DECEMBER 24, 1903] 
— z 
NATURE 
(71 
sphere organisation runs a fervid course; the watch- 
werds are work, efliciency, achievement; the demand 
is for uniformity; the world is more and more, and 
yet the individual does not wholly wither; the life of 
the spirit persists in its claim for recognition, so that 
there is a progressive differentiation of subject and 
object, leaving us with the necessity and the problem 
of a higher synthesis. An essay on the late lamented 
Finland is characteristic in its generous estimate of 
the meaning and value of quality as against quantity 
in political life. 
The spirit of this first section pervades the others. 
The biographical studies, eight in all, range from 
Aristotle to Karl Steffensen. The study of Goethe is 
notable for its delineation of a great man, a spirit of 
informal vigour, broad, active, and penetrating. The 
discussions on religion resume the thoughts of the first | 
section. As the world grows man seeks escape into 
the infinite. Religion must progress as the world 
develops, and so fit itself to effect that redemption of 
the spirit of man for which the author pleads. The 
concluding essay deals with the teaching of philosophy, 
and contains advice worthy of all acceptation. 
“Friedrich Nietzsche : sein Leben und sein Werk ” 
is a book that should prove of interest now that 
Nietzsche’s works are being presented in a transla- 
tion. The life and the work are treated as comple- 
mentary aspects, a method more than usually fruitful | 
in this case; nothing could be more illuminating for 
our understanding of this eccentric genius than the 
Wagner episode; it forms a vigorous chapter in this | 
book, and is a concrete exposition of Nietzsche’s 
character, more effective than any abstract analysis. 
The second portion of the book, dealing with 
Nietzsche’s writings, is well developed and shows | 
sympathy and insight. To some extent the book is 
an apology for Nietzsche; the author is clearly aware | 
that not a few will approach the subject with pre- 
judices; not a few will continue to feel that some 
allowance has to be made for one to whom nature 
denied a stable equilibrium. As the book says, 
Nietzsche’s power lies in raising rather than solving 
problems. The author obscures with some partiality 
those elements in Nietzsche’s history which show the 
natural bias, intending clearly to oppose his own treat- 
ment to others which have neglected the genius and 
made too prominent the pathology of their subject. 
GaSaB: 
ATOMS AND THE ATHER. 
Hypothese zur Thermodynamik. Versuch einer leicht- 
fasslichen Darstellung einiger Prinzipe der Mole- 
kulartheorie mit Zugrundelegung der Keplerschen 
Gesetze fiir die Planetenbewegung. By Victor 
Griinberg. Pp. vit+73. (Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 
1903.) Price 3 marks. 
HIS little book consists of a discussion of the 
elementary portions of the kinetic theory on 
somewhat novel lines; the main title is therefore mis- 
leading; it is true that the subtitle modifies one’s 
expectations to a certain extent, but even then the 
NO. 1782, VOL. 69] 
contents hardly come up to what one is led to hope 
for. The hypothesis referred to is the following :— 
the structure of the ether is granular; the ether 
particles rotate round their axes and circulate round 
each other; atoms are condensed ether particles, and 
the circulation of the latter is therefore to be identified 
with the rotation of the atoms; these in their turn 
circulate round each other; this motion constitutes the 
intramolecular rotation; ultimately the 
circulate round each other. 
Four distinct motions are thus introduced, but later 
on (p. 41) an additional fifth motion appears, another 
intramolecular motion; in what respect this motion 
differs from the circulation of the atoms remains a 
mystery. The molecules (and atoms) attract each 
other owing to their rotations and to the streams of 
ether particles which are thereby set up. The centri- 
fugal force arises from the ether pressure when the 
molecule is made to move in a curvilinear path; this 
pressure makes equilibrium with the external pressure 
and the molecular attractions; it is calculated by 
dividing the centrifugal force by the area of the sphere 
swept out by the molecule. When this pressure is 
multiplied by the volume of the sphere, the product 
is found to be two-thirds of the kinetic energy of the 
motion of circulation, and this law, which is identified 
with Kronig’s law, is soon extended to the whole gas ; 
incidentally we notice that the volume of N molecules 
is found to be N* times the volume of one (?). It is. 
Scmewhat unpleasant to be reminded of the fact that 
the curvilinear motion, with its concomitant centri- 
fugal force, does not exist in the gaseous state, the 
only state in which Boyle’s law holds, and is confined’ 
to a state intermediate between gas and liquid, what- 
ever that may be. 
In the discussion of the adiabatic formula we obtain 
a momentary glimpse of Kepler’s laws, which are so: 
prominent in the title. When the gas is compressed, 
say to one-eighth of its volume, the distances of the 
circulating molecules are halved and their velocities 
thereby doubled: the temperature being proportional 
molecules 
| to the kinetic energy becomes increased to four times 
its value; substituting these results in the adiabatic 
formula we find for the ratio of the specific heats the 
value 5/3, as required by monatomic gases. We are 
afraid that a partial success of this kind may have 
induced the author to attach more value to his theory 
than we think it deserves. 
Temperature depends originally on the rotation of 
the ether particles; when heat is supplied to the body 
its ether particles begin to rotate faster; in con- 
sequence of this (why?) their circulation, i.e. the rota— 
tion of the atoms, slows down; on the other hand, the 
intramolecular motion of the atoms increases, the rota- 
tion of the molecules, and thus their mutual attraction, 
diminishes, and finally the molecular circulation, on 
which the molecular pressure depends, increases. 
Obviously the situation is saved by assuming an odd 
number of motions which increase and diminish 
alternately! Can anything more arbitrary or uncon- 
vincing be imagined? If the reader thinks that this 
short review cannot be doing the pamphlet justice, let 
him try for himself. Jt Paske 
