APRIL 7, 1904] 
NATURE 
2? 
3 
53 
a fearfully intricate-looking table with the heading 
‘““(I.) Analysis by Triple Formula and Genealogy. (A) 
Analysis into Words.’? To the meaning of “‘ triple 
formula ”’ we find no clue but such as may be contained 
in the statement of the preface that ‘* Analysis resolves 
itself into Limitation, Limiting Capacity, and Modifi- 
cation to denote Limiting Capacity.’’ The table, 
which fills three pages, should, the author says, be 
learnt by heart. Further on there are two other similar 
tables, headed ‘‘(B) Analysis into Sentences and 
Clauses,’’ and ‘‘(II.) Parsing.’? The ‘‘ analysis into 
words ’’ is exemplified by a number of specimens, in 
which the words forming the sentence are arranged in 
a diagram resembling a genealogical tree. The 
“analysis into sentences and clauses’’ is also per- 
formed by means of diagrams, but of a different kind. 
We must confess that the first impression we received 
on turning over the pages was one of utter bewilder- 
ment. After a while, however, we began to see that 
the author had a meaning, and for the most part a 
reasonable meaning, though his mode of presenting 
his ideas is not felicitous. Mr. Tickell seems to be one 
of those persons who have a talent and a passion for 
methodical classification, and an exaggerated estimate 
of its importance. We have no doubt that he has 
found the preparation of this little book a valuable | 
help to the attaining of clear ideas on the structure of 
English sentences, but we should greatly pity any 
schoolboy who was condemned to learn his grammar 
from such a manual. On the other hand, we think it 
is possible that teachers may find in the book a good 
deal of useful suggestion. 
The Chemistry of Plant and Animal Life. By Prof. 
H. Snyder, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, 
University of Minnesota. Pp. xviit+406. (New 
York: The Macmillan Company; London: Mac- 
millan and Co., Ltd., 1903.) Price 6s. net. 
Tuts is a text-book of a type which is not very satis- 
factory from an educational point of view, as being | 
written to supply the needs of a special class of 
students. It aims at supplying the chemistry, both 
pure and applied, which will be required by a class of 
mature students taking a college course in agricultural 
science. No preliminary knowledge of chemistry is 
assumed, and the preface indicates that the work is 
to be completed in a session of six months with one 
class-room or laboratory exercise each day. In con- 
sequence, the contents range from instructions for 
bending glass tubes to an account of such debatable 
matters as the relation of gliadin and glutenin to the 
quality of wheat flour. It would be hardly fair to call 
the treatment superficial, but clearly the object of the 
book: is not so much to educate the student as to supply 
him with a certain amount of information about the 
scientific side of practical matters, and particularly to 
put him into a position to follow the current investi- 
gations of the experiment stations. Of course, the 
task is an impossible one; no ordinary student can 
acquire a real knowledge of pure and agricultural 
chemistry in six months, but given the special con- 
ditions, the book represents Prof. Snyder’s abundant 
experience of trying to make the most use of the 
limited opportunity. The first 150 pages are devoted 
to ordinary inorganic chemistry, then about 100 pages 
deal with the proximate constituents of plants, followed 
by a section on the general course of development in 
the plant. Then come discussions of the composition 
of individual crops, and about eighty pages on diges- 
tion and the nutrition of animals. In the earlier part 
of the book a number of experiments are suggested, 
with a useful series of questions designed to make the 
student think out the object of each experiment. 
NO. 1797, VOL. 69] 
PERE S =O) LEE, SE DIMOR: 
(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 intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 
No notice is iaken of anonymous communications.] 
A New Mineral from Ceylon. 
In the beginning of February I bought from Mr. Holland 
5 ewt. of the mineral described by Prof. Dunstan in last 
week’s NatuRE (p. 510). It crystallises in cubes, and the 
density is substantially that found by him. Mr. Tyrer, of 
the Stirling Chemical Works, Stratford, was so kind as to 
promise to work it up for me, and the process is still being 
carried on. 
I had hoped to have positive and definite results to com- 
municate before describing its constituents, but the publi- 
cation by Prof. Dunstan of an analysis, and his statement 
that he is still engaged in its investigation, makes it 
necessary to write this letter. 
The mineral, when heated alone, gives off 3-5 cubic centi- 
metres of helium per gram; fused with hydrogen potassium 
sulphate, the amount is increased to 9-5 cubic centimetres. 
From this source I have already stored about 12 cubic feet 
of pure helium extracted in Mr. Tyrer’s works. 
It was at first believed that the mineral was rich in 
uranium, but different specimens contain only from 8 to 12 
per cent. of that element, agreeing in this respect with the 
analyses published by Prof. Dunstan. Next, the other main 
constituent was believed to be zirconium, but the high density 
of the mineral rendered this improbable. An analyst of high 
standing, whose daily business it is to analyse minerals of 
this kind, returned 82 per cent. of zirconia as a constituent ; 
the percentage of thorium was trifling—under 1 per cent. 
The mineral contains practically no thorium; this has been 
repeatedly confirmed in my laboratory. Nor does it contain 
any appreciable amount of cerium, lanthanum and didy- 
mium. The oxalate is almost completely soluble in excess 
of ammonium oxalate—a reaction which excludes thorium 
and the cerium group, but which points to zirconium. The 
equivalent of the elements of the oxalate group, which I at 
first took for zirconium, excludes the presence of any large 
quantity of zirconium, although that element is undoubtedly 
present. Fractionation shows that the oxalate precipitate 
(the portion soluble in ammonium oxalate) gives equivalents 
between 250 (the most insoluble portion of the double 
sulphate) and 44-7 (the most soluble portion); by far the 
major part of the element has the last mentioned equivalent. 
The separation of this portion is now being carried out 
with large quantities of material; several hundredweights. 
are being worked up. 
Assuming that the element is a tetrad, which is probable 
from its behaviour, it undoubtedly possesses an equivalent 
| approaching the highest number (44-7), and for this there is 
a gap in the periodic table between cerium and thorium; 
one at least of the elements present (supposing that there 
is more than one present) will probably have an atomic 
weight of about 177, preceding tantalum (182-5) in the 
horizontal row of the periodic table. 
I am at present engaged in mapping the spectrum of this 
new body or bodies. 
As for the radio-activity, the mineral was bought in the 
hope that it would have a high content of radium. There 
is a trace of radium present, due, no doubt, to the spon- 
taneous change of the uranium which the mineral contains. 
Rut the radio-activity due to this source is certainly not 
5 per cent. of the total. 
The period of decay of the emanation appears to point 
to the presence of a radio-active element closely resembling 
thorium X. The half value is 50 or 51 seconds, and while 
this is not quite the time for the decay of thorium eman- 
ation, it very nearly approaches it; at present the balance 
of evidence appears to point to the presence of an element 
clesely resembling thorium, but not identical with it. The 
total radio-activity, moreover, is much greater than can be 
accounted for by the supposition that the one consists of 
pure thoria. Within the limits of a letter I am obliged to 
omit many more characteristics of this curious ore which 
have been ascertained, but I hope soon to be able to publish 
