August i i, 1904] 



NA TURE 



341 



succeeding subsection deals witli the stereoisomeric 

 carbon-nitrogen compounds, such as the oximes, and 

 is followed by a subsection on the substances that 

 owe their stereoisomerism to the configuration of 

 nitrogen atoms. The first part closes with an account 

 of the optically active sulphur, selenium, and tin com- 

 pounds, and of the geometric isomerism exhibited b\ 

 the cobalt and platinum compounds with ammonia 

 and the organic bases. 



The second part of the work is concerned with 

 stereochemistry unaccompanied by stereoisomerism, 

 under which head are treated such matters as the 

 stability of carbocyclic and heterocyclic chains, the 

 stereochemical formulse of benzene, and the influence 

 of space-arrangement on the speed or possibility of 

 chemical reactions, e.g. esterisation, formation of 

 amides from esters, formation of triphenylmethane 

 dyes, reduction of nitro-groups. Perhaps this part of 

 the book will be found as useful as any, for it mar- 

 shals under one point of view a great array of facts 

 otherwise scattered and difficult of access. 



Prof. Werner's book should be in the possession of 

 every organic chemist. 



The Fauna of British India, incltiding Ceylon and 

 Burma. Published under the authority of the 

 Secretary of State for India in Council. Edited by 

 W. T. Blanford. Rhynchota, vol. ii., part ii. 

 Heteroptera. By W. L. Distant. Pp. i-iv, xi- 

 -wii, 343-503; figs. 168-319. (London: Taylor and 

 Francis, 1904.) Price los. 

 The first part of vol. ii. of this work was published 

 in December, 1903, and was noticed in Nature for 

 February 25, 1904, and we have not had long to wait 

 for the second part, completing the volume, the pre- 

 face of which bears date April, 1904. The total num- 

 ber of species described in the second part is 511, 

 bringing up the total number of species described in 

 the first two volumes of the work to 1471. The second 

 part of vol. ii. completes the great family Reduviidae 

 (subfamilies Acanthaspidinae to Nabidinse), which is 

 fam. 12 of Mr. Distant's arrangement. The volume 

 also includes the families Saldidje, Ceratocombidae, 

 Cimicidae, and Capsidse. This completes the land 

 bugs, with the exception of the .Anthocoridje. These, 

 with the two last families of the Gymnocerata 

 (Hebridse and HydrometridEe), which are aquatic or 

 subaquatic, are left over to be included with the 

 Cryptocerata, all of which are aquatic, in the third 

 volume, which will complete the work so far as the 

 Heteroptera are concerned. The Homoptera will also 

 be commenced in vol. iii. 



Other volumes of this series in preparation are to 

 include certain families of Coleoptera (especially those 

 of economic importance), the butterflies, and the land 

 mollusca. 



Analytical Chemistry. Vol. ii.. Quantitative Analysis. 



By F. P. Treadwell, Ph.D. Translated from the 



second German edition by William T. Hall, S.B. 



(New York : W'iley and Sons ; London : Chapman 



and Hall, Ltd., 1904.) Price 175. net. 

 It is a little curious that this volume, which ap- 

 peared in German in 1901, should have reached a 

 second edition before finding an American translator, 

 .•IS one might suppose that its many excellences would 

 have hastened the fate which has overtaken a number 

 of less valuable German treatises. 



The author states in the preface that the majority 

 of the methods which he describes have been sub- 

 mitted to careful examination in his own laboratory, 

 a fact clearly evident from the minutiaa which are 

 introduced at every step. This is precisely what gives 

 a work on analytical chemistry a real value. There 



NO. 181 5, VOL. 70] 



is an introductory chapter on general manipulation, 

 details, and apparatus, including the use of the Gooch 

 crucible, that ingenious and time-saving combination 

 of filter and crucible which is much too little known 

 and used. 



The subsequent chapters deal with gravimetric and 

 volumetric- estimations of inorganic materials, in- 

 cluding such methods as are specially applicable to 

 certain minerals, ores, and metals, and there is a final 

 chapter on gas analysis. 



It should be added that the book is one for reference 

 and is not a graduated course of instruction for 

 students. It is, in fact, an abbreviated Fresenius 

 without the undesirable quality of superficial com- 

 prehensiveness which characterises that exasperating 

 classic. J. B. C. 



Arnold's Home and Abroad Readers. Book i. 



Glimpses of the Homeland. Pp. 135. Book ii. 



Glimpses of the Globe. Pp. 152. Book iii. 



England and Wales. Pp. 200. Book iv. The 



British Dominions. Pp. 232. Book v. The 



World's Great Powers — Present and Past. Pp. 228. 



Book vi. The World's Trade and Traders. Pp. 



22S. (London : Edward Arnold, n.d.) Prices from 



lod. to IS. 6d. 

 The aim of the anonymous author of these volumes 

 appears to have been first of all to secure the interested 

 attention of his young readers, and then incidentally 

 to teach them a great deal about the physical features 

 of the countries of the world and of the manners and 

 customs of the peoples of the globe. The readers are 

 skilfully graded, well illustrated with maps and 

 pictures, and excellently printed. The books are likely 

 to be popular in elementary schools. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 'The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

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

 manuscripts intendiul for this or anv other part of Natlike 

 No notice is tnleen <■! ■nin.iviiinnt r,nvin minnlinv^ 1 



Chemical Action Produced by Radium. 



Various chemical investigations relating to the chemical 

 action of radium bromide have been in progress in this 

 laboratory during the past session, an account of which 

 will shortly be published. 



But one of these investigations has yielded results so 

 extraordinary that we think it well to direct atten- 

 tion to the results. On the Rutherford-Scddy hypothesis 

 of the disintegration of the radium atom, an enormous 

 amount of energy is evolved, and at least one simpler pro- 

 duct is formed, namely, helium, which is slowly produced 

 during the disintegration of the emanation, which Mr. 

 Soddy and one of the authors have shown to be a gas, follow- 

 ing Boyle's law; and with Dr. Collie the spectrum has 

 been investigated. 



It has, of course, often suggested itself that such a change 

 should be reversible; that is, that by imparting a sufficient 

 charge of energy to any atom, it should be transformed 

 into different matter, probably by the building up of a 

 more complex structure. Now the only known source of 

 energy in such a concentrated form is that which is given 

 off by radium and its products during their disintegration. 

 The facts which we have to chronicle appear to point towards 

 such a synthesis. 



During experiments on the emanation, about 105 milli- 

 grams of radium bromide, dissolved in water, were kept 

 in small glass bulbs, connected to a pump. To protect 

 the bulbs against accident, each was surrounded with a 

 small beaker, one of potash-glass and two of soda-glass. 

 The formei was coloured brown in the course of some six 

 months, the latter violet. On altering the apparatus these 

 beakers were discarded. 



They were all found to be radio-active on both surfaces, 



