May 



1905] 



NA rURE 



29 



inc has caused it to be forgotten that for successful 

 work in chemistry it is essential that the investigrator 

 be a highly skilled manipulator. It is too often found 

 that the best student in the examination room is all 

 but worthless when set to perform even the simplest 

 piece of experimental work; good workers can only 

 be trained by the most careful and thorough ground- 

 ing in making pure chemical preparations and by 

 being taught to appreciate the importance and 

 necessity of even the minutest details in the process. 

 As a glance at the modern chemical literature shows, 

 it is precisely this attention to detail which is so 

 conspicuous a feature in some of the best work. 



We fear that the book under notice would not 

 lead the student to attach importance either to 

 accuracy of method or to thoroughness of detail ; it 

 seems a pity even that it should have been found 

 worth while to translate it and so add another to the 

 legion of text-books. 



Metaphysik in der Psychiatric. By Dr. P. Kronthal. 



Pp. 92. (Jena : Gustav Fischer, 1905.) Price 2.50 



marks. 

 This costly little work is written to ventilate a 

 grievance. It would appear that certain authorities 

 on mental diseases, including Kriipelin and Bins- 

 wanger, employ in their works such terms as 

 association, apperception, power of imagination, 

 anger, and the like. These, according to our author, 

 are metaphysical terms, and must be carefully ex- 

 cluded from Psychiatric, which is a purely natural 

 science. New sciences spring up like mushrooms 

 nowadays, and it is a misfortune that those who 

 specialise in one, or seek to exploit it, so rarely know 

 with precision what is being done in others, even 

 when these are most closely akin to their own darling 

 pursuit. We fear that this writer hardly understands 

 that the terms which he criticises are used every day 

 in psychology with a minimum of metaphysical refer- 

 ence, and that he is almost bound, before he proceeds 

 a step, to show due cause why the terminology of 

 Psychiatric should differ seriously from that accepted 

 by ordinary psychology. In spite of his parade of foot- 

 notes .and his references to such grand conceptions as 

 that of Allbeseeltheit, it may be doubted if this writer 

 is competent to discuss so general a question. At anv 

 rate, his present work does not impress one as being 

 well arranged, clear, or convincing. 



A Text-book of Physiological Chemistry. By Charles 

 E. Simon. Second edition. Pp. xx + 500. (Lon- 

 don : J. and A. Churchill, 1905.) Price 155. net. 

 .\lthough Dr. Simon's book has reached a second 

 edition, it is one which has been hitherto un- 

 known on this side of the .\tlantic. Dr. Simon's 

 name is not associated with any researches in physio- 

 logical chemistry, and there is nothing strikingly new 

 or original in his book, either as regards subject- 

 matter or arrangement. The work has, however, 

 many excellent features. It is clearly written, and is 

 free from inaccuracies ; the sections dealing with the 

 proteids and their cleavage products are especially 

 good, and fully abreast of the recent advances which 

 have been made in this important and interesting 

 branch of the subject. 



The author is conversant with chemical technique, 

 and his descriptions of analytical processes are 

 specially lucid. It is evident that he is a careful 

 student of chemico-phvsiological literature, and more 

 especially with that part of it which originates in 

 Germany. This is frequently seen in the nomen- 

 clature he adopts. Thus he speaks of casein and 

 paracasein instead of caseinogen ;^nd casein re- 

 soectively as employed in most Ivnglish books. 

 Occasionally the adherence to German terms leads to 



NO. 1S54, VOL. 72] 



confusion ; for instance, the two German words 

 Eiweisskorper and .\lbumine are both translated as 

 albumins. 



The work is primarily intended for students, and 

 therefore references to literature are omitted. A 

 'desire to keep the book within a moderate compass 

 has no doubt induced the author to leave out a con- 

 sideration of many subjects which might well have 

 been expected to find a place in it. Thus we find no 

 reference to the important subject of immunity and 

 its side issues, like the precipitin test for blood. The 

 numerous investigations now in progress on the 

 velocity of ferment action are passed over in silence. 

 Physical chemistry has during the last decade made 

 great progress, and many and important are its appli- 

 cations to physiology. Such questions as absorption, 

 secretion, osmosis, gaseous exchanges, and electrical 

 conductivity have all been made clearer by the work 

 of the physical chemist ; but there is no reference to 

 ,inv of such investigations. 



The strangest and most important omissions, how- 

 ever, are the absence of any account of general meta- 

 bolism, animal heat, and respiration. 



Turning to the title-page, one searches in vain for 

 the words vol. i., for the omitted material would easily 

 fill a second volume of the same size. One cannot 

 help thinking that, interesting and instructive as the 

 book undoubtedly is, it cannot be expected to take its 

 place as a favourite until the deficiencies alluded to 

 are rectified. 



Astronomy for Amateurs. By Camille Flammarion. 



Translated by Frances .\. Welby. Pp. 340. (London : 



T. Fisher Uiiwin, 1905.) Price 6s. 

 Much that is interesting to amateur astronomers may 

 be found in this volume. The descriptions are often 

 discursive, but the matter is there, and in a readable 

 form providing the reader's leisure is not too limited. 



After a general exhortation to his readers to study 

 and conteniplate the marvels of the sky, the author prt)- 

 ceeds to a study of the constellations, the stars them- 

 selves, the sun, and then the planets. Next follows a 

 chapter on comets, containing some interesting facts 

 concerning the ancient ideas of these " glittering, 

 swift-footed heralds of Immensity," and a_ brief 

 account of comets in general and of a few in particular. 

 Shooting stars are then dealt with, and in chapters 

 viii., ix., and x. the earth, the moon, and eclipses are 

 severally discussed. In chapter xi. the more elementary 

 methods of determining stellar distances and masses 

 are described, whilst the next, and last, chapter is de- 

 voted to a discussion of life universal and eternal. 

 The book contains eighty-four illustrations— the re- 

 levance of some of which is open to question — and it 

 will be read with both interest and profit by those 

 whose previous acquaintance with astronomical truths 

 has been slight. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[Tlie Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of. rejected 

 wanuscripts intended for this or any other part of N.iTURE. 

 Nn iiotice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Scientific Correspondence of the late Sir George Stokes. 



Arrangements are in progress for the publication of a 

 selection from Sir George Stokes's scientific correspondence. 

 The letters addressed to him, which are now in my custody, 

 show that there must be many from him to others, of 

 permanent scientific value, to which I have not access. I 

 shall therefore be glad if owners of letters of substantial 

 scientific interest will entrust them to me, to be treated 

 with care and ultimately returned. J. Larmor. 



St. John's College. Cambridge, May 8. 



