552 NATURE. 
Uber UTS ie 
The Neogene includes the Aquitanian, which is 
often regarded as the Upper Oligocene, and ranges 
upward to include the Astian. 
The strongest argument in support of Prof. 
Haug’s dismemberment and abandonment of the 
Oligocene is derived from the importance of the 
Aquitanian transgression, whereby the marine 
rocks of that epoch advanced upon the land in 
many parts of Europe as well as in the Indian 
and Pacific Oceans. The transgression was, how- 
ever, as the author admits, incomplete in the 
typical Aquitanian area, and the Burdigalian 
transgression was also of such great importance 
that there is much to be said for making it the 
separation between the Upper Lower 
Kainozoic. 
The post-Neogene deposits Prof. Haug groups 
together as the Quaternary, the name proposed 
by Desnoyers in 1829. He rejects Lyell’s term 
Pleistocene on the ground that it is not 
euphonious, and “tout a fait” incorrect. But is 
Quaternary any better in these respects? 
Quaternarius means ‘consisting of four” or 
“containing four,” as it is defined, for example, 
in Lewis and Short’s “Latin Dictionary.” The 
term is correctly employed in quaternion and in 
quaternary compounds, but not for the name of 
a fourth division of geological time. Should it 
not be Quartary? The term Pleistocene would 
not be suitable for Prof. Haug’s 
Quaternary group, which includes the Sicilian or 
Upper Pliocene of Calabria and Sicily, and also 
the Norwich Crag. The absorption of the Upper 
Pliocene in the Quaternary throws doubt on the 
advisability of separating that group from the 
and 
certainly 
Tertiary, and both may be conveniently combined 
as the Kainozoic. 
The account of the Quaternary is mainly 
devoted to the Glacial period. Prof. Haug 
accepts a frequent repetition of interglacial 
periods, but makes no reference to Lamplugh’s 
arguments against them. As in the earlier 
volumes the references to British authorities are 
scanty ; thus in the accounts of the British Eocene 
deposits but few authorities are referred to, and 
the latest is a paper of 1891. The cause of the 
great glacial development is considered in a very 
interesting discussion. The author is obviously 
attracted by the possibility of explaining the glacia- 
tion of north-western Europe and eastern America 
by changes in the distribution of land and water, 
and by the refrigeration of the coasts of Europe 
when the North Atlantic continent had been suffi- 
ciently broken up to admit the Arctic waters. 
Prof. Haug has done good service to geology by 
his very suggestive and original treatise. 
Ie Ww. 1& 
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. 
(1) An Introduction to Quantitative Analysis. 
Diss. J.’ M. Auld Ss 3Ppy xem 
Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1912.) 
(Text-books of Science.) 
(2) Volumetric Analysis for Students of Pharma- 
ceutical and general Chemistry. By Charles H. 
Hampshire. Pp. vii+104. (London: J. and 
A. Churchill, 1912.) Price 3s. 6d. net. 
(3) Water Analysis for Sanitary and Technical 
Purposes. By Herbert B. Stocks. Pp. viii+ 
136. (London: Charles,Griffin and Co., Ltd., 
1912.) Price 4s. 6d. net. (Griffin’s Techno- 
logical Handbooks.) 
(4) Qualitative Organic Analysis. By F. B. Thole. 
With an introduction by Dr. A. E. Dunstan. 
Pp. x+68. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 
1912.) Price 1s. 6d. (Text-books of Science.) 
(5) Methods of Air Analysis. By Dr. J. S. 
Haldane, F.R.S. Pp. x+130. (London: 
Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 5s. 
net. (Griffin’s Scientific Text-books.) 
ae. -BOOKS of analytical chemistry may be 
By 
(London : 
PrIGeEG se 
divided into two classes, that is, those that 
treat more or less completely of the Subject with 
which they deal, and those that aim at making a 
judicious selection of work that will serve to 
ground the student in the principles of the subject, 
and give him such practical experience as circum- 
stances will allow. (1), (2), and (4) of the above 
volumes belong to the second section. The number 
of elementary text-books already provided for the 
student of chemistry is so great that one is quite 
justified in asking why they should be added to. 
Among the reasons given, most of which are un- 
worthy, there is one that deserves more attention 
than it receives. Some authors seem to think 
that each new edition of their book must be larger 
than the preceding, and so the volume gradually 
grows until it is much too large for the purpose 
for which it was intended—too bulky, too ex- 
pensive, and too inclusive. 
This, perhaps, is justification for the publica- 
tion of Dr. Auld’s book (1). We think that 
even he inclines to cover too wide a ground in 
his two hundred pages, because it is better for 
a student to learn a little well than to con- 
cern himself in a perfunctory manner with a 
great deal. When such a space as this includes 
introductory matter, volumetric analysis, gas 
analysis, gravimetric analysis, separations, the 
analysis of sundry minerals, water analysis, and 
the estimation of equivalent weights and vapour 
densities, many operations must be merely in- 
dicated, with the result that the student has not 
a description of what he wants in his own book 
study. The international atomic weights are 
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