6oo 



NATURE 



lApril 2^, 1 88 1 



and has become so necessary that it is difficult to conceive 

 how we worked before its invention. To him we are also 

 indebted for the apparatus for accelerating filtration, the 

 " Bunsen-pump," together with all its appliances, now 

 employed in every laboratory. 



Of all the contributions to the advancement of our 

 science, that by which the name of Bunsen has, however, 

 become best known, and by virtue of which future 

 generations will place him on the highest pinnacle of 

 experimental fame, is the foundation, with his no less 

 celebrated colleague Kirchhoff, of the science of Spectrum 

 Analysis, and the discovery by its means of the two new 

 alkali metals, caesium and rubidium. It is true, of course, 

 that many facts were ascertained and many observations 

 made relating to the power possessed by matter in the 

 state of incandescent gas emitting rays of a peculiar and 

 characteristic kind. Few great discoveries are made at 

 one step. But the glory of having established a new 

 branch of science, of having placed " Analysis by Spec- 

 trum Observations " on a sound and firm experimental 

 basis, belongs to the Heidelberg philosophers, and to them 

 alone. 



The history of the establishment of spectrum analy- 

 sis, as that of its enormous recent developments, is 

 too well known to the readers of Nature to require 

 repetition. All that is necessary here is to recall the 

 masterly way in which Bunsen worked out the properties 

 and showed the relationships of the new metals and their 

 compounds. He first saw the caesium lines in a few 

 milligrams of the alkaline residue obtained in an analysis 

 of the Diirkheim mineral waters, and the discovery of a 

 second new metal (rubidium) soon followed that of the 

 first. So certain was he of the truth of his spectroscopic 

 test that he at once set to work to evaporate forty tons 

 (44,000 kilos) of the water, and with i6"5 grammes of the 

 mixed chlorides of the two new metals which he thus 

 obtained, he separated the one metal from the other (no 

 easy task) and worked out completely their chemical 

 relationship and analogies, so much so that the labours 

 of subsequent experimenters have done little more than 

 confirm and extend his observations ; such a result is 

 truly a marvel of manipulative skill ! 



Another less widely known, but no less interesting and 

 important research, is that on the spark-spectra of the 

 metals contained in cerite and other rare minerals. In 

 this he shows his power both as physicist and chemist. 

 He first describes a new chromic-acid battery suited to 

 the performance of the special experiments which he 

 afterwards details. He determines with great care all 

 the physical constants of this battery, and then proceeds 

 to investigate the spectra of the earths which give no 

 colour to the non-luminous flame. The spark-spectra of 

 these earths he carefully maps, so completely, indeed, that 

 the separation and identification of these metals now for 

 the first time became possible. 



The many hundreds of pupils who during the last half- 

 century have been benefited by personal contact with 

 Bunsen will all agree that as a teacher he is without an 

 equal. Those who enjoy his private friendship regard 

 him with still warmer feelings of affectionate reverence. 

 All feel that to have known Bunsen is to have known one 

 of the truest and noblest-hearted of men. 



H. E. ROSCOE 



JAPAN 

 Japan, nach Reisen mid Stud! en in Ayftragc der k. 



Prciiss. Rcgiefung dargestellt . Von J. J. Rein, Pro- 

 fessor der Geographie in Marburg. Erster Band. 



Natur und Volk des Mikadoreiches. (Leipzig : Engel- 



mann, 1881.) 

 Notes and Sketches from the Wild Coasts of Nipon. By 



Capt. H. C. St. John, R.N. (Edinburgh : Douglas, 



1880.) 

 '"I"' HE present year has already brought two new con- 

 -L tributions to the rapidly increasing stock of Japanese 

 literature in "Japan, nach Reisen und Studien," by Prof. 

 Rein of Marburg, and " The Wild Coasts of Nipon," by 

 Capt. St. John. The two works thus thrown into associa- 

 tion by subject and time of publication have however 

 nothing else m common. 



Had Capt. St. John's book been written a few gene- 

 rations ago, or had it related to a country previously 

 unexplored, it would have possessed a greater claim 

 upon popular interest ; but Japan has in late years been 

 so far the object of careful study by residents, and of 

 descriptions by tourists, that the raison d'etre of " The 

 Wild Coasts of Nipon " is not easy to perceive. 



In the preface the reader is assured that everything 

 stated in the text, with a few exceptions, came 

 under the observation of the author, and there is no 

 doubt that he has scrupulously confined himself to his 

 own personal experience, without seeking to correct or 

 augment it by reference to other sources. The advantage 

 of such a limitation of matter must however depend 

 altogether upon the extent of the experience and the 

 special qualifications of the observer, and we are of 

 opinion that had the author taken the trouble to ascertain 

 what his predecessors have already made known, he 

 would have largely altered his notes. 



The author as a sportsman and naturalist displays him- 

 self in a more favourable light than as a logician and 

 observer. His sporting memoranda are amusing, and 

 give a character to the volume, while as an amateur 

 naturalist he shows more than average knowledge, and 

 contributes some interesting facts on the subject of the 

 animal kingdom. In the flora he is on less secure ground, 

 and on one occasion, at page 137, confuses, in name at 

 least, two such well known trees as the Hinoki {Retino- 

 spora obtusd) and the Cryptoineria faponica. 



In his remarks upon- the people he bears good witness 

 to the simplicity and kindness of the peasantry, of whom he 

 must have seen a good deal. Unfortunately, for a traveller 

 unlearned in the language, and chiefly dependent for his 

 entertainment upon ordinary tea-houses, he has rather 

 rashly ventured into generalisations requiring information 

 that very few foreigners possess. At page 182 the 

 Japanese men, as a race, are said to be " well made> 

 muscular, active, and strong, and averaging about five 

 feet five inches^ in height," a description applying 

 fairly well to the northern fishermen, but certainly flat- 

 tering to the nation in general. Again, in several places 

 the author follows a common fashion in deploring the 

 evils brought upon the people by European "civilisation,'' 

 but makes no allusion to the greater evils it is now 



^ Dr. Rein's estimate of the average height of the men is 150 centimetres. 

 This is nearly as much below the mark as Capt. St. John's calculation is 

 above it. 



