148 



NA rURE 



[December 19, 1901 



method is to marshal the facts and suggest the conclu- 

 sions to which they point. One of the most delightful 

 characteristics of the book is the sympathetic interest 

 which the author shows, on almost every page, in the 

 labours of other workers. His sympathies are as all- 

 embracing as the views which he has formed as to the 

 origin of terrestrial features. 



The French translations of the first two volumes have 

 already been referred to. The e.\tensive knowledge and 

 great literary skill of M. E. de Margt-rie, under whose 

 direction the translation has been carried out, are a suffi- 

 cient guarantee of the excellence of the work. It has 

 evidently been a labour of love with the translators, who 

 have treated their author with that respect which should 

 always be shown in such cases. In two respects the 

 translations are better than the original work. The 

 number of maps and illustrations has been greatly in- 

 creased (128 as against 43 for the second volume), and 

 the notes, which are voluminous and often very im- 

 portant, are given at the foot of the page to which they 

 refer instead of at the end of each section. Moreover, 

 the notes and references have been brought up to date, 

 but all additions are indicated by the use of square 

 brackets. J. J. H. T. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF DYEING. 

 A Dictionary of Dyes, Mordants and other Compounds 

 used in Dyeing and Calico Printing. By Christopher 

 Rawson, F.I.C., F.C.S., Walter M. Gardner, F.C.S., 

 and W. F. Laycock, Ph.D., F.C.S. Pp. 372- (London : 

 Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1901.) Price \bs. net. 

 'T^HE technology of dyestuffs and dyeing materials 

 -L has acquired in recent years such a degree of 

 complexity that a dictionary of the subject has become 

 almost a necessity. This want is now supplied by the 

 handy volume before us. Although essentially a dic- 

 tionary and not to be regarded in the light of a text- 

 book, it nevertheless contains many excellent articles on 

 the chemistry and technology of textile fibres and colour- 

 ing matters, and should be a most valuable work of 

 reference for all engaged in the arts of dyeing, bleaching, 

 calico printing, paper staining, &c. The book is issued 

 as a companion volume to the well-known " Manual of 

 Dyeing," by Knecht, Rawson and Loewenthal, to which 

 In some respects it serves as a supplement. The methods 

 for the commercial analysis of the various chemicals, 

 mordants and dyeing materials are treated with con- 

 siderable detail. With regard to colouring-matters a 

 careful system of classification is employed, each group 

 being given a special article, e.g., acid colours, 

 basic colours, direct cotton colours, mordant dyes, &c., 

 and under each of these headings we find a fairly com- 

 plete list of all the colouring- matters of the particular 

 group at present in use. For further information with 

 regard to individual dyestuffs, each name must be 

 separately consulted. Excellent genei-al articles are also 

 to be found upon indigo, tannin matters, action of light 

 upon dyes, and upon the analysis, valuation and detec- 

 tion of coal-tar colours. 



On the other hand, besides a {^\s superfluous articles 

 having little or no bearing on the subject of dyeing 

 {e.g., the headings Acetaldehyde, Acetanilide, Anti- 

 NO. 1677, VOL. 65] 



febrine, &c.), there are some serious omissions. Thus 

 no method is given for examining the quality of com- 

 mercial betanaphthol, a matter of much greater import- 

 ance to the dyer or printer than the isomerism of the 

 sulphonic acids of dioxynaphthalene or of alphanaphthyl- 

 amine, the reference to which might well be omitted. 

 Again, there is no article upon paranitraniline, but only 

 a cross reference under " Paranitraniline red '' to " Azo 

 colours on cotton," where no description is to be found of 

 the properties or methods to be employed in examining 

 for purity this most important product. The same remark 

 applies to dianisidine, only " Dianisidine blue" being 

 referred to under "Azo colours on cotton." The heading 

 of the last-mentioned article should surely have been 

 " Insoluble azo colours on cotton" or " Azo colours pro- 

 duced on the cotton fibre," since all the substantive 

 benzidine colours when applied to cotton might equally 

 be styled " .\zo colours on cotton." We also fail to find 

 any reference to sodium sulphide, bronze colours, dis- 

 charges, persulphates or titanium mordants. 



Under the individual colouring-matters there might 

 have been given in some cases a rather fuller account 

 of the special tinctorial properties and degree of 

 fastness to reagents (soap, alkalis, acids, &c.) To 

 provide for these additions considerable space might 

 have been saved by the omission of the names o f 

 obsolete colouring-matters and of obsolete names of 

 colouring-matters still used (for instance, aldehyde 

 green, azuline, canelle, heliochrysine, and many others). 



A few errors are noticeable in the text, as, for instance, 

 in the article " Janus colours," which latter are slated to be 

 sulphonated basic dyes, whereas in fact they contain no 

 sulphonic group, but are azo-compounds, which owe 

 their solubility and peculiar dyeing properties to the 

 presence of strongly basic ammonium or azonium groups. 

 Again, thioflavine T is given as a derivative of primu- 

 line, whereas it is the methylated ammonium compound 

 of dehydrothiotoluidine. The list of manufacturers of 

 colouring-matters given on p. 94 and also opposite to 

 p. I is scarcely up-to-date, one of the firms mentioned 

 having ceased to exist, whilst two others have been re- 

 constituted under new names. In spite of the above 

 defects, which can readily be rectified in subsequent 

 editions, the work may be confidently recommended to 

 all engaged in the textile and tinctorial industries as an 

 invaluable lexicon of the subject. 



ANIMAL LIFE OF THE CONGO FOREST. 

 The World of the Great Forest ; How Animals, Birds, 

 Reptiles, Insects Talk, Think, Work and Live. By 

 Paul du Chaillu. Pp. xv + 323. Illustrated. (London: 

 Murray, 1901.) Price Js. bd. net. 

 T N the outlandish and almost unpronouncable native 

 ■*■ names of animals which form the chapter-headings 

 and recur with wearisome iteration in the text, this 

 volume reminds us of Longfellow's " Hiawatha," 

 although, in our opinion, without affording anything com- 

 parable to the pleasure which may be experienced in 

 reading the latter. The author appears to have taken as 

 his model that delightful book of Mr. .Seton-Thompson's, 

 "Wild Animals I Have Known" ; but if so he has, we 

 thmk, succeeded in producing only a very poor and feeble 



