524 
tion ever witnessed at one of these assemblies. As 
the applause subsided, Prof. Donders, the presi- 
dent of the congress, stepped forth and said :— 
“Professor Lister, it is not only our admiration 
which we offer you; it is our gratitude, and that 
of the nations to which we belong.” 
The book concludes with an account of Lister’s 
antiseptic technique, and the reasons on which it 
was based. This, in many respects admirable, is 
unnecessarily polemical. Like Dr. Wrench, 1 
have no patience with those who would belittle 
the discoveries of Lister because it may be possible 
to attain the same end by a modification of his 
method; but the torrent of irony poured upon 
those surgeons who prefer to sterilise their dress- 
ings and tools by steam instead of by chemical 
means, or to adopt a number of precautions not 
found necessary by Lister, is, surely, uncalled for. 
The elaborate equipment of the modern operat- 
ing theatre is not, as many suppose, essential, 
but it is very convenient. The danger is that, by 
its obtrusive array of apparatus for sterilisation, 
the surgeon as well as the student may forget 
that it is impossible to sterilise the skin of the 
patient, so that it is, as Lister found, wiser to 
have a second line of defence in the form of an 
antiseptic dressing, which, although it may not 
destroy all the microbes in the area of operation, 
paralyses their activity until the wound has had 
time to close. C. J. Martin. 
SPECIALISED CHEMICAL TEXT-BOOKS. 
(1) Gas Analysis. By Prof. L. M. Dennis. Pp. 
xvi+434. (New York: The Macmillan Co. ; 
London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 
gs. net. 
(2) The Chemistry of Rubber. By B. D. Porritt. 
Pp. vii+96. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 
1913.) Price 1s. 6d. net, 
(3) An Introduction to the Chemistry of Plant 
Products. By Dr. Paul Haas and T. G. Hill. 
Pp. xii+4or. (London: Longmans, Green and 
Go., 1913.) Price 7s. 6d, net. 
(4) Grundriss der Fermentmethoden. Ein Lehr- 
buch fiir Mediziner, Chemiker, und Botaniker. 
By Prof. Julius Wohlgemuth. Pp. ix+355- 
(Berlin: J. Springer, 1913.) Price 10 marks. 
(1) AS analysis enters into almost every 
branch of chemical work, and there is 
therefore no need to emphasise the importance of 
a standard work on the subject. Prof. Dennis 
began his book as a second edition of the English 
translation of Hempel’s famous “ Methods of Gas 
Analysis,” but the inclusion in it of the advances 
made during the last fourteen years has turned it 
into a new book. Procedures for the determina- 
NO. 2306, VOL. 92| 
NATURE 
though Mr. Porritt’s book assures us that this 
[January 8, 1914 _ 
tion of most of the common gases are given in 
considerable detail, but the book is rightly de- 
voted mainly to rapid methods of technical gas 
analysis, including the determination of heating 
power as well as of quantity. The opening sec- 
tions, occupying about one-third of the book, treat 
in turn of the collection, storage, measurement, 
and other manipulation of gases. The various 
forms of apparatus devised for gas analysis are 
described, a variety of important practical details 
being included. After describing fully the methods 
of analysis of the various simple gases, chapters 
are devoted to the investigation of flue gas, illu- 
minating gas, acetylene, and air. Although re- 
markably complete, the book is not exhaustive ; 
for example, no reference is made to Bone and 
Wheeler’s valuable apparatus, first described in 
1908. Only one of the automatic carbon dioxide 
recorders is described, whereas there are others 
on the market equally if not more satisfactory. 
However, these are only minor blemishes on a 
work which is likely to be widely used. 
(2) Mr. Porritt is to be complimented on having 
compressed within narrow limits a very complete 
and readable account of the chemistry of rubber. 
His book can scarcely fail to be of great value to 
all who master it, and it should be of considerable 
service to those directly interested in the industry. 
As a practical man, the author is fully alive to. 
the complexities of the problem presented by 
rubber, and his account of the advanced chemistry 
of its structure is combined happily with the more 
practical details of its working. 
The first chapter deals with the properties of 
crude rubber, directing attention to its constitu- 
ents and such properties as tackiness and perish- 
ing, which require scientific investigation, so that 
they may be prevented in the future. A neat 
summary is given of the chemical constitution of 
rubber and of its synthetic imitations. Sections 
3 and 4 describe the process of vulcanisation and 
the various theories which have been put forward 
to explain it. 
cock, the first to utilise the process in England 
about 1842, conducted experiments from which 
any kind of scientific method was conspicuously 
absent! He was nevertheless successful! Al- 
is not the method of procedure in 1913, we cannot 
help feeling that if, a few years ago when money 
was plentiful in the industry, the plantation com- 
panies had endowed properly scientific research 
on rubber, they would not now be complaining of 
the unsatisfactory price which their product 
realises as compared with the wild article. 
subject of synthetic rubber is fully treated, though 
no optimistic opinion is expressed as to its com- 
We read with interest that Han- 7 
The | 
