December 24, 1908J 



NA TURE 



2 17 



any given source, and the author shows how the flow 

 deductions can be estimated from the precipitations, 

 that is, the amount of water obtained from rainfall, 

 &c. He points out how, in one case, the failure to 

 study this caused a syndicate to credit a certain source 

 of output with 3500 h.p., where, as a matter of fact, 

 the " opportunity " was good for about 1500 h.p., 

 with 250 h.p. auxiliary plant to supplement the 

 three months' low-flow output. It will be seen, there- 

 fore, that the reading of this book will help to pre- 

 vent the investor from putting his money into " wild- 

 cat schemes." 



Part ii., as already mentioned, is for the practical 

 man, and certainly contains too many formulae 

 for the uninitiated, although these are absolutely 

 essential to the engineer. This portion of the book 

 commences with a survey which embraces all opera- 

 tions by which the hydrographic, topographic, and 

 geological characteristics are investigated. 



Having obtained the data furnished by a careful 

 survev, the next chapter deals with the development 

 programme, and this part is remarkably well illus- 

 trated bv means of line blocks, showing different 

 methods of development ; for instance, direct develop- 

 ment in rocky gorge, short diversion development, 

 distant development, and so on. 



The space at our disposal will not allow us to go 

 more fully into this extremely interesting work. The 

 half-tone illustrations of various power houses and 

 power schemes are exceedingly well got up, and are 

 a valuable aid to the reader. It only remains to say 

 that the author is to be congratulated upon having 

 brought out a book which is useful to the general 

 public, and also of great value to the specialist. 



SOME NEW CHEMICAL BOOKS 

 (i) Technical Chemists' Handbook. By Dr. G. 

 Lunge. Pp. xv+260. (London : Gurney and Jack- 

 son, 190S.) Price los. 6d. net. 



(2) Exercises in Elementary Quantitative Chemical 

 Analysis for Students of Agriculture. By Dr. 

 A. T. Lincoln and Dr. J. H. Walton, jun. Pp. xv-i- 

 21S. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1908.) Price 6s. 6d. net. 



(3) Laboratory Manual of Qualitative Analysis. By 

 W. Segerblom. Pp. xii+136. (London: Long- 

 mans, Green and Co., 1908.) Price 35. 6d. 



(4) Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry. By Dr. A. A. 

 Blanchard. Pp. viii + 89. (New York : J. Wiley 

 and Sons; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1908.) 

 Price 4s. 6d. net. 



(5) The Fundamental Conceptions of Chemistry. By 

 Dr. S. M. Jorgensen. Translated by M. P. Applebv. 

 Pp. viii + 175. (London : Society for the Pro- 

 motion of Christian Knowledge, 1908.) Price 2^. 6d. 



(6) Kurzes Repetitorium der Chemie. I., Anorganische 

 Chemie. By Dr. E. Bryk. Breitenstein's Repeti- 

 torien. No 7. Pp. iv + 244. (Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 

 1908.) Price 2.85 marks. 



(0 T^''^- Lunge's " Technical Chemists' Handbook " 

 I -L^ is a new and revised edition of the extremely 



useful little volume, well known under the title of 

 "The .Alkali Makers' Pocket-book," and later as 

 NO. 2043, VOL. 79] 



" The Alkali Makers' Handbook." In many respects 

 the new volume, in the preparation of which the 

 author has had the assistance of Dr. Berl, is unlike 

 its predecessors, which were intended mainly for the 

 laboratory of the alkali maker. The scope is greatly 

 enlarged, and covers a variety of industries. The old 

 material is brought up to date, and there are new 

 chapters on water for boilers, on coal gas and its pro- 

 ducts, on calcium carbide and acetylene, on fertilisers, 

 aluminium salts, and calcareous cements. The book, 

 although intended for the works, will also be found 

 useful in a college laboratory in training the future 

 professional chemist. It possesses, it may be added, 

 a great advantage over many technical handbooks, for 

 it embodies the results of long personal experience, 

 and, being restricted in its scope, can afford space 

 to enter into the minutise of each operation. 



(2) The volume by Drs. Lincoln and Walton is in- 

 tended for agricultural students. The first half is an 

 introduction to the methods of ordinary quantitative 

 analysis, and is written with great care and thorough- 

 ness. It might include with advantage a few more 

 gravimetric exercises. The second part is technical, 

 and is devoted to the analysis of milk, butter, food- 

 stuffs, fertilisers, and soils, and concludes with 

 analytical problems and methods of calculation under 

 the title " stoichiometry." There is little which calls 

 for criticism, for the volume is evidently written by 

 e.xperts who are thoroughly au fait with their sub- 

 ject. We would only direct attention to the fact that 

 the standards given are mainly those of the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, which are not in force in 

 this country. The same may be said of some of the 

 apparatus and methods. The Babcock method is, we 

 believe, not used here, and the Hanus method is a 

 modification of what is generally known as Hiibl's 

 method. It might be well to include in a subsequent 

 reprint a figure of the Reichert-Meissl apparatus, and 

 details of dimensions which are essential. The method 

 of estimating potassium in soils is not given in suffi- 

 cient detail for those special cases where modifications 

 may be necessary. 



(3) It is difficult to realise the particular aspect of 

 qualitative analysis which compels teachers to add to 

 the already extensive literature on the subject. It is 

 rarelv that one finds a new arrangement, new tests,, 

 new apparatus, or new reactions. The order of the 

 groups, the disposition of principal and subgroups, 

 and the general and special reagents, are always the 

 same. We have examined Mr. Segerblom 's volume in 

 vain for something new or suggestive. We are in- 

 clined to question the utility of general definitions at 

 the beginning of a book, and certainly some of those 

 given are not very happy. " A reaction," we are told, 

 "is any phenomenon exhibited by a substance." 

 According to this, the breaking of glass would be a 

 reaction. Although there is nothing that strikes one 

 as new, it may be said that the description of the 

 different operations is full and clear ; the book is 

 excellently printed, and there is a useful appendix of 

 " study questions " to beguile the student's leisure. 



(4) The little volume entitled " Synthetic Inorganic 

 Chemistry " contains a description of a series of 



I simple preparations of metallic compounds, and is 



