December 17, lyoSJ 



NA TURE 



187 



the chapters dealing with general questions and those 

 treating' of special matters are separated from one 

 another. There are five sections, of which the first 

 deals with the fundamental conceptions and relation- 

 ships which are of importance in connection with 

 the scientific study of analytical chemistr)'. Simple 

 experiments to illustrate the difference between strong, 

 weak, and non-electrolytes, the influence of mass in 

 chemical change, the changes in the properties of 

 acids and bases on the addition of their salts, the 

 formation of complex ions, the difference between 

 double salts and complex salts, are described among 

 others. In the opinion of the reviewer, these pre- 

 liminary exercises form the very best foundation of 

 any attempt to build up a system of instruction in 

 analytical chemistry which is to have an educational 

 value and provide a mental stimulus for the student. 



In the second section the usual instructions for 

 the carrying out of the manj' operations incidental 

 to analytical work are given. The third is devoted 

 to characteristic reactions of cations and anions, which 

 are arranged in the usual groups, and in the fourth 

 section the processes of qualitative analytical separa- 

 tion are dealt with. In the fifth, the reactions serving^ 

 for the recognition of the rarer elements are grouped 

 together, and a detachable booklet contains tables for 

 laboratory use. 



The text throughout affords evidence of the author's 

 familiarity with the recent literature bearing upon 

 the constitution of aqueous solutions, a knowledge 

 of which is of essential importance for the proper 

 interpretation of the reactions which serve as the basis 

 of analytical work. 



The systematic presentation of the subject in terms 

 of the ionic theory and the use of ionic equations 

 may possibly present certain difficulties to the student, 

 but the fact that greater demands are made upon the 

 mental capacity is not without its compensations. 

 At the same time, experience has shown that many 

 reputed difficulties are more imaginary than real, and 

 if, as is undoubtedly desirable, the study of ana- 

 lytical chemistry in the universities and polytechnics 

 is not commenced until the second year of the 

 student's course, Bottger's work will no doubt be 

 adopted by many teachers who desire to eliminate 

 from their courses the unsatisfactory features char- 

 acteristic of many types of so-called guides to quali- 

 tative analysis. 



In the interests of English students, it is hoped that 

 the appearance of an English translation of the 

 second edition of the book will not be long delayed. 



H. M.' D. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The A.D. InfinitKin Calendar. (Liverpool : Collin 



and Irene.) 

 We presume that the title of the above is intended for 

 a sort of pun, and that the a.d. may be written as 

 in the heading with dots, or as below when we are 

 told that it is available for any year from a.d. i ad 

 infinitum, where the ad is taken as a Latin preposi- 

 tion. 



We have had many perpetual calendars brought 

 before us, but this is perhaps the most ingeniously 

 contrived for giving by inspection and the adding 



NO. 2042, vol.: -ol 



together of four small numbers (none exceeding six, 

 so that it is easily done in the head) the day of the 

 week corresponding to any day of the year. As a 

 specimen we may take the day on which we are 

 writing, i.e. November i8, 1908. For the tens of 

 centuries (19) we take out the number 5; for the 

 number in the century (08,* marked with an asterisk 

 because it is a leap-year) we have 3 ; for the month 

 November 6; and for the :8th day of it 4. Then by 

 adding 5 + 3 + 6 + 4 we obtain iS. which gives Wed- 

 nesday in the last column for the day of the week. 

 In the second column (for months called A) January 

 and February are inserted twice, for common years or 

 leap-years, the latter being marked with an asterisk. 



.\s the calendar stands, it will serve until the year 

 3099, which will do for a few generations; but the 

 authors naively add that it can easily be extended to 

 go on to the end of time. A caution is perhaps neces- 

 sary owing to its being so often forgotten that the 

 alteration of the style (on the Continent in 1582 and 

 in Eng^land in 1752) effected a two-fold change. The 

 mere altering the rule for observance of leap-year only 

 necessitated a slight shift, easily allowed for in a 

 table. But the dropping of ten days from the Julian 

 to the Gregorian reckoning, which became eleven in 

 the eighteenth century and is now thirteen, was a 

 different matter. Neither the calendar before us nor 

 any similar one can give the days of the week cor- 

 rectly by the Julian reckoning of the days of the 

 month after the change of style, the days of the week 

 agreeing, but those of the month disagreeing by a 

 number which is not a multiple of 7. W. T. L. 



The Extra Pharmacopoeia of Martindale and West- 



cott. Revised by Dr. W. Harrison Martindale 



and W. Wynn W'estcott. Thirteenth edition. 



Pp. xl+1164. (London: H. K. Lewis, 1908.) 



Price 10s. 6d. net. 

 This new edition of Martindale and Westcott's 

 " Extra Pharmacopoeia " contains an enormous 

 amount of matter in a small compass, and although 

 1164 pages in length, 124 pages more than the last 

 edition, by the use of thin paper it remains a volume 

 that can easily be carried in the pocket. In addition 

 to the preparation of our own and of many foreign 

 pharmacopoeias, a large number of other drugs and 

 proprietary substances are included, together with 

 tables of atomic weights, weights and measures, tests 

 and solubilities. Of the supplementary matter, arsen- 

 ical contamination receives special attention, the sec- 

 tion on radiography has been brought up to date, 

 " nutrimenta " are considered in a special chapter, in 

 which the work of Fischer on the structure of the 

 protein molecule and the new nomenclature of protein 

 substances receive notice ; and serum and vaccine 

 therapy is fully discussed. The elements of bac- 

 teriology, opsonins, and the determination of the 

 opsonic index, references to cerebro-spinal meningitis, 

 trypanosomiasis, the Treponema pallidum of syphilis, 

 the transmission of Mediterranean fever by goats' 

 milk, the use of tuberculins, Calmette's ophthalmic 

 reaction in tuberculosis, and organotherapy all are 

 considered. 



Chapters on mineral waters, analytical memoranda, 

 including electrical conductivity, and a therapeutic 

 index are included. Glossaries of words and phrases 

 likely to occur as directions in foreign prescriptions are 

 given in several languages, and should prove very 

 useful. The index is very full and complete, and the 

 composition of a number of patent medicines is given. 

 The book is emphatically one which no medical prac- 

 titioner or pharmacist can do without, and it should 

 find a place in the library of every laboratory, for it 

 contains data that may be of service in almost every 

 branch of science. R. T. H. 



