98 
WAT iE 
DECEMBER 3, 1896 
The country is well wooded, forests of pine, fir, and 
birch extending for hundreds of miles along the rivers 
and the tundras of the north. They occupy about 7o per 
cent. of the land surface, but towards the north the trees | 
become stunted and deformed, few of them attaining a 
height of over 30 feet, or a diameter of 6-8 inches. 
useless is the timber, that the few natives resident there 
are forced to import wood for their structural require- 
ments from the south. 
The author enters minutely into the social life of the 
people, and into their marriage customs and home life. 
Had the work been printed in any other language than 
the Russian, it would doubtless have found readers over 
a wide circle. We.) EL. 
CHEMICAL DYNAMICS. 
Studies tn Chemical Dynamics. By J. H. van ’t Hoff. 
Revised and enlarged by Dr. Ernst Cohen. Trans- 
lated by Dr. Thomas Ewan. Pp. vi + 286. (Amster- 
dam: F. Muller and Co. London: Williams and 
Norgate, 1896.) 
Ne 1884 Prof. van ’t Hoff published a small volume 
entitled “Etudes de dynamique chimique,” the 
general purpose of which was to give an account of the 
course of chemical change as illustrated by experiments 
chiefly carried out in his own laboratory. Unfortunately 
for the little work, it appeared at a time immediately 
following the general recognition of the immense service 
done by its author to organic chemistry in putting for- 
ward the idea of the asymmetric carbon atom, and 
immediately preceding the period when he equalled his 
former success by propounding the theory of osmotic 
pressure. There can be little doubt that the extra- 
ordinary fertility of these hypotheses, and the rapid 
experimental progress made in their development, di- 
verted from the “Etudes” the attention they deserve. 
The book suffered neglect even on the continent, and 
in this country has been little more than a name. Such 
neglect is all the more regrettable because the “ Etudes” 
give an excellent insight into the author’s manner of 
work. The brilliant theories with which his name is 
associated were no sudden inspirations, but the outcome 
of steady and systematic research and speculation. It 
is interesting to note, for example, that in the “ Etudes” 
the author makes use of Pfeffer’s experiments with semi- 
permeable membranes, in order to calculate the affinity 
of salts for their water of crystallisation, and has clearly 
before him the connection between the lowering of the 
vapour pressure and the pressure developed in Pfeffer’s 
cells. 
The book at present under notice is the translation 
of a German edition of the “ Etudes,” revised and en- 
larged by Dr. E., Cohen. The form of the original work 
has been retained, but many later experiments have been 
added. Notwithstanding the interest of these additions, 
one almost regrets that the translation is not that of the 
unmodified work, on account of its value as an historical 
document. The bookis divided into four parts, entitled : 
(1) “The Course of Chemical Change” ; (2) ‘The In- 
fluence of Temperature on Chemical Change”; (3) 
“ Chemical Equilibrium” ; (4) “Affinity.” In each part 
NO. I414, VOL. 55 | 
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we have a theoretical discussion of the subject, accom- 
panied by numerous examples and applications. The 
experimental devices described are often extremely 
ingenious, and no worker in physical chemistry should 
neglect to make himself acquainted with them. As to: 
the thread of reasoning which binds the various pieces of 
research together, it must be conceded that the student 
may occasionally find some difficulty in following it. The 
book is not altogether easy reading, and its form pre- 
cludes it from ever becoming a popular text-book. But 
it is much more than a text-book : from it every earnest 
student of physical chemistry will receive both insight 
and inspiration. 
Among the chief novelties of the new-edition may be 
mentioned the experiments made by the author and his 
pupils on slow oxidation, the thermodynamical proof of 
the important relation @ log K/¢dT = g¢/2T?, and the 
methods for the determination of transition temperatures. 
It should be added that Dr. Ewan’s translation is in 
refreshing contrast to many of the versions of foreign 
works on chemistry that have recently come under our 
notice. JeaWis 
ORIENTAL WIT AND WISDOM. 
The Laughable Stories collected by Mar Gregory Johir 
Bar-Hebreus, Maphrian of the East, from A.D. 1264. 
to 1286. The Syriac text, edited with an English 
translation. By E. A. Wallis Budge, Litt.D. (Cantab.), 
F.S.A. Pp. xxvii + iv + 204 + 166. (Luzac’s Semitic 
Text and Translation Series. Vol. 1., 1897.) 
HE laughable stories collected in the thirteenth 
century by Bar-Hebrzeus, the Syriac text of which, 
together with an English translation, has just been 
published by Dr. Wallis Budge, is a remarkable book in 
many ways. It has been the custom with many writers. 
who have concerned themselves with the legends and 
history of the East, to laugh at the Syrians as a purely 
ecclesiastical people whose writings consisted solely of 
religious commentaries and pious disquisitions ; Syriac 
literature, in fact, has been left to the theologian, and 
the student of folk-lore has looked elsewhere for his. 
materials. That this was to some extent a prejudiced 
view to take, was evident after the publication in 1885, 
of “Ka-lilah and Dimnah,” by the late Mr. Keith- 
Falconer, and from the Syriac version of the “ History 
of Alexander the Great,” published four years later by 
Dr. Wallis Budge; both of these books abundantly 
proved, if proof were needed, that Syriac writers took 
an intelligent interest in the literatures of other nations, 
and that from the translations they made for the use of 
their own countrymen, much valuable evidence was to: 
be obtained with regard to the growth and development 
of Eastern legends and myths. From such works as. 
these, however, to the book before us is a far cry, for no: 
one has hitherto suspected that in the most learned 
Maphrian of the East, the Jacobite Church possessed a 
veritable Joe Miller. : 
In the course of a long life devoted to the study of 
theology, philosophy, and history, Bar-Hebrzeus, besides 
acquiring a thorough knowledge of the writings of his 
own countrymen and those of the Jews, also became 
