432 



NATURE 



[December 19, 1912 



metallic alloys have been increased in number from 

 54 to 251, and a series of 149 equilibrium-diagrams 

 for binary mixtures of fused salts, including many 

 minerals, makes its appearance for the first time. 

 The interval of eleven years which elapsed between 

 previous editions of the tables has now been re- 

 duced to seven years only ; this appears to be 

 justified by the vast multiplication of numerical 

 data, as illustrated, for instance, by the fact that 

 the "Annual Tables" for 1910 cover more than 

 700 pages ; but the issue of frequent editions, each 

 of which renders the earlier ones obsolete, will 

 tend to confine the tables more and more to the 

 shelves of reference-libraries. The new edition is 

 the first to be issued since the death of Prof. 

 Landolt; it is, therefore, only fitting that a hand- 

 some portrait of the originator of the tables should 

 appear as a frontispiece to the new volume. 



(2) Complaint has frequently been made that 

 qualitative analysis is liable to degenerate into an 

 unintelligent use of specific tests. Prof. Stieglitz, in 

 his two volumes on qualitative analysis, has re- 

 moved the subject to the opposite pole by treating 

 it from the point of view of the advanced student 

 of physical chemistry. To the average student, this 

 treatment would probably present considerable diffi- 

 culty, unless he should be fortunate enough to attend 

 Prof. Stieglitz's own lecture courses and hear his 

 explanations at first hand. Under other conditions 

 there might be some disadvantage in placing 

 the book directly in the hands of the student ; but 

 nothing but good can accrue from the assimilation 

 of the contents of the two volumes by teachers 

 responsible for conducting classes in qualitative 

 analysis ; they will then be provided with authentic 

 explanations of the more puzzling reactions, and 

 can hand on to their students as much of the 

 underlying theory as may be practicable or desir- 

 able. It may be noted that the author has used 

 to some extent the novel scheme of qualitative 

 analysis described by A. A. Noyes and Bray in the 

 Journal of the American Chemical Society. 



(3) In the "College Text-book of Quantitative 

 Analysis " concise directions for each step of the 

 analysis are given, with numbered references to 

 "explanatory facts" which justify the procedure 

 adopted. These play the part of footnotes, but are 

 of sufficient importance to justify their appearance 

 in full-sized type on the same page as the instruc- 

 .tions for working. It is claimed that by this 

 system the student is saved from the vast waste 

 of time which results from mistakes which are 

 made before the instructor has been able to give 

 personal attention to each individual. By the use 

 of these minute directions, the student at once 

 gets into the habit of correct manipulation, accom- 

 plishes more in the same time, and, for a beginner, 



NO. 2251, VOL. 90] 



gets unusually good results. Although a few 

 minor criticisms might be made, the procedure 

 (which was tested with the help of manuscript 

 copies of the book during five years before pub- 

 lication) appears to be thoroughly sound, and 

 teachers would be well advised to examine the 

 book and determine how far it conforms to their 

 own requirements. The directions for gravimetric 

 analysis are particularly good. 



(4) The " Laboratory Manual " is intended to 

 accompany the authors' "Chemistry, an Ele- 

 mentary Text-book." It is suggested that the 

 book "will prove interesting to teachers who wish 

 to present that kind of chemistry which appeals to 

 students because of its intense human interest." 

 This view is probably responsible for the introduc- 

 tion of mixtures of potassium chlorate and sugar 

 and of cream of tartar and carbonate of soda into 

 the earliest chapters. But it may be questioned 

 whether any useful purpose can be served by 

 attempting to make chemistry popular with boys 

 by the help of fireworks ; in any case, the treatment 

 appears to be extremely scrappy and vastly in- 

 ferior to courses, such as those based on the British 

 Association syllabus, which are now coming so 

 extensively into use in this country. In this 

 instance, at least, any attempt to copy American 

 methods would involve a retrograde step. 



(5) In the " Elementary Chemical Theory and 

 Calculations " numerical exercises are provided to 

 illustrate the chief quantitative laws, of which a 

 brief discussion is also given. There is an ample 

 selection of examples, but many of these are some- 

 what widely removed from actual laboratory prac- 

 tice, as, for instance, where sodium is made to 

 combine directly with bromine to give a quantita- 

 tive yield of sodium bromide, or where exact num- 

 bers of grains of hydrogen are made to combine 

 with other elements : the value of the book would 

 have been increased greatly if more real and fewer 

 fictitious examples had been given, and especially 

 if use had been made of the vast array of exact 

 analyses which have been accumulated in the 

 course of a century's work in the determination of 

 atomic and molecular weights. T. M. L. 



BOTANICAL AND GARDENING BOOKS. 

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vii+187. (London: Williams & Norgate, 1912.) 



Price 35. 6d. net. 



(2) Wild Flowers as They Grow. Photographed 

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(3) British Violets. A Monograph. By Mrs. 

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