4S-4 



NATURE 



[February 20, 1919 



that some form of magic underlies the cer< tnony. 

 Vmong tin' I wi negroes oi Togoland, when anj 

 ie ti ibe d< si 1 .1 sla\ e f n >m running 



away, it is customar) to bring him before a fetish 

 named Nanyo, where the priest pares the nails 

 of the slave's fingers and toes, shears some of the 

 hair of his head, and buries .ill the parings and 

 cuttings in the earth with a fetish mark. Other 

 ceremonies are included, but those quoted are 

 ample to show (from the common beliefs about 

 magical powers obtained through possession of the 

 nail-parings and hair of an enemy) that the master 

 has now some occult control over his servant. In 

 the case of the Hebrew slave it is the blood which 

 represents the substance through which the con- 

 trol is acquired ; and when the earlier form of the 

 Hebrew law, as recorded in Exodus, is remem- 

 bered (" then his master shall bring him unto God, 

 and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door- 

 post "), the connection with the savage story is 

 still more striking. 



The curious story of Elijah and the ravens is 

 briefly discussed literally. It is curious to see 

 that Sir James Frazer (who read the whole of 

 the Old Testament in Hebrew before undertaking 

 tHis great work) is apparently unaware of the 

 ingenious but simple emendation of the word 

 "ravens" ('oreMtm) to "Arabs" by a very slight 

 vowel change, which, of course, renders any 

 mythical explanation unnecessary. 



There are one or two small slips noticeable. In 

 the description of Babylon the learned author 

 describes the mound Babil, which is the most 

 northern of the three mounds composing the city, 

 as the site of the ancient temple E-temen-an-ki 

 (the real Tower of Babel), which actually lies a 

 little to the north of the southern mound Amran, 

 at least a mile from Babil. Another small slip is 

 "Mandace" (three times, vol. ii., p. 441) for 

 "Mandane," the mother of Cyrus. But the 

 wonder is that, in all this varied display of erudi- 

 tion, the slips should be so small and trivial. It 

 is impossible to do justice to the large number of 

 new theories amply supported by evidence. 

 Hebraists and anthroDologists (and, incidentally, 

 examiners for the Oriental Tripos) have at hand 

 a wonderful storehouse, an Aladdin's cave of 

 jewels, on which to ponder. R. C. T. 



THE PAST AXD FUTURE OF ORGANIC 



CHEMISTRY. 

 Recent Id- ,, in Organic Chemistry. By Dr. 



A. W. Stewa . With an introduction by Prof. 



J. N. Collie. Third edition. Pp. w 350. 



(London: Longmans, Green, and Co., [918.) 



Price 145. net. 

 HPHL growing mass () | research in pure and 

 -«- applied chemistn has created a demand for 

 some kind ol periodical summary which will afford 

 the non-specialist an opportunity of following the 

 varied phases of development of the science with- 

 out wading through the original literature. This 

 demand is being met by the annual reports of 

 the Chemical Society and the Society of 

 NO. 2573, VOT -- I02 ] 



Chemical Industry, and to a more limited extent 

 by Sciem 1 bj the " Smithsonian 



Reports," and by the Journal of the Royal 

 Society "1 Arts. I lie yolume under revievi stands 

 in a somewhat different category, lor ii takes in 

 lis successive chapters the character of a general 

 risumi, a students' text-book, a critical essay, 

 and a speculative fort-east. Such varied treatment 

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 be Stimulating without being wearisome; for the 

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 people's imagination without the controlling letters 

 of unbiassed lac t. 



The latest edition of Dr. Stewart's well- 

 known book has attempted to sustain its 

 character as a record of new achievements in 

 organic chemistry by deleting some former 

 chapters and replacing them by others ( ,| fresher 

 interest. Thus the poly methylene group, the 

 quinols, asymmetric synthesis, and the biblio- 

 graphy have been replaced by accounts of recent 

 researches on chlorophyll, the anthocyanins, the 

 chemistry of rubber, and new arsenic compounds, 

 whilst the chapters on triphenylmethyl and the 

 alkaloids have been somewhat extended. 



A book which professes to record recent ad- 

 vances is bound to modify its contents with each 

 succeeding edition as the subjects pass into the 

 range of ascertained facts, and so fall into their 

 natural positions in the scheme of classification. 

 It is a little difficult, therefore, to perceive upon 

 what principle the present selection is made — why 

 certain chapters should be discarded, whilst others 

 which appeared in the earliest edition should be 

 retained almost intact. The opening chapter, on 

 "Organic Chemistry in the Twentieth Century," 

 is extremely lucid and well expressed, but much 

 too superficial to be instructive. Here is a para- 

 graph : — " As far as the benzene nucleus is con- 

 cerned, the question which has excited most in- 

 terest recently is the substitution problem ; but it 

 cannot be said that, even yet, in. spite of extensive 

 investigation, we possess the true key to the 

 riddle," and there the matter ends, and those 

 who do not know what the substitution problem 

 is are referred to a solid treatise of 500 pages by 

 Holleman. Nevertheless, to those familiar with 

 the changes that have taken place during the cen- 

 tury, the chapter as a whole will serve as a 

 pleasant reminder. 



It may be observed that the theory of isorrepesis 

 is still retained, in spite of the contran evidence 

 adduced by Low rv, to which no mention is made. 

 I In word "ketene," which is derived from 

 ketone, with the usual suffix "ene," denoting 

 doubl) linked carbon, is written, it hi German, 

 "keten," an undesirable modification from ever) 

 point <>t view. 



The succeeding chapters on the terpenes, 

 the alkaloid's, and the polypeptides have under- 

 g ■ little 01 no change, and are ordinary text- 

 book descriptions; but those on chlorophyll and 

 the anthocyanins are new, and introduce us 



