}64 



NA TORE 



[February 20, 1902 



as a guide to the selection of tliose which are suitable." 

 If students of art and painters are here meant, we fear 

 that a large part of the information offered for their in- 

 struction will be thrown away, for none of them are likely 

 to learn much from such statements as this (p. 258) : " The 

 basic colour aura mine is imido-tetramethyl-diparadiamido- 

 diphenylmethane.' Perhaps, however, Messrs. Parry 

 and Coste intended to address themselves to those who 

 are to " examine pigments" rather than to those using 

 them. If so, the work before us certainly presents, with 

 the limitations of omission and inclusion previously indi- 

 cated, a convenient compendium of figures and facts- 

 A reasonable critic is averse to making much ado about 

 misprints and mistakes that are akin to misprints, for he 

 knows how provokingly these blots on his work elude the 

 notice even of the really instructed author. But the 

 pages before us seem to be in unusual need of correction. 

 Take these examples : Fraunhofer (pp. 3 and 8) should 

 not have an " e '' before the " n," while the " o " ought to 

 be without umlaut. It is surely a mistake to attribute to 

 linseed oil a tendency to crack fp. 64). X'iridian is the 

 proper form, not vividian and veridian (p. 114). Hydro- 

 lised (p. 115) is incorrect. For arsenate (p. 157, line 31) 

 read arsenite. The formula for gambogic acid, C.,(,H3-0|; 

 (p. 271), and that for euxanthic acid, Ci.iHjsOH (p. 273), 

 are alike impossible. The table of analyses of Indian 

 yellow (p. 274) is incorrectly reproduced from Thorpe's 

 Dictionary. On p. 231 globorus occurs as a specific name. 

 Quotations from Church's " Chemistry of Paints and 

 Painting " are numerous, but are handsomely acknow- 

 ledged. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Handbook of Sanitation. By George M. Price, M.D. 

 Pp. xi + 317. New York : John Wiley and Sons ; 

 London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 19011 Price 

 6.f. bd. net. 



The circle of those whose duties compel them to make a 

 special study of sanitary questions is a rapidly widening 

 one in the I'nited .States of America, as indeed it is in 

 this country ; and one gathers from the author's preface 

 that in spite of the growing number of sanitary 

 inspectors, the still greater number of candidates for 

 inspectorships and the general interest in sanitary 

 questions, there are in America no text-books in which 

 the necessary knowledge is set forth in a concise and 

 suitable form. Of course the sanitary laws and sanitary 

 practice are different in the United States of America, 

 or otherwise we could supply the deficiency from the 

 somewhat extensive literature which exists upon the 

 subject in this country. The general principles of 

 sanitation apply to all countries, but the extent and nature 

 of their application are often determined by legislation of 

 varying character and scope. It is for that reaso'n that 

 many of the English text-books on sanitation are of 

 limited use in America, and that the present volume 

 will only appeal to a few English students. 



In part i. of the work a resume is given of sanitary 

 science. The matter is often far too condensed ; the 

 important subject of water and water supply is, for 

 instance, dismissed in about seven pages, and in this 

 part, and this part only, there are one or two matters to 

 which exception may be taken : — " Cretinism, as well as 

 goitre, has been traced directly to a certain chemical 

 composition of the soil " (p. 7) ; the contents of sewers 

 NO. 1686, VOL. 65] 



are the breeding-places for various virulent bacteria 

 . . . and constitute a favourable culture-medium for all 

 other disease causing organisms " ; and in Fig. 22 a 

 " washdown " W.C. is described as a " washout" form. 



It is curious for us in this country, where iron house- 

 drains are so rare, to read that the house-drain "should 

 be hung on the cellar-wall or ccihng. unless this is im- 

 practicable, as when fixtures in the cellar discharge 

 mto it." 



Part ii is on sanitary practice. In this part are given 

 the methods of application of sanitary science in various 

 municipal departments, widi extracts from the law, rules 

 and regulations of New York and other municipalities. 

 This constitutes the best part of the book, although 

 here again certain matters (food, disinfection, &c.) are 

 far too sketchily dealt with. 



Part iii. of the book relates to the inspector, his 

 duties and qualifications ; and part iv. contains, besides 

 useful chapters on sanitary law and sanitary organisation 

 in the United States, extracts from model laws on various 

 branches of sanitation. 



Advanced Exercises in Practical Physics. By Prof. 

 Arthur Schuster and Ur. C. H. Lees. Pp. x -t-368. 

 (Cambridge: University Press, 1901. ) Price %s. 

 Ix this book the authors describe some seventy exercises 

 in practical physics suitable for students preparing for 

 a B.Sc. degree. The exercises, therefore, deal with 

 elementary subjects, which are described at considerable 

 length; for the authors attach "greater importance to 

 neat and accurate work, properly recorded, than to the 

 number of experiments which a student performs." The 

 title " .•\dvanced ' is here used to mean that the work is 

 to be done in a manner befitting an advanced student 

 rather than that the subjects are illustrative of the higher 

 parts of physics. 



The contents of the work are divided into six books. 

 The first book contains preliminary matters, amongst 

 which appears the calibration of the spirit-level, which is 

 generally omitted from text-books, although the instru- 

 ment IS one of frequent use. The second book is devoted 

 to mechanics and general physics, and here we are glad 

 to see twenty-four pages on the balance, for the experience 

 of teachers is that students know-, as a rule, very little 

 about this important instrument. In the third book heat 

 is the subject, and special stress is put on the proper 

 study of the cooling corrections in calorimetric experi- 

 ments. If the methods indicated here are carefully 

 carried out, the student should obtain very satisfactory 

 results in his heat measurements. The fourth book con- 

 tains sound, and the fifth light. In the latter we have a 

 very full discussion of the spectrometer. Polarisation is 

 introduced in two exercises. The sixth book deals with 

 magnetism and electricity. 



It is refreshing to read this text-book, for it is not a 

 mere compilation from others, and the teachers and 

 students who use it will feel that they have a guide 

 written by authors who have thoroughly and exhaust- 

 ively considered the principles and methods of the 

 experiments they are describing. One of the aims of a 

 text-book must be to add to the convenience of the 

 teacher and student in getting at the groundwork of a 

 subject, and this is eminently done in the one before us. 

 The clearness and logical order of the descriptions will 

 greatly facilitate the student's work, and by its use, 

 supplemented with experimental lectures, we think a wide 

 knowledge of physics from the point of \ iew of the facts 

 will be obtained. The diagrams and illustrations are 

 new and exceptionally well done, and the type and get-up 

 of the book are excellent. 



The work can be strongly rc'coni mended to teachers 

 in schools as a reference book on practical physics, and 

 to university students for general use in the laboratorv. 



S. S. 



