42 



NATURE 



IMtry 1 6, 1872 



poses simply to strengthen and ennoble this practical 

 education by combining it with sound scientific instruc- 

 tion. The whole machinery of the examination is simple, 

 effective, and, by means of local co operation — a machinery 

 which already exists — readily applicable, at small cost, to 

 all parts of the kingdom. 



The examinations are to be adajited to three grades of 

 certificates : an elementary, or " Workman's " certificate ; 

 an advanced, or "Foreman's" certificate ; and an honours, 

 or " Manager's " certificate. 



No syllabus has yet been issued, but we have seen the 

 syllabus for paper manufacture, which, though not finally 

 adopted by the committee, is in a forward state. How 

 many candidates will come up to the mark ? We fear 

 but few. There is no use shutting our eyes to the fact. 

 Among manufacturers how many are there who could 

 pass a fair examination in the Science and Technology of 

 their trade ? And yet the committee have not pitched 

 their standard too high. One great benefit — if no other 

 — will be conferred by these committees. They will show 

 at least what ought to be known. 



As a commencement, Captain Donnelly proposes that 

 those industries should be taken for examination which 

 form the subjects of the Annual International Exhibitions, 

 and that the Royal Commissioners for the Exhibi- 

 tion of 1851 should be asked to provide the requisite 

 funds. The cominittee endorse Captain Donnelly's 

 view, and think that the Council of the Society of 

 Arts " may find it advantageous to include those 

 Arts and Manufactures." We trust that it may be 

 found practicable to include annually many more, and 

 that this important movement will not be left to depend 

 on the Annual Exhiliitions alone, however ready the Com- 

 missioners may be to support it. It is for the manufac- 

 turers of this ountry, for the City Companies, and the 

 large towns, whose very existence depends on their 

 manufacturing supremacy, to come forward and aid this 

 important \^'ork, and do for their several industries what 

 Sir Joseph Whitv/orth has done for mechanical engineer- 

 ing by his noble endowment. 



By this means a,stimulus will be given to the'extension 

 of scientific instruction ; an aim and organisation afforded 

 of which it stands in much need ; and a decided step taken 

 to re-establish our manufacturing supremacy, which, in 

 consequence of the superior educational position of our 

 continental rivals, is now trembling in the balance. 



IVATTS'S DICTIONARY OF CHEMISTRY 



A Dictionary of Chemistry. By Henry Watts, F.R.S., 

 B.A., &c. Supplcnu'iit. (Longmans, Green, and Co., 

 London, 1872.) 



T^NGLISH chemists will hail with gladness the ap- 

 -L-' pearance of the supplemental volume to "Watts's 

 Dictionary." It was evident almost before the completion 

 of the last volume of the original work, that a supplemen- 

 tary volume would be required very shortly. In these 

 days of progress chemical books are quickly left behind, 

 and it needs energetic measures for our literature to keep 

 pace with fresh chemical discoveries. Chemistry has 

 much to be thankful for at the hands of Mr. Watts. The 



present volume brings up our knowledge to the end of 

 1869, and also includes several additions, corrections, &c., 

 which have appeared in 1870 and 1871. The scope of 

 this volume is, as in former volumes, sufficiently wide ; 

 the contents are not entirely confined to chemistry, but 

 include articles on electricity, heat, light, &c. The con- 

 nection between these subjects and chemistry is so close 

 that no book would be perfect which did not enter into 

 and explain some of the effects caused by these forces. 

 The plan of "Watts's Dictionary " is too well known to 

 require any comment. The present volume is strictly a 

 continuation of the former ones ; and, as time rolls on, other 

 supplemental volumes will be required to make this record 

 of chemical history complete. As it is, we now possess 

 in " Watts's Dictionary " a complete account of chemical 

 discovery up to the end of iS6g ; and in the abstracts of 

 foreign papers published by the Chemical Society we 

 have a contemporaneous record of all new facts, beginning, 

 however, with the year 1871. It is, perhaps, unfortunate 

 either that Mr. Watts did not bring out his Supplement 

 one year later, or that the Chemical Society did not com- 

 mence their extremely valuable work one year earlier. 

 At the present time, therefore, we have one year to a 

 certain extent unrepresented. We have, however, gained, 

 a great step ; instead of having to wait two or three years 

 for the appearance of the " Jahresbericht," we have now 

 the abstracts of foreign papers a month or so after their 

 publication. It is worthy of remark that Mr. Watts's 

 dictionary has outstripped the " Jahresbericht." the third 

 volume of which, for 1869, has not yet appeared. The 

 author has fortunately succeeded in obtaining the assist- 

 ance of some of the former contributors to his work, thus 

 Prof. C. G. Foster contributes two very clear articles on 

 recent discoveries in electricity and heat, whilst Prof. 

 Roscoe has written the articles on " Light and on Spectrum 

 Analysis," which give a very excellent rhiiiite of the work 

 done in these branches of science, and which, perhaps, 

 might have been lengthened with advantage. The article 

 on " Proteids " is written by Prof. M. Foster, whose name 

 is a sufficient guarantee for ils excellence. Dr. Paul and 

 Mr. Wanklyn have also contributed to the Supplement, the 

 latter having written on acetic ether (in part), on butyl 

 alcohols, &c. The only possible objection to this outside 

 help is that, in some instances, undue prominence may 

 be given to certain of the author's theories or remarks, 

 to the comparative overlooking or slighting of the 

 work of other chemists. We must not, however, omit to 

 speak in the highest terms of many of the articles contri- 

 buted by I\Ir. Watts himself, such as the extremely clear 

 and succinct account of the aromatic series as explained 

 by Kekulc's hypothesis, the article " On Atomicity," 

 and many others too numerous to mention. We cannot 

 give the volume greater praise than by saying it is quite 

 ecjual to the former productions of the author. Since the 

 publication of the last volume, the chemistiy of the 

 aromatic series seems to have usurped the principal 

 attention of chemists, as we find by long articles on 

 benzine, on its derivatives and homologues, no less than 

 forty-five pages being thus occupied ; then again the sub- 

 stitution derivatives of benzoic acid and of phenol occupy 

 a considerable space. Another subject which seems to 

 have attracted a considerable amount of attention, and to 

 have yielded very interesting results, is that of the alcohol 



