170 
NATURE 
[ DECEMBER 24, 1903 
acid gas, in which are fine platina wire or platina in 
any finely divided state. The sulphuric acid formed is 
absorbed in a lead-lined tower, filled with pebbles over 
which water is made to trickle down.”’ 
With reference to this patent Dr. Lunge writes :— 
“Undoubtedly we have here the fundamental 
features of the contact-process as now employed, and 
Peregrine Phillips must be called its inventor in the 
same way as Dyar and Hemming are the inventors 
of the ammonia-soda process. The history of both 
inventions presents some commion features. Made and 
patented in England, within a very few years of each 
other, by persons otherwise absolutely unknown, 
evidently neither trained chemists nor practical manu- 
facturers in their respective lines, they remained 
almost unnoticed in the country of their birth; they 
were talen up in foreign countries, at first by men of 
science, afterwards by manufacturers, but only after 
having suffered many checks were they brought to full, 
technical success, both abroad and in England, after 
an almost equally long interval during which all 
attempts in that direction were judged hopeless.”’ 
There is no ‘‘ tariff-wall’’? against the importation 
of English ideas into Germany. ‘‘ Almost immediately 
after the publication of Phillips’s patent two German 
scientists repeated his experiments.’? These were 
Magnus and Dobereiner, and on their observations 
Kuhlmann based his patent of 1838. Three years be- 
fore this time Clement-Desormes was reported to have 
written, ‘‘ 1 am convinced that in at most ten years it 
will be possible to make sulphuric acid on the large 
scale from its constituents without lead-chambers, 
nitric acid or nitrates.’’ Events somewhat belied this 
confident prediction. What, however, was not possible 
during the first half of the last century was found to 
be perfectly practicable during the later years of the 
second half. 
The space at our disposal precludes any attempt to 
show in detatl how this result has been accomplished. 
All the main facts are set out in Dr. Lunge’s account 
and in the interesting communications from _ the 
Badische Anilin- und Soda-fabrik, the Hochst Farb- 
werke, from the Schroeder-Grillo firm, the Mannheimer 
Verein, and last, but not least, in the account of the 
process as gradually developed under the direction of 
Clemens Winkler at Freiberg. Together the whole 
story constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in 
the history of the development of the manufacture of an 
article the production and consumption of which have 
been held to be a measure of the degree of a country’s 
civilisation. 
RELIGION, LIFE AND GENIUS. 
Grundriss der Religionsphilosophie. By D. Dr. A. 
Dorner. Pp. xviii + 448. (Leipzig: Verlag der 
Diirr’schen Buchhandlung, 1903.) Price 7 marks. 
Gesammelte Aufsdatze zur Philosophie und Lebens- 
anschauung. By Rudolf Eucken. Pp. 242. (Leip- 
zig: Verlag der Diirr’schen Buchhandlung, 1903.) 
Price 4.20 marks. 
Friedrich Nietzsche: sein Leben und sein Werk. By 
Raoul Richter. Pp. vi+288. (Leipzig: Verlag der 
Diirr’schen Buchhandlung, 1903.) Price 4 marks. 
HE author of the ‘‘ Grundriss der Religionsphilo- 
sophie ’’ brings to his exposition a wide know- 
ledge of the literature of the subject, and a very com- 
NO. 1782, VOL. 69] 
prehensive grasp of the forms which religion has 
assumed in various countries and at different stages of 
its development. This preliminary mastery of the sub- 
ject shows itself, not only in the mass of material 
actually used, but also in the tone of the book; it is 
marked by a gratifying breadth of treatment. After 
an introduction on the place of a philosophy of religion 
in a general scheme of philosophy, there follows a 
lengthy sketch of the phenomenology of the religious 
consciousness. From this the author proceeds to the 
metaphysic of religion, dealing with the existence, 
essence and actuality of God. This forms the second 
division of this part; the third is devoted to the psycho- 
logy of the religious subject, to belief and certainty. 
The second part is concerned with outward expressions 
of belief, and deals historically and critically with 
various developments, from sacrifice to prayer and 
contemplation, on what may be called the subjective 
side, and, on the objective side, with local cults, 
feasts, and symbols. The section concludes with dis- 
cussions on the relation of religion to morality, know- 
ledge and art. Finally, the laws of the religious life 
are briefly discussed. 
This programme will indicate the comprehensive- 
ness of the author’s treatment. The book attains 
unity in its multiplicity by virtue of the leading idea 
round which the facts are grouped. Religion, in its 
widest sense, is taken to be the spiritual life of the 
individual. As such we expect to find it subject to 
development; progress is as possible here as elsewhere, 
and, in fact, the history of the forms of religion shows 
a gradual purification and emancipation advancing 
with the gradual refinement of experience. The goal 
is a union of God and humanity; the end must not be 
in abstractions, but in the concrete realisation of unity 
in life and purpose, for which, as for the unity of the 
world as object of the sciences, the reality of the Divine 
immanence is the only true ground. 
To a great extent this is a position which most 
thinkers could accept, with the exception of one point. 
The distinction between the theological and non- 
theological philosopher rests finally on the view each 
takes of his ultimate. The author seems well aware 
that this is the crux; he expressly avoids pantheism, 
and would assert the rights of the individual. But 
what, then, is the relation between God and the in- 
dividual? The answer seems inadequate in so far as 
certain theological aspects of God are assumed, while 
no proof is given that contradictions must be unified 
or that a unity for us can only be grounded in a unity 
that is for itself. Here the religion and the philo- 
sophy make a compromise not altogether unfamiliar. 
We regret that we cannot follow the author here; 
others may succeed better, and certainly no one will 
fail to see that his book is a valuable contribution 
toward a philosophical treatment of religion. 
The essays and addresses of Rudolf Eucken were 
well worth publishing in book form. They fall into 
three classes. The first group deals with political 
philosophy. The author is mainly interested in the 
opposition of mechanism and spirit which is character- 
istic of the present age. Man, striving to subdue 
nature, builds up a vast mechanism; in the human 
