The characteristics of the Slav population are de- 

 picted by the author in lurid colours. The Slavs are, he 

 asserts, clumsy, ignorant, drunken, superstitious, un- 

 clean and brutal. At the same time the Slav nature is 

 good material to work upon. As the Slav comes in 

 contact with Anglo-Saxons and learns their ways, his 

 wants are increased and his tastes refined. The un- 

 savoury details of squalor and vice among the Slav 

 miners are certainly not understated by the author, who 

 has naturally no sympathy with the ideas and aspir- 

 ations of a people who, by adhering to their language 

 and customs, remain unassimilated after years of resi- 

 dence in the United States. Similar statements are 

 often made regarding the Slav immigrants in the coal- 

 fields of Scotland and of Westphalia. Probably the 

 Slav colliers of Pennyslvania are not more debased than 

 the mining populations of many of the European coal- 

 fields. If they are, the responsibility must rest largely 

 with the coalowners, who provide habitations where 

 self-respect and decency are unattainable luxuries. 



The author's gloomy views regarding the social con- 

 dition of the anthracite communities cannot be accepted 

 without reserve. They are certainly not in accord with 

 the views of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, 

 who found that the social conditions obtaining in the 

 communities made up largely of coalworkers were good, 

 and that the number and character of the schools 

 accessible in all these communities were fully up to the 

 American standard. The number ,of churches in pro- 

 portion to the population was rather above the average, 

 and the opportunities generally for instruction appeared 

 to be adequate. 



The work is illustrated by twenty-eight half-tone 

 plates, most of which are excellent, and there is a long 

 bibliography of works consulted. The quotations in 

 French, being printed without accents, are difficult for 

 the ordinary reader to understand, and in one quotation, 

 " Ellis il font diaque nuit," it is not apparent what lan- 

 guage is used. B. H. B. 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 

 Elements of Water Bacteriology. By Samuel Cate 



Prescott and Charles-Edward Amory Winslow. Pp. 



x+ 162. (New York : John Wiley and Sons ; London : 



Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) Price 5s. 6d. net. 

 Tins little volume is practical in its conception, and is 

 concise in treatment. It, of course, presupposes a 

 sound knowledge of general bacteriological methods, 

 but the authors have undoubtedly produced a manual 

 for laboratory use which will be of value to all intel- 

 ligently engaged in the examination of water. It is 

 up to date in the various methods described, and thirty 

 pages are devoted to a careful index of the contents, a 

 list of memoirs referred to in the text, and the names of 

 authors. Perhaps the most interesting feature in the 

 book is the " change in front," so to speak, which it in- 

 dicates some water-bacteriologists are making in re- 

 gard to the relative importance of the presence of 

 typhoid and colon bacilli respectively in water. A 

 third of the letterpress is devoted to the Bacillus coli 

 communis, its detection and its significance in water, 

 whilst the typhoid bacillus, so long the bete noire of 

 sanitarians, is disposed of in a few pages. The atti- 

 tude of, at any rate, .American authorities is effectively 

 summed up in the following paragraph : — 



" On the whole it seems that since a positive result is 



NO. i8io, VOL. 70] 



always open to serious doubt, and a negative result 

 signifies nothing, the search for the typhoid bacillus 

 itself, however desirable theoretically, cannot be re- 

 garded at present as generally profitable." 



So, because the typhoid bacillus is difficult to find and 

 the detection of specific organisms is being clamoured 

 for in the estimation of the bacterial quality of a water, 

 refuge is taken in the more easily discoverable and well- 

 nigh ubiquitous colon bacillus, or its allied forms. 



It will be interesting to watch the progress of opinion 

 on this colon-standard of water-purity in the light 

 which it is hoped further researches may be able to 

 throw on the detection and significance of specific bac- 

 teria in water. 

 The Chemistry of Coke. By W. Carrick Anderson, 



M..\., D.Sc. Second edition. (Glasgow and Edin- 

 burgh : Hodge and Co., 1904.) Price 5^. net. 

 This little volume, which has reached its second edition, 

 contains much practical information about the 

 chemistry and chemical analysis of coal and coke 

 which should be useful to scientific makers of coke. 



But apart from its practical side, the book would 

 justify its publication if it served the single purpose of 

 showing how scientific method may be applied to the 

 problems of a relatively simple industry. That different 

 coals of the same composition, or isomeric coals, as 

 the author calls them, behave quite differently on 

 coking is well known. This must, of course, arise 

 from the presence of different chemical constituents. 

 Perhaps it would have been wiser to remain content 

 with the statement (p. 64) that " so long as the com- 

 position of coal is unknown the peculiar internal re- 

 actions of coking will assuredly remain shrouded in 

 obscurity " than to hazard the suggestion (p. 60) that 

 " in coking, side-chains as well as the central part or 

 radicle reacts." 



The absence of any reference to the relation of com- 

 position to by-products seems a curious omission when, 

 as the author himself says, " the manufacture of coke 

 without recovery of by-products is to-day frequently 

 regarded as scarcely any longer a payable industry." 



The writer would like to offer the suggestion that a 

 careful microscopic examination of coal, which has 

 been found so useful in other directions, might lead to 

 interesting information both as to coking qualities as 

 well as the nature of the by-products of different varie- 

 ties of coal. Perhaps this method of investigation has 

 already been tried and found wanting. J. B. C. 



Praktischer Leitfaden der Gewichtsanalyse. Zweite 



Auflage. By Paul Jannasch. Pp. xvi + 450. 



(Leipzig : Veit and Co.) Price 8 marks. 

 .A SECO.ND edition of Prof. Jannasch 's well known book 

 treating of gravimetric analysis has now appeared, 

 and contains considerable additions of new matter. It 

 is obvious, even from the most cursory examination, 

 that the book differs from most of its class in that it 

 is in no sense a compilation of old and often obsolete 

 methods. 



Prof. Jannasch is well known as the author of many 

 new methods in analytical chemistry, and the results 

 of his own work and that of his pupils have been made 

 great use of in preparing the present volume. 



The contents of the book are divided into nine 

 sections, each of which deals with analyses of a par- 

 ticular type ; thus, starting from the determination of 

 the constituents of simple salts in the first, the second 

 treats of the analysis of simple alloys, whilst the third, 

 fourth, and fifth sections deal with the quantitative 

 separation of the various metals one from another. 

 By far the greater number of the processes recom- 

 mended for these separations are those with which 

 the author's name is connected, involving the use of 

 hydrogen peroxide, hydroxylamine, and hydrazine. 



