JuLy 25, 1912] 
“One result of the present-day rapid develop- 
ment of science is that work is published more 
hastily, and many unstable intermediate steps 
which, under the old system of slower production, 
disappeared after they had served their turn, now 
enjoy their brief existence in the literature under 
all eyes. The unfortunate thing is that no formal 
notice is given of their decease.” 
_It only remains to be said that the translator 
has performed his part of the work very well: 
(2) Of the many services for which the science 
of chemistry is indebted to Prof. Ostwald, not 
| 
the least is the writing of the “Grundlinien der | 
anorganischen Chemie,” tht! third German edition 
of which (completing an issue of ten thousand 
copies) has recently appeared. To 
reading students of chemistry the book is already 
well known under the title “Principles of 
Inorganic Chemistry,’ which is also in its third 
edition, so that it is unnecessary to say anything 
with regard to the general purpose and scope of 
the work. The continued demand for the 
“Grundlinien,” however, and the publication of a 
number of other text-books modelled largely on 
that of Ostwald, afford a clear indication of the 
nature of the revolution which has’ taken place 
during the present century in the methods of 
teaching inorganic chemistry. 
’ 
While the general character of the book remains | 
unchanged, the author has not wearied in effecting 
a revision and rearrangement of the text and in 
making such additions as were necessary to make 
the method of treatment more logical -in its 
development and to bring the subject-matter into 
line with the present-day position of knowledge. 
Having become convinced that a description of 
the properties and formation of the three states | 
of matter, independently of the chemical differ- 
ences in the narrower sense, should precede the 
usual description of the preparation and properties 
of the individual substances, the author has in- 
serted into the earlier portion of the book two 
chapters on the transformation of physical states 
and solutions, in which the fundamental 
characteristics of equilibria between phases and of 
solutions are treated. Through this rearrange- 
ment of the matter, the book has been consider- 
ably improved. 
Of the additions which have been made, the 
most notable is the chapter on the radio-active 
elements. In this chapter an excellent account of 
the phenomena of radio-activity and the radio- 
active characters of radium, uranium, thorium, 
and actinium is given. One can only regret that 
this chapter was not worked into the section on 
on 
the same subject in the English edition of the | 
author’s “Outlines of General Chemistry.” 
A. F. 
NO. 2230, VOL. 89] 
NATURE 
English- | 
527 
HEALTH HANDBOOKS. 
(1) Rural Hygiene. By Prof. H. N. Ogden. | Pp. 
xvii+434. (New York: The Macmillan Co. ; 
London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.,  19r1.) 
| Price 6s. 6d: net. 
| (2) The Fasting Cure. By Upton Sinclair. Pp. 
261. (London: W. Heinemann, 1911.) Price 
| 2s. 6d. net. 
(3) Exercising in Bed: the Story of an Old Body 
and Face made Young. The Simplest and most 
Effective System of Exercise ever Devised. By 
Sanford Bennett. Second edition. Pp. xi+ 
| - 262+xii-Ixili+ 263-268. (New York: The 
| Physical Culture Publishing Co., n.d.) 
(1) HIS book, though written by an engineer 
| A and therefore dealing more particularly 
| with the constructional side of hygiene, contains 
/a considerable- amount of epidemiological data, 
| and forms a complete simple treatise on the sub- 
ject of which it treats. Rural hygiene is of much 
importance, and many problems present them- 
selves for solution which do not arise in towns 
and cities. Although dealing with American prac: 
tice, it is quite applicable in this country, and 
includes details somewhat novel to us. Thus for 
waterproofing cellars, it is suggested that the wall 
may be built in two layers with a half-inch inter- 
space which is filled with asphalt, or that the out- 
| side of the wall may be painted with hot tar into 
| which several layers of tar-paper are pressed, 
the several sheets overlapping in a special coating 
/of tar. A simple test is given for ascertaining 
the amount of sand in gravel used for making 
concrete, by which the proper proportion of sand 
may be arrived at. While giving current views 
on a subject, the author does not hesitate to state 
facts which are not altogether in agreement with 
them, e.g. as regard the unhealthiness of made 
soil (p. 37). Altogether the book is one which 
may be read with pleasure and profit. 
(2) Mr. Sinclair’s book is somewhat diffuse, but 
apparently the underlying idea is that a régime 
consisting of alternate periods of fasting and of 
special diet. is the secret of ideal health. Inas- 
much as those of us who can afford to do so prob- 
ably habitually overfeed rather than underfeed, 
and that Chittenden and. his co-workers have 
shown that perfect health may be sustained on 
half the protein usually considered necessary, there 
may be a good deal in the author’s views. 
Ordinarily the fasts may be of four to six days’ 
| duration, abundance of water being taken during 
this period; the fast is cautiously broken, and then 
the diet consists of abundance of milk, or of lean 
beef-steak with water (i.e. the Salisbury treat- 
ment). ‘It is well known, of course, that milk, 
| owing to the peculiar chemical composition of its 
