446 
NAFURES <" 
[DecemMBER 18, 1913 
NEW BOOKS ON CHEMISTRY. 
(1) Preliminary Chemistry. By H. W. Bausor. 
Pp. 106. (London: W. B. Clive, 1913.) Price 
1s. 6d. 
(2) Manual of Qualitative Analysis. Reagent and 
Combustion Methods. By W. F. Hoyt. Pp. 
vi+35-. (New York: The Macmillan Co. ; 
London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 
1s. 3d. net.) 
(3) A Course in General Chemistry. By Prof. W. 
McPherson and Prof. W. E. Henderson. Pp. 
vili+556. (Boston and London: Ginn & Co., 
n.d.) Price ros. 6d. 
(4) Treatise on General and Industrial Organic 
Chemistry. By Dr. Ettore Molinari. Translated 
from the second enlarged and revised Italian 
edition by T. H. Pope. Pp. xix+770. (Lon- 
don: J. & A. Churchill, 1913.) Price 24s. net. 
(5) Qualitative Analyse vom Standpunkte der 
Ionenlehre. By Dr. W. Béttger. Dritte 
Auflage. Pp. xvii+565. (Leipzig: W. Engel- 
mann, 1913.) Price 11.20 marks. 
(6) Chemie. Unter Redaktion von E. v. Meyer. 
Allgemeine Kristallographie und Mineralogie. 
Unter Redaktion von Fr. Rinne.  Bearbeitet 
von E. v. Meyer, G. Engler, und L. Wohler, 
O. Wallach, and others. Pp. xiv+663. (Leip- 
zig und Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1913.) Price 
21 marks. 
(1) HE “Preliminary Chemistry” by Mr. 
Bausor, which is issued by the Uni- 
versity Tutorial Press, provides, as the preface 
states, a course of simple experiments for begin- 
ners in chemistry, from which most elementary 
principles of the science are deduced. There are 
six chapters dealing with air, water, carbon di- 
oxide and lime, salt and hydrochloric acid, sulphur 
and its acids, and, finally, carbon and combustion. 
Each chapter is furnished with a summary, a set 
of questions, and some practical exercises. The 
experiments are simple in character so as to be 
well within the capacity of a schoolboy, and the 
sequence is so arranged as‘to illustrate funda- 
mental ideas in a clear and logical fashion. For 
the most part they run on familiar lines. It may 
be pointed out that the definition of one term 
by using another, which is left undefined, does not 
leave the matter much clearer. ‘‘If by its conver- 
sion into ice or into vapour a new body had been 
produced differing in constitution from the water, 
we should no longer have been dealing with a 
physical change.’’ No doubt the orthodox way of 
beginning a book on practical chemistry is to 
direct attention to the fundamental distinction 
between chemical and physical changes; but is it 
really essential to start with it? Could not the 
NO. 2303, VOL. 92] 
question be more easily answered after a certain 
number of chemical changes had been observed? 
(2) Mr. Hoyt’s manual of qualitative analysis is 
a small volume of 36 pages. Though small and 
cheap, it is crammed with facts, so crowded, 
indeed, that the author has recourse to a kind of 
shorthand in addition to the ordinary chemical 
formule in order to compress his materials. To 
take one example, the confirmatory test for iron 
by the action of potassium hydroxide is expressed 
thus: conf. 2=sol+KOH=precip. white to dirty 
green (if Fe”) or brown (if Fe’’). 
There are few or no explanations, and the 
whole compilation is that of a mere mechanical 
guide-book interspersed with a few moral and 
practical precepts. No one can grumble with the 
statement that “most laboratory accidents are 
avoidable ”’ or the advice to be “cleanly in person 
and work ”’; but what precise meaning is conveyed 
by “Nature thinks in the molecule only, and you 
should learn to do the same” it is difficult to say. 
The student is further enjoined to “ask himself. 
constantly what? how? and why?” We can 
only trust that he will have something more sub- 
stantial than the manual for supplying the 
answers. 
(3) The course on general chemistry by McPher- 
son and Henderson forms an excellent introduction 
to a more elaborate study, or, in terms of the 
usual examination standards, would be a useful 
text-book for a student at the intermediate stage 
of his chemistry course. 
Although the subjects are treated in an elemen- 
tary fashion, no facts or theories of real import- 
ance are omitted, whilst at the same time the text 
is not overloaded with the description of an un- 
necessary number of compounds. 
The book is written in a clear and simple style, 
the illustrations, though not so abundant as are — 
sometimes found in American chemical books for 
elementary students, are well and neatly drawn, so 
that all the essential details are apparent, an effect 
partly due to the excellence of the paper. It has 
evidently been compiled by thoughtful and ex- 
perienced teachers, who have spared no trouble in 
the treatment of their subject. It is, in short, a 
book that may be safely recommended as a text- 
book for a first year college course. 
(4) Molinari’s organic chemistry is mainly de- 
scriptive of the organic industries, that is to say, 
theoretical considerations are largely subordinated 
to the industrial applications of this branch of the 
science. For example, tautomerism occupies half 
a page, and stereoisomerism five pages, whereas 
the manufacture of explosives and the sugar in- 
dustry cover about 4o pages each, the brewing 
of beer and the gas manufacture extend to more 
