December 31, 1908] 



NA TURE 



247 



being a jirolific worker, he has found time to write 

 a text-boolv, and in so doing has established for him- 

 self another reputation as a clear and thoughtful ex- 

 ponent of the things the student should know. Copious 

 references to the bibliography uf the subject enhance 

 the value of the work. 



Books on physiological chemistry, or biochemistry, 

 as it is the fashion just now to term it, have been very 

 numerous of late. This merely indicates how 

 assiduous are the disciples of this department of 

 science at the present day. It was inevitable, how- 

 ever, that Prof. -Abderhalden's book should receive the 

 honour of translation into other tongues, and all will 

 welcome its appearance in English dress. The trans- 

 lators have carried out their task with great skill, and 

 liave .successfully preserved the lucid style of the 

 (irit,nnal. The difficulty of international nomenclature 

 in science is always with us, but is perhaps nowhere 

 so conspicuous as in chemistr\'. Even in the English 

 language there are no fixed rules, and such rules as 

 do i-\ist are often more honoured in the breach than 

 in the observ-ance. The Chemical Societv of London 

 iias formulated laws on this question, and we believe 

 thai the .Vmerican Chemical .Society has acquiesced 

 in them. There is therefore some hope for uni- 

 foimity in the future, and it is gratifying to find in the 

 l)r('sent translation that these rules are observed. 



In reference to protein nomenclature, a joint com- 

 miure of the Chemical and Physiological Societies 

 recently issued a report, and as the main recommen- 

 dations have been also adopted by the corresponding 

 .\merican societies there is again some hope that 

 authors may see their way to adopt them also, and so 

 do something to bring order out of chaos. The trans- 

 lation of Prof. Abderhalden's book, however, had gone 

 to press before this report was issued, so that in certain 

 points (for instance, the retention of the term nucleo- 

 alhimiin) the old confusion is perpetuated. 



But, as the translators wiselv say in their preface, 

 it seems probable that in view of the rapid progress 

 which is being made in this branch of chemistrv, be- 

 fore long we shall be able to adopt a chemical classifi- 

 laliiin of the proteins which will be better than anv 

 proposed. W. D. H. ' 



:i/)/i' Star Astro)wmy. Containing the History of 

 Double-star Work; Computation of Orbits and 

 Position of Orbit Planes; Formula in Connection 

 with .Mass, Parallax, Magnitude, &c. By T. 

 Lewis. Pp. 40. (London : Taylor and Francis, 

 KjoS.) Price 2i". 

 Wk doubt if Mr. Lewis has done himself justice in 

 ilii^ little work, by which is meant that anyone might 

 T 'ad the pamphlet and fail to recognise that he was in 

 pje>ence of a master, ^^'ithin the small limits to 

 which he has confined himself, it was impossible for 

 the author to discuss the subject with the fulness it 

 demands or the completeness that his experience 

 would approve. He is our authority on double-star 

 work. His familiarity with the subject has been abun- 

 dantlv demonstrated, his researches have been 

 thorough and minute, and his success has been pro- 

 nounced. We do not forget that here he is writing 

 for amateur astronomers, who particularly affect 

 double-star observation, and to many of whom the past 

 history of astronomy is a blank. These will welcome the 

 historical notes showing what has been accomplished, 

 and bv what means our knowledge has been enriched. 

 From history the author passes to computation, and 

 we can sincerely hope that, guided bv the excellent 

 practical methods clearly .set out, and illuminated bv 

 examples, many observers will be tempted to advance 

 a step beyond inere observation. Of course, the in- 

 formation necessary for computing a new or correct- 

 ing an approximate orbit increases but slowlv, and 



NO. 2044, VOL. 79] 



opportunities may not very readily offer. It is per- 

 haps more desirable that an observer should be able to 

 compare his measures of position angle and distance 

 with the places deduced from known elements. These 

 means are provided and illustrated here, and by using 

 them the observer will learn whether it is worth while 

 to continue his measures of a particular star or to 

 remove it from his working list, because he will see 

 not only whether there is a wide discrepancy between 

 the measures and the computed places, pointing to the 

 necessity of correcting the elements, but whether the 

 position of the companion is moving .so rapidly as to 

 demand frequent measures. In a word, the student 

 of this little book will be able to observe more intelli- 

 ijentlv, more usefully, and with greater delight to 

 himself. 



The Threshold of Music. By Dr. William Wallace. 



Pp. xii + 267. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 



1908.) Price 5^. net. 

 Dr. Wall.\ce has endeavoured in these pages to trace 

 the development of the musical sense in the human 

 race from the earliest ages up to the present time, and 

 to trace its relation to the development of thought in 

 other directions. In the chronological chart which is 

 appended he " represents graphically in a diagram " 

 the lifetimes of the principal composers on the scale 

 of one millimetre to the year, side by side with those 

 of men eminent in science, literature, and art. No 

 one will doubt the author's main contention that the 

 development of modern music has taken place accord- 

 ing to the natural laws of evolution, and a book 

 written with this object, though admittedly touching 

 only the fringe of the subject, opens up a highly 

 interesting field of study. 



Dr. Wallace clearly shows how the old classical 

 ideal found its culminating point in the works of 

 Beethoven, and that the demand for " more expres- 

 sion," or, as we should say, a closer connection 

 between music and other phases of thought, led to 

 the development of the inodern school. In our opinion 

 the two schools stand in somewhat the same relation 

 to one another as pure and applied mathematics. 

 Dr. Wallace considers that still higher musical ideals 

 may be attained in the future. But we would suggest 

 that the transition from pure to applied music has 

 been rather the outcome of causes which have involved 

 degeneration from the perfection of form of the older 

 school, just in the same way that the requirements of 

 the practical man involve the use of approximate 

 methods which represent a sacrifice of the perfection 

 of form of the theories of the pure mathematician. 

 It is little to be wondered at that in an age when 

 men's sense of sound is deadened by the perpetual din 

 of electric trams, motor-cars, and typewriters they 

 should be able to endure and appreciate complex minor 

 chords and discords blasted out " fff " or even 

 " fffff " by an orchestra the overtones of the instru- 

 ments of which afford no approximation to harmonic 

 series, and the chaotic effect of which is further intensi- 

 fied bv the acoustic properties of the concert hall. 



\'odcsu)ige)i iiber technische Mechauih. By Dr. 

 .\ugust Foppl. Vol. v. Pp. xii-l-391. (Leipzig : 

 B. G. Teubner, 1907.) Price 10 marks. 

 The point which strikes an English reader most 

 forcibly on opening this book is that " technical 

 mechanics " in Germany means something much more 

 thorough and scientific than it does in England. Here 

 we have a highly mathematical treatise on the theory 

 of elasticitv dealing with the flexure and vibrations of 

 plates, the bending and torsion of beams, including 

 .Saint Venant's problem and its solutions for the 

 ellipse, equilateral triangle and rectangle, the latter 

 involving the usu;d application of Fourier's series. 



