December 22, 1898] 



NA TURE 



'n 



iprovoke howls of disapproval if, in the year 1899, they 

 ■should suddenly ordain the complete abolition of quali- 

 . tative analysis. But it is a question whether the time 

 , has not now come for a forward movement in this matter. 

 We will conclude with a suggestion. Is there any 

 reason why those who control " certificate examinations," 

 ."army e.xaminations," "scholarship examinations," and 

 I the like, should not, on and after some reasonably early 

 I date, permit candidates in chemistry to choose between 

 I- qualitative and quantitative practical work ? Such an 

 I, ordinance would herald a new era of progress in the 

 ; chemistry teaching of our schools. Nor would the 

 change be so difficult to carry out as might, at first 

 sight, seem probable, for scholarship examiners at the 

 Universities have long since shown us how to examine 

 ^ boys in quantitative analysis. Indeed, had they not 

 . unfortunately made the initial mistake of requiring a 

 knowledge of quantitative work without definitely re- 

 ducing the range of the qualitative previously required, 

 the University Examiners would long since have solved 

 . the whole problem. Even as it is, some good has been 

 •done — for a start has been made. But in the interests 

 , -of sound teaching it is vitally important that this mistake 

 I should not be repeated, and that those who are respon- 

 I sible for these matters should remember that the time 

 [ which has been found to be insufficient to aflbrd a sound 

 training in qualitative analysis cannot possibly be suffi- 

 cient for both qualitative and quantitative work, especially 

 if inorganic preparations are also to be made by the 

 students as they should be. W. A. S. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Illiish'afcd Annual of Microscopy. Pp. 164. 

 (London : Percy Lund, Humphries, and Co., Ltd., 

 189S.) 



Thp: first number of this publication is a very creditable 

 production, from whatever point of view it may be re- 

 garded. It is written primarily for the amateur, although 

 some of the articles included could be read with interest 

 by any microscopist, for they indicate the work that has 

 been undertaken and carried out during the year. Per- 

 haps, however, it is in this very direction that the book 

 is deficient, as in some of the articles, instead of treating 

 only those parts of the subject which are of recent 

 interest, a large amount of matter is included that can 

 be found in any good work on microscopy. It might 

 ■safely be assumed that those who are sufficiently in- 

 terested in the subject will have the necessary knowledge 

 loanable them to understand the points under discussion 

 without this preliminary instruction. This fault, if it 

 may be called so, is perhaps almost inseparable from 

 the first number of a work of this kind ; but no doubt in 

 future numbers there will be less difficulty in attaining 



• the object the publishers state they have in view. 



Of the papers calling for special mention, those on 

 bacteriology are all deserving of notice, not the least 

 interesting to the amateur being that by Rev. W. 



• Spiers on "Amateur Bacteriology," in which various 

 simple devices are described, enabling those who have 

 no special apparatus to do a considerable amount of 

 bacteriological work. This is all the more important, as 

 it is thought by many that the study of bacteria is 



• limited to those who have the resources of a bacterio- 



• logical laboratory at their disposal, whereas there is 



• a considerable field of work open to any one who 



• has a microscope, without entailing any but the most 



NO. 1 52.1, VOL. 59] 



modest expenditure. K paper on "The Diphtheria 

 Group of Bacilli " deals with an important subject, and 

 one to which considerable attention has been given of 

 late. The paper on "Multiple Colour Illumination," by 

 J. Rheinberg, describes a simple method of effectively 

 exhibiting microscopic objects which, of themselves, do 

 not possess any colour contrast. The microscope and 

 its optical parts comes in for a good share of attention. 

 There is an article on "The Microscope in 1897," by 

 Dr. Henri van Heurch, the mention of whose name is 

 sufticient guarantee of its interest. Mr. Edmund J. 

 Spitta treats of "Achromatics v. Apochromatics," and 

 endeavours to show, by a series of photo-micrographs, 

 the immense superiority of the latter. Nearly all 

 branches of microscopy have been touched upon, and 

 into whatever channel the interest of the reader may be 

 directed he is almost sure to find something of interest. 

 Altogether, the book is admirably produced ; the illus- 

 trations, which are nearly all reproductions from photo- 

 graphs, being of the highest class, and comparing 

 favourably with any of the kind that have been pub- 

 lished. It is to be hoped that the publishers will find it 

 possible to continue the issue of this annual, as it cannot 

 fail to be of interest and value to microscopists. 



J. E. B. 



Wild Animals in Captivity. By A. D. Bartlett ; edited 

 by E. Bartlett. Pp. viii-f373, illustrated. (London: 

 Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1898.) 



The late Mr. Bartlett had such an extensive and almost 

 unrivalled practical accpiaintanceship with animals in 

 menageries, that the publication of the 'notes kept by him 

 during a long life might naturally be expected to be an 

 event of more than usual interest. But, although there is 

 much to attract general attention, and not a little worthy 

 the notice of the practical zoologist in the present volume, 

 we cannot help rising from its perusal with a certain 

 feeling of disappointment. It appears, indeed, that a 

 very large proportion of the notes that have any real 

 value have been published elsewhere. And although this 

 is a matter of little or no moment when the subject is 

 good and attractive, it is essential that such republished 

 notes should be well arranged and edited. In our own 

 opinion efficient editorship is sadly wanting in this in- 

 stance. The various notes and papers are far from being 

 well arranged ; and there is a considerable amount of 

 repetition, as well as much irrelevant " padding," which 

 might advantageously have been omitted. As a glaring 

 instance of the former fault, the reader may be referred 

 to pp. 164 and 165, where he will find precisely the same 

 anecdote, with identical dates, repeated under two dis- 

 tinct headings; the only dift'erence being that one account 

 is more detailed than the other. 



The diction, too, in many places, if not actually un- 

 ungrammatical, is decidedly inelegant ; and the need of 

 competent scientific editorship is strikingly apparent in 

 the concluding chapter of the book, which treats of the 

 food of animals in captivity, and is one of the most valu- 

 able in the whole volume. Misprints, also, are by no 

 means absent ; the substitution of the word "joints" 

 for "points" rendering a sentence on p. 27 almost 

 unintelligible. 



Neither do we consider the preliminary biographical 

 notice of a decidedly remarkable man all that it might 

 be ; and, while the rest of the volume might be much 

 abbreviated with advantage, this part would well bear 

 expansion. 



With regard to the merits of the book, all readers will 

 admire the many anecdotes of the striking personal 

 courage and devotion displayed by the late author in his 

 dealings with the animals under his charge. There is 

 much, too, in regard to their general habits in confine- 

 ment which cannot fail to be of importance to all 



