554 
NATURE 
[arch 31, 1870 
practitioners. The thirteenth edition (of which the first 
instalment has just reached us) has been retouched and 
improved, and is in every way worthy of the confidence of 
chemists. Its appearance has, however, suggested to us 
some reflections which might, not improbably, be carried 
out with advantage. Few readers will fail to observe that 
the dimensions of the book and the subject have both 
increased, and at a rate that will necessitate a remedy in 
the course of a few years. Possibly it may be agreed that, 
in addressing a single book to four kinds of students, 
{he author has performed a somewhat superfluous task 
for three of them. Those who are engaged in phar- 
macy, the arts, manufactures, and agriculture, will all find 
here much more than they respectively require. The in- 
convenience obviously admits of easy removal ; each class 
ought to have a handbook suited to its own peculiar 
demands, and to those alone. The mere economy of time 
thus effected would be an additional recommendation to 
such a step. Moreover, it would allow of altering, for the 
sake of the purely chemical student, the entire system of 
nomenclature and notation. These admittedly belong to 
a period that has passed away ; and their presence in the 
book universally interferes much with its proper utility 
in the laboratory. The apology in the preface will 
hardly be accepted by teachers ; neither can we suppose 
that the author, if writing specially, would say of chemistry 
that it is “the science which acquaints us with the sub- 
stances of which our earth consists, their composition 
and decomposition, and mutual deportment generally.” 
It is time that this barren and lifeless definition 
ceased to be adopted by every instructor. There is, 
indeed, a quaint medieval tone about the whole of 
the book. 
The historical reader will notice under the section 
devoted to “ Operations,” titles and processes and expla- 
nations that abound as we trace our steps backwards from 
Thénard. “The practical investigator might regret the 
emission of Bunsen’s method of filtration, of argentic 
sulphate as a common impurity in the nitrate, of the 
formation of Claudet’s body as a test for cobalt. We see 
a condenser figured which could not easily be used 
with a continuous stream of water, and has been long 
abandoned in laboratories. Again, hydric nitrate is 
said to be purified by distilling at the temperature of 
ebullition ; which does not, however, occur unless under 
that point. We may, nevertheless, assure the experi- 
menter that he will not find in Dr. Fresenius’s work more 
than a few errors of the kind which affect him, ‘There is 
evidence throughout it of accumulated care and _ fore- 
thought, and the writer’s clear exposition and systematic 
procedure are a proof both of unsparing labour and severe 
economy, 
The author’s two German treatises have hitherto been 
presented to the English student in the form of transla- 
tions, which portrayed the characteristic features of the 
originals with satisfactory fidelity. But, for the reasons 
we have already intimated, there has been a general desire 
for such changes as would make each of these volumes a 
handy laboratory book. Mr. Vacher has boldly taken 
upon himself this task of dual reform, having “ specially 
striven to meet the present wants of English students.” 
He has no doubt succeeded in making two thoroughly 
English books, which will be most valuable to students ; 
but they can no longer be legitimately termed editions of 
Fresenius, which they resemble only as a pen-and-ink 
sketch resembles a perfect picture. That the editor him- 
self is to a certain extent conscious of this is tolerably 
apparent from the following passages, which are too ims 
portant to be left unnoticed :—‘“ The present edition has 
been entirely re-written and much condensed. ... The 
metals have been grouped anew, and the old grouping of 
the acids has been abandoned. ... The processes have 
been made as far as possible complete in themselves, so 
as to obviate constant reference to different pages of the 
book. Several new figures have been added, and the 
number of tables has been increased. I have endeavoured 
to render the arrangement as simple as possible” (pres 
face to “Quantitative Analysis”). And again, “The 
language has been condensed, the notation and nomen- 
clature have been modernised, the arrangement has been 
simplified. The consideration of rare inorganic bodies 
and of organic has been deferred to the latter part of the 
volume, where a section has been devoted to each. .., 
The cause of analysis has been simplified in description, 
and the preliminary examination has been curtailed... . 
All the facts and, except in one or two trivial instances, 
all the processes given in this edition have the authority 
of Fresenius, but the principal changes in the arrange- 
ment have been made on my own responsibility” (preface 
to the “Qualitative Analysis”), Editions for which the 
editor is thus far responsible, while the reputed author is 
responsible for a part only of the facts (not the whole of 
them, as Mr. Vacher states), ought not to bear Fresenius’s 
name in any other than a subordinate manner, all these 
works are, in reality, outlines of analytical chemistry on 
the basis of Fresenius. 
Mr. Vacher has, on the whole, however, carried out 
successfully the various changes he had in view. The 
adoption of the prevailing notation is in itself an improve- 
ment, teachers having hitherto been compelled to use one 
interpretation for symbols in the lecture-room, and another 
in the laboratory. He has not, however, quite so well 
fulfilled his promise as to the nomenclature, which is still 
unsystematic, and therefore misleading. For example, at 
p. 3 (“Quantitative Analysis”) we find calctum chloride, at 
p. 27 carbonate of calcium; at p. 40 ferrous sulphide, at 
p- 42 sulphide of manganese, at p. 40 ferric oxide, at p. 44 
alumina. At p.54 the word “acid” undergoes a very 
sudden transformation; “Ignited titanic acid does not 
dissolve in hydrochloric acid.” These instances of haste, 
of which there are not a few, ought to be removed from 
the next edition. 
It seems hardly probable that these large analytical 
treatises will be perfectly available for the use of students 
until they are divided into separate works. Subjects such 
as water analysis, manure analysis, volumetric analysis, 
assaying, &c., require, as we have said, a separate treat- 
ment. Mere condensation, however ably performed, will 
not accomplish a widely useful end. Mr. Wacher, never- 
theless, deserves much credit for a hazardous experiment, 
which, though not altogether unimpeachable, is a real 
service to chemistry. 
Our general impression of analysis is, that, both in 
point of scientific form and literary expression, it needs — 
a strong stimulus from other quarters. 
a 
4 
