NATURE 



{Nov. 4, 1880 



mination of tannic acid by means of sulphate of cincho- 

 nine (1866), the test for wool in silk fabrics by using 

 nitro-prusside of sodium to show the presence of the 

 sulphur contained in wool (1867), the application of 

 ammonium vanadate to detect the presence of tannin in 

 red wines (1S77), and other tests for detecting methyl- 

 eosine in the presence of eosine, nitrobenzene in the oil 

 of bitter almonds, paraffine in bees-wax, stearic acid in 

 paraffine, &c. Equally numerous were the improved 

 methods of preparing chemical compounds and products 

 introduced by him, including the preparation of pelar- 

 gonate of ethyl, used extensively in perfumery, of tinely- 

 divided copper, of rufigallic acid, of calcium iodide, of 

 precipitated alumina, of chloride of mercury, of arsenate 

 of sodium, of benzoic acid, &c. 



Among Wagner's purely technical researches reference 

 may be made to the application of pyrocatechin for photo- 

 graphic purposes (1855), the determination of densities for 

 technical use (1S59), the method for purifying water for 

 tinctorial purposes (1863), the use of paraffine for preserv- 

 ing sodium, and his important research (1877) on the 

 reactions of vanadium compounds with a large variety of 

 organic commercial products, in the course of which he 

 obtained several important tinctorial results. 



As an author Prof, von Wagner has manifested a degree 

 of talent and a fertility surpassed by but few of his scien- 

 tific contemporaries. An easy, lucid style, an intimate 

 familiarity with the entire range of subjects touched upon, 

 a fulness of detail united to a logical, systematic treat- 

 ment of the matters in question, and a happy adaptation 

 to the wants of even elementary knowledge, have rendered 

 his works universal favourites. This is especially true of 

 his " Handbook of Chemical Technology," which has sur- 

 vived a twelfth edition in Germany, and has been rendered 

 accessible to French and English-speaking students by 

 the masterly translations of Gautier and Crookes. It is 

 doubtful whether in any other branch of applied science a 

 manual exists which is so widely dissemmated and has 

 met with such practically universal success. Among 

 Wagner's other works arc : "Die Chemie" (i860; sixth 

 edition 1873), " Theorie und Praxis derGewerbe," 5 vols. 

 (1857-6-I.), " Die chemische Fabrikindustrie,'' second edi- 

 tion (1869), " Regesten der Sodafabrikation " (1S66), and 

 "Stiidien auf der Pariser Ausstellung " (1868). The 

 technical journals of the past thirty years contain nu- 

 merous monographs from his pen on individual branches 

 of chemical manufacture, full of valuable information and 

 statistics obtained by Wagner from private sources, and 

 replete with those fruitful suggestions natural to a mind 

 familiar at once with the facts of science and with their 

 widespread applications. Unquestionably Wagner's chief 

 literary achievement is his celebrated " Jahresbericht iiber 

 die Leistungen der chemischcn Technologic." Started 

 eight years after the appearance of Liebig and Kopp's 

 well-known "Jahresbericht" for chemistry in all its 

 departments, this work of Wagner's has for a quarter of a 

 century kept the industrial and scientific woild promptly, 

 thoroughly, and accurately informed of the progress 

 made in every branch of applied chemistry. In its ful- 

 ness and exactness it is an admirable type of the annual 

 review, now regarded as indispensable for every branch 

 of human activity by the German mind ; and the vast 

 influence which it has exercised upon the development of 

 chemical industries is impossible to measure. The 

 "Jahresbericht " for 1879, recently issued, forms a portly 

 volurne of 1,300 pages, with over one hundred woodcuts, 

 and in its reviews evidences at every step a critical spirit 

 able to cope with the scientific and practical questions 

 constantly evoked. 



Personally Prof, von Wagner was of a most attractive 

 disposition, admired by his students not only for his rare 

 talents as a lecturer, but also for his amiable character. 

 His loss is felt as severely in a widespread social circle 

 as in the world of science. T. H. N. 



JAPAN'' 

 II. 



MISS BIRD'S work on Japan, as we have said, is 

 cast in quite a different mould from that of Sir 

 Edward Reed. With the exception of one or two 

 chapters, she devotes her two volumes entirely to a 

 record of her own experiences, casting them as in her 

 well-known books on the Sandwich Islands and the 

 Rocky Mountains, into the form of a series of letters. 

 These have evidently been written in the midst of the 

 experiences which they record, and this gives them a 

 reality and a freshness which they could not have other- 

 wise had. Her "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" has all 

 the best characteristics of her book on the Sandwich 

 Islands. Indeed it seems to us that for the majority of 

 readers it will have far more of novelty and quite as 

 much interest as any of her previous works, while we 

 doubt if any other book on Japan yet published gives so 

 full and real an insight into the everyday life and the 

 condition of the bulk of the people. Her work well 

 deserves the title it bears. Many of the districts into 

 which she, amidst all sorts of difficulties, succeeded in 

 penetrating were certainly never before visited by a 

 European woman, if indeed by a European of either sex. 

 Sir E. Reed speaks of the people along parts of his route 

 rushing out to see the "Chinese" pass; but so strange 

 and literally uncouth did l\Iiss Bird's appearance seem in 

 some districts that the people could only set her down as 

 an "Aino." She of course saw all the usual sights in the 

 usual tracks, all that Sir Edward Reed saw; and for this 

 her intimacy with Sir Harry Parkes and his universally 

 beloved lady procured her every facility. The result is 

 not the almost immixed admiration which we find in 

 Sir Edward Reed's volumes ; but then it should be re- 

 membered that she was not the guest of the Japanese 

 Government, but practically of the representative of 

 the English Government ; and although Miss Bird is a 

 thoroughly independent observer, still her opinions may 

 have taken somewhat of their colour from her special 

 surroundings. She states fully both sides of the question 

 of Japanese progress, and while giving full credit to the 

 Government for the best intentions, and admitting that 

 vast progress has been made in recent years, still she has 

 many drawbacks to point out. And no wonder ; we fear 

 that she, like some others who write on Japan, look for 

 too much, and expect to find a Europe in the East, instead 

 of a country struggling out of the bonds that swaddled 

 it till only fifteen years ago. Still her criticisms are 

 wholesome, and charitable, and good-natured, and we 

 trust that they will come under the notice of those to 

 whom, if taken in good part, they might be greatly bene- 

 ficial. Miss Bird has much to say on the work of mis- 

 sionaries in Japan, but that is a subject into which we 

 cannot enter here. She spent much of her time in the 

 great centres among missionaries, and had ample oppor- 

 tunities of seeing the nature of the work they are doing- 

 And her observations are of the greatest interest, and 

 must be instructive to those who are hoping that the 

 Japanese will ultimately put on the religious habiliments 

 which have been shaped for centuries to the people of the 

 West. One unfortunate result we may mention, and that 

 is the deterioration of the manners of those who have 

 been long under missionary influence. Surely this is not 

 necessary. 



Of course the great interest of Miss Bird's book is con- 

 nected with her solitary journey, quite unhampered by 

 official guidance, north through the centre of the Main 

 Island, and most of all her sojourn in Yezo among the 

 strange remnant of people known as Ainos. Her journey 



■ "Japan: its History, Tr.iditions, and Religions, with the Nairative of 

 a Visit in 1870." l!y Sir Edward J. Reed, K.C.B., F.R.S.. M.P. Two 

 vols. With Map and Illustrations. (London: John Murray, 1880) 

 "Unbeaten Tr.acks in Japan." By Isabella L. l!ird. Two vols. With 

 Map .md IlKislmtions. (Same Publisher.) Continued from vol. xxii. p. 614. 



