Supplement to ''Nature" October lo, 1907 



details, usually furnished clear evidence for a trust- 

 worthy selection. 



One advantage of this system is that the results are 

 expressed in a uniform manner throughout ; usually 

 the solubilitv is given for regular intervals and in 

 terms of weight of dissolved substance per given 

 weight of solvent or of solution. In all cases where 

 it is possible, the nature of the solid phase is clearly 

 defined. 



The value of such a work of reference must be 

 determined bv two factors, its completeness and its 

 accuracy. .\s regards the former, there is little doubt 

 that great pains have been taken to search thoroughly 

 the literature of the past twenty-five years ; concern- 

 ing the latter, an opinion can only be formed after the 

 book has been for some time in constant use. It is 

 to be regretted that more care has not been given by 

 the author to his nomenclature. On the same page 

 we have acetamide and acetamid ; acetanilide, 

 acetanilid; anilin and aniline. The names of many 

 organic substances appear curiously disjointed ; for 

 example, Tri Chlor Acetic Acid, Di Phenyl Amine, 

 Epi Chlor Hydrine. It is unfortunate that the author 

 considered it advisable to give to substances the names 

 " found in the original papers," because this has led 

 to the introduction, for example, of such terms as 

 toluyl acid, anis acid, and napthion acid for the well 

 known toluic, anisic, and naphthionic acids. Phenyl 

 thiocarbimide is found under the German disguise of 

 " Senfiil "; suberic acid is, however, given its correct 

 name, and is not seen masquerading as " Cork acid." 



In several cases it would appear that the author does 

 not know the German equivalents of the names of 

 very well known organic compounds ; quinine and 

 chinin are regarded as different substances, and the 

 data given under these two headings are quite dif- 

 ferent, being derived from different sources. Glycollic 

 acid is termed glycocholic ncid. Misprints of names 

 are numerous. 



Such blemishes, occurring with extraordinary fre- 

 quency, are very unfortunate in a book which must 

 have involved great labour in its preparation, and is 

 bound to be widely used. The author in his preface 

 modestly craves " all indulgence for errors and omis- 

 sions," thus in a manner disarming criticism. The 

 value of future editions of this work will greatly be 

 enhanced if the nomenclature be carefully revised. 



"W. A. D. 



.4 TEXT-BOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY. 

 Handbuch der Ozeano graphic. By Dr. Otto 

 Krummel. Vol. i. Die rjiumlichen, chemischen 

 und physikalischen Verhaltnisse des Meeres. 

 Pp. xv + 526. (.Stuttgart: J. Engelhorn, 1907.) 

 Price 22 marks. 



T^HE treatise on oceanography published in 

 -*■ Ratzel's " Bibliothek geographischer Hand- 

 bucher " in 1884 has remained the standard work 

 on the subject. Few branches of science have made 

 more progress, absolutely and relatively, during the 

 last twenty years than those which concern our 

 NO. T980. VOL. 76] 



knowledge of the sea, and the book has been 

 seriously out of date for a considerable time. .\ new 

 edition is therefore practically a new book, and a 

 new standard treatise on oceanography will be hailed 

 with relief by every student of the subject who has 

 toiled more or less successfully to keep up with the 

 unfailing streams of original memoirs which have 

 issued from almost innumerable sources in recent 

 years. 



Prof. Kriimmel's new volume, issued in the same 

 series, which is now under the editorship of Prof. 

 Penck, takes the place of vol. i. of the older treatise, 

 written by the late Prof, von Boguslawski. Its 

 general scope is the same, inasmuch as it treats of 

 the form and distribution of the seas and oceans, the 

 formation and composition of deposits, and the 

 physics and chemistry of sea-water, and leaves 

 dynamical questions to be dealt with in vol. ii., which 

 in the older treatise was written bv Prof. Krummel 

 himself. But the arrangement of the different parts, 

 and the space devoted to each, are, of course, widely 

 different. .A comparison of the two works brings out 

 in an unusually striking manner the enormous 

 advances which have been made in the comparatively 

 short interval, and places in their proper perspective 

 (he great contributions made, amongst others, by 

 Murray in the concluding volumes of the Challenger 

 reports, by Pettersson, Nansen, the deep-sea and 

 .Antarctic expeditions and the cable-ships, and the 

 smaller researches in home waters which have cul- 

 minated in the institution of the International 

 Council for the Study of the Sea. It may be added 

 that a comparison also makes clear the immense 

 complexity of many problems which once seemed 

 comparatively simple, and the urgent need, on 

 economic as well as scientific grounds, for continued 

 independent and combined effort in exploration and 

 research. 



'Detailed description of the contents of Prof. 

 Kriimmel's book is impossible in the space at our 

 disposal. The author gives an account under each 

 head of the methods of observation employed by the 

 chief investigators, more particularly in the most 

 recent work, states the quantitative or distributive 

 results arrived at, and applies them systematically to 

 the description of special phenomena or of special 

 geographical divisions. The amount of labour in- 

 volved by this method is, of course, enormous, and 

 the compression of the results into a volume of 526 

 octavo pages has been done with masterly skill. 

 Criticism is by no means wanting, and we note with 

 satisfaction that Prof. Krummel has been able to 

 retain manv of the earlier observations, which, with 

 their obsolete methods and cruder equipment, have 

 sometimes been regarded as unworthy of comparison 

 with those of the high precision more recently 

 attained. Controversial questions concerning the 

 application of these observations to the discussion of 

 dynamical questions will doubtless be dealt with in 

 vol. ii., the publication of which we await with 

 interest. For the present it suffices to record the 

 debt which all oceanographers owe to Prof. Krummel 

 for placing at their disposal so vast and orderly a 

 store of material. 



