460 



NA TURE 



[March 15, 1906 



Alter about twelve pages of instructions and examples 

 on the use of permanganate, the student is still told 

 to weigh out so much ferrous salt, make up to so 

 much, &c. ; little room is left for the student to think 

 and find out for himself. 



After ili'' idea of " normal solution " has been once 

 grasped, many of the directions might be left out. 

 One somewhat objectionable point noted is the direc- 

 tion to weigh out a certain definite quantity of a sub- 

 stance, saj 5.3 grams. This is not an easy matter 

 for beginners. It is better to take a weighed quantity 

 and make up solution to the desired strength by 

 addition of the calculated proportion of water. 



The ground covered ranges from acid and alkali 

 through permanganate to silver and thiosulphate, 

 preceded by a good description of the use of the 

 burette, &c. The book will no doubt be useful, 

 especially with large classes where the instructor is 

 nol able to get rapidly around to the students. 



The preface of Mr. Candy's book informs us that 

 the methods and processes of analysis and synthesis 

 have been chosen to meet the requirements of students 

 preparing for parts i. and ii. of the preliminary 

 scientific examination in the University of London 

 and the first examination of the joint board. After 

 a sensible introduction, chapters follow on the identi- 

 fication of bases and acids, methods of separation 

 and tests of purity, and a very useful chapter on 

 preparations. In the latter section are included 

 examples of preparations of mineral salts, acids, 

 esters, alcohol derivatives, &c. The processes oi 

 taking a melting point and a boiling point might 

 have been illustrated by a sketch. The prepar- 

 ation method for aldehyde is somewhat dangerous in 

 inexperienced hands. It is safer to drop alcohol, very 

 slowly, into the warm bichromate mixture and distil 

 off the aldehyde as last as formed. Some short 

 i hapters on equivalent and volumetric operations com- 

 plete the hook. The matter is clearly expressed, and 

 the book will be useful for the class of students for 

 whom it is intended. 



The first forty-two pages of Mr. Whiteley's book 

 deal with physical changes and physical properties. 

 The book is rather freely illustrated by diagrams of 

 apparatus, and I he descriptions and explanations are 

 generally quite clear, full, and understandable. It 

 is designed for the use of those studying elementary 

 chemistry on the lines of the Board of Education 

 syllabus. The purely chemical sections include air, 

 water, common salt, chemical theories, compounds of 

 nitrogen, carbon and sulphur. There are appendices 

 on solubilities of salts, questions and answers to 

 calculations. The book should be very useful, 

 especially to students unable to attend courses of ex- 

 perimental teaching or lectures. 



The volume by Messrs. Wilson and Hedley is 

 intended as a school course for beginners. It is 

 entitled " Elementary Chemistry," but a large part 

 of the book is concerned with necessary matters of 

 elementary physics, such as measuring, length, areas, 

 volume, the thermometer, density, solution, evapor- 

 ation and boiling, Boyle's law, &c. The book is 

 simply and clearly written, and illustrated by useful 

 NO. 1898, VOL. 73] 



diagrams. Strictly speaking, there is no chemistry in 

 the book, but we think all boys intending to com- 

 mence that subject would benefit exceedingly by work- 

 ing through the excellent course here given. 



The plan of instruction set forth by Messrs. Martin 

 and Jones is to perform some experiments on a given 

 substance such as mixing " salammoniac with quick- 

 lime and heating in a test tube." The inquiring stu- 

 dent is then required to write out an account of what 

 he notices, and to compare the results with those ob- 

 tained when one of the substances is heated alone. 

 Commenced with moderately young students who 

 have not the bogey of an examination paper, or a 

 particular syllabus, throwing a baleful shadow over 

 them, this plan should produce excellent results. The 

 book could scarcely be used to full advantage by stu- 

 dents working alone, but with a sympathetic teacher 

 at hand to fill in necessary explanations we think the 

 volume a valuable addition to the host of books 

 already available. \Y. R. H. 



CURTAIN MODER.X VIEWS ON PATHOLOGY 

 Introduction a la Patlwlogie generate. By M. FeTx 



le Dantec. Pp. x + 504. (Paris: Felix .Mean. 



1906.) Price 15 francs. 



IN this work the author has grouped together a 

 large and heterogeneous mass of information and 

 speculation, always interesting and always fascin- 

 ating. The first line of his introductory remarks leads 

 us from the tubercle bacillus to the Milky Way, from 

 the infinitely small to the immeasurably large, and 

 we are soon assured that everything that exists in this 

 formidable interval of space can be subject to investi- 

 gation, provided it, in any way, can influence us. 

 This promise holds good for everything, from an 

 earthquake on the satellite of Sirius to an analogous 

 occurrence in the interior of an electron; and so on, 

 until after forty pages of pleasant reading we learn 

 that the object of the book is principally to support 

 the views of M. Bordet " and some others " as to the 

 question of immunity. The theories of Ehrlich and 

 his followers give a purely chemical interpretation of 

 the facts of immunity, and are unsatisfactory in- 

 asmuch as they confound colloidal changes with 

 chemical changes, properly so called. Ehrlich's views, 

 he says, threaten to become to general pathology 

 what W'eismann's have been to biology. 



" It is always dangerous to give names to things 

 which do not exist — this is to create entities, of which 

 it will afterwards be found extremely difficult to dis- 

 embarrass oneself." 



The author divides his book into two great sections. 

 In the first he desires to advance slowly, to return 

 frequently to the same subjects, so as not to come 

 into too violent collision with the habit of thought 

 of those who have for a long time been familiarised 

 with the language of chemistry ; also to give a short 

 account of such of the properties of colloids as may 

 be of interest to the biologist, and to sketch the main 

 lines of the physical theory of serotherapy. Thus he 

 leads the reader to the " notion " of the three heredi- 

 ties, chemical, physical, and symbiotic heredity. The 



