546 
NATURE 
[OcroxBER 2, 1902 
valuable matter on the subject he has taken in hand, and 
he puts it before the reader with clearness and precision. 
Should another edition be called for, some of the valuable 
results obtained by Dr. Bashforth and the more modern 
work in ballistics, which has been carried on in the 
United States of America, in Germany and in England, 
might be introduced with advantage. F. J-S. 
THE COMPLETION OF ROSCOE AND 
SCHORLEMMERS ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
Roscoe-Schorlemmers Lehrbuch der Organischen Chemie, 
By Jul. Wilh. Briihl, Professor in the University of 
Heidelberg. Seventh Part, in conjunction with Eduard 
Hjett and Ossian Aschan, Professors in the University 
of Helsingfors ; O. Cohnheim, O. Emmerling and E. 
Vahlen, Privatdocenten in the Universities of Heidel- 
berg, Berlin and Halle. Pp. xxxii + 527. (Brunswick : 
F, Vieweg und Sohn, 1901.) 
HE seventh part of the above text-book, which forms 
the ninth volume of the entire work, brings to a close 
the publication of that standard treatise of which two of 
the earlier volumes were reviewed in these columns on a 
former occasion (November 14, 1901, Supp. iii.). Beyond 
an indication of the contents of the present volume, 
there is not much to add in the way of general remarks 
to the statements already made. The whole work of 
translating and editing the early volumes and of writing 
the later ones has cost Dr. Briihl and his coadjutors five 
years’ labour. As one result of the task which the editor 
first took in hand in 1896, chemical literature has been 
enriched by a series of valuable monographs written by 
specialists, these monographs, some of which were 
noticed in NATURE at the time of their appearance, 
being separate issues of certain sections of the present 
and former volumes. Chemists are no doubt familiar 
with the works on five- and six-membered heterocyclic 
systems (1898 and 1899), on vegetable alkaloids (1900) 
and on albuminoid substances (1900), all of which have 
originated in the manner indicated. 
This concluding volume of the great treatise which 
first saw light in this country is one which appeals most 
particularly to physiologists. The four groups of com- 
pounds with which it deals are all, strictly speaking, and 
in the narrow sense, ‘“‘organic,” ze. of vital origin. Dr. 
Cohnheim’s contribution, ‘‘ Die Eiweisskérper,” is already 
known in its separate form; it occupies more than 300 pages 
of the volume. Thesame author contributes a section of 
some twenty pages on the compounds found in animal 
gall secretion. The third section, of more than 100 
pages, comprises Dr. Emmerling’s monograph on enzymes, 
and the concluding section, which is by Dr. Vahlen, 
deals with the ptomaines and toxines. It must be stated 
also that the present volume, in addition to its own 
subject-matter, contains a general synopsis of the con- 
tents and a general index for the whole seven volumes 
of the treatise on organic chemistry. 
As regards the treatment of the subjects dealt with in 
this concluding instalment of the work, it need only be 
repeated that the names of the writers are vouchers for 
their completeness and accuracy. As compared with 
NO. 1718, VOL. 66] 
this and the volumes formerly noticed in these columns, 
the earlier volumes are, of course, now much behind our 
actual state of knowledge. But as standards fixed by 
the dates on the title-pages, these seven volumes repre- 
sent the most complete and coherent descriptive treatise 
on the chemistry of the carbon compounds as yet offered 
to the scientific world. We shall be curious to see how 
our German colleagues will grapple with the literary 
difficulty of keeping a work of this exhaustive character 
au courant of the rapid progress which is being made in 
this department of science. As the editor reminds us in 
the preface, organic chemistry as a distinct branch of 
Our science was born and has grown to its present 
magnitude during the nineteenth century. In congratu- 
lating Dr. Brihl and his collaborators on the completion 
of their task, we can assure him that there is every 
prospect of his wish that organic chemistry should 
develop as much during the twentieth as it has during 
the preceding century being fulfilled. We may further 
assure him that his hope that the work which he has 
been instrumental in giving to chemists may contribute 
towards this future development is amply justified. Of 
the original authors, one is happily still with us ; to the 
memory of the other, this treatise will serve as an 
enduring monument. R. MELDOLA. 
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY. 
Japanische Mythologie. Nihongi “ Zeitalter der Gétter.” 
Von Dr. Karl Florenz. Pp. ix+341 ; mit Illustrationen. 
(Tokyo, 1901.) 
“)R. FLORENZ is well known as a writer on Japan, 
and in his present work he adds one more volume 
to the many which he has published on that interesting 
subject. Some years ago he gave to the world the 
translation of a part of the “ Nihongi,” one of the earliest 
productions of Japanese literature, and in his present 
volume he takes the mythological portion of that work 
and by the aid of notes helps to throw considerable light 
on the very dark places of Japanese mythology. 
The “ Nihongi” yields in antiquity to only two other 
works, viz. the “ Kiujiki,” which was compiled in A.D. 
620, and the “ Kojiki,” which was completed in 712, 
Eight years later the “ Nihongi” was laid before the 
Empress Gemmio as a complete work. The “ Nihongi,” 
or the “ Records of Japan,” is said to have been written 
by Shotoku Daishi, and it is certain that only an author 
as well versed in Buddhist lore and Chinese classical 
literature as he was could possibly have written it. 
To both of these wells of learning constant references 
are made, and throughout its pages the influence of 
Chinese thought is everywhere apparent. The opening 
sentence in the book contains the Chinese philosophical 
terms Vz and Yang, the male and female principles of 
Nature, which form a strange introduction to the mytho- 
logy of a foreign land. The Chinese metaphor for the 
State, the temples of “The Earth and of Grain,” also 
find frequent mention in its pages, and even a long dying 
speech originally uttered by the Chinese Emperor 
Kaotsu is put into the mouth of the Japanese sovereign 
Yuriaku. As Dr. Florenz says :— 
