3^ 



NATURE 



[March i i, 1909 



on the east, is perfectly evident, and, as is well known, 

 the connection has been confirmed by deep borings. 

 The Spanish iNIeseta, notwithstanding- its family like- 

 ness with the other fragments bf the Armorican 

 system, is also differently coloured. The manner in 

 which the trend-lines of this area are drawn fails to 

 express the true structure of Spain ; as a matter of 

 fact, the Carboniferous basin of tlie Asturias forms the 

 centre of a nest of Hercynian folds, interrupted to 

 the north by the Bay of Biscay, and diverging to the 

 south-east like confocal parabolic curves. Tertiary 

 lacustrine deposits sometimes obscure the facts, but 

 ■otherwise they are clear enough. 



The Tertiary mountain systems are represented very 

 •diagrammatically by thin red lines which are some- 

 times difficult to interpret, as, for instance, in the 

 neighbourhood of Mont Blanc, where an hitherto 

 unknown syntaxis is shown. The chain of the 

 Apennines is marked in a different colour from its 

 continuation to the west in the Alpes Maritimes, or 

 to the south through Sicily into the Atlas. But by 

 far the most remarkable feature on the map is the 

 trend-line drawn almost straight from Cyprus to Baku. 

 As regards the true structure of Asia Minor, reference 

 rtiay be made to a paper by E. Naumann (Geo- 

 graphische Zeitschrijt, 1896, vol. ii., pi. i.). The 

 author himself does not seem quite confident as to this 

 line, for in the next structural map (.\sia, pi. xix.) 

 it is no longer shown as extending to Baku, but 

 takes a sharp turn to the east and joins the Pontic 

 ^rc. 



A defect in the sense of proportion which is too 

 characteristic of the work is nowhere more manifest 

 than in Fig. 83, a section through eastern .Asia, in 

 which the depth of the Tuscarora abvss is represented 

 as at least equal to the breadth of the Manchurian 

 step, and the only reference to scale is the remark 

 that the breadth of Japan is exaggerated. 



The illustrations to the anthropological descriptions 

 are of very unequal value ; many are very poor, but 

 the worst is probably that of a Polynesian (Fig. 97), 

 which is badly selected, and is not good even as a 

 caricature. The Eskimos are said to be of Mongolian 

 origin, but modified by the arduous conditions of 

 their life in the frozen north. We should like to 

 know more about the influence of the environment, 

 and especially how it came to confer upon the 

 Eskimos their long heads. We are told in equally 

 direct terms that the Australians arc Caucasians who 

 have been modified by adaptation to life in the arid 

 region of Central Australia— a statement open to 

 question from more than one point of view. 



There is much that is meritorious in this work ; it 

 is certainly interesting, and if equally trustworthy 

 would be deserving of high praise. 



As regards the work by Mr. G. C. Fry, there is 

 much less to be said; it seems intended to meet the 

 requirements of an examination syllabus, and is 

 probably well adapted to this purpose. The geological 

 sections (Figs. 50 and 51) should be withdrawn, or 

 replaced by better ones, such as almost any geological 

 text-book will afi'ord. 



NO. 2054, \OL. 80] 



A HANDBOOK OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 Handbiich der anorganischen Chimie. Edited by 



Dr. R. Abegg and Dr. Fr. Auerbach. Bd. ii., Abt. i. 



Pp. xiii + 867. (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1908.) Price 



24 marks. 



THREE earlier parts of this handbook of inorganic 

 chemistry have already received commendatory 

 notice in Nature (vol. Ixxvii., p. 25). The present one 

 constitutes a further gratifying addition to chemical 

 literature, and calls for the same cordial welcome 

 that was extended to its predecessors. It deals with 

 the first group of elements in the periodic system, 

 the various members being treated individually as 

 follows: — Hydrogen (Baur); lithium (Auerbach and 

 Brislee); sodium, potassium, rubidium, csesium 

 (Hinrichsen) ; copper (Donnan); silver (Baur); gold 

 (Wohlwill). In addition to the general treatment of 

 the elements and their compounds by these authors, 

 certain sections are dealt with by separate contribu- 

 tors : atomic weights (as in the preceding volumes) 

 by Brauner, and colloidal chemistry, so far as it con- 

 cerns the substances coming within the scope of the 

 present volume, by Lottermoser and Donnan ; this 

 section is a new feature of the work. 



Since the rate of progress has not, so far, quite 

 come up to original intentions. Prof. Abegg has now 

 appointed as co-edilor Dr. Auerbach, of the Imperial 

 Public Health Department, in order that the publica- 

 tion of the remaining volumes may be expedited. 



Prof. Brauner's contributions are especialh' impor- 

 tant in the case of the present volume ; he has elected 

 to deal here, not only with the individual elements 

 included in it, but also, collectively, with the " funda- 

 mental " atomic weights — those of the seven elements 

 sodium, potassium, silver, chlorine, bromine, iodine, 

 with oxygen, of course, as standard. This takes up 

 fifty pages of the book, and provides an excellent 

 critical risumi of the older as well as the recent work 

 on the subject; the atomic weight of hydrogen, 

 treated separately, is also very fully dealt with. 



In the various descriptive sections a vast amount of 

 important matter is collected, and particular promin- 

 ence is, of course, given to the results of modern 

 physicochemical investigation. This is particularly 

 the case with copper and its compounds ; in this 

 section, which is easily the largest, and is in some 

 respects the most important, in the volume, electrical 

 matters naturally bulk largely. 



It is impossible to enter more fully here into the 

 many good points of the book; taking these for 

 granted, a few words of criticism may perhaps be 

 allowable. The aim of Prof. Abegg and his colla- 

 borators has avowedly been to treat the subject more 

 particularly from the modern physicochemical stand- 

 point, and they have therefore omitted much that 

 one would look for in a handbook of inorganic chem- 

 istry which followed the usual lines. One cannot help 

 thinking, however, that in places this process has 

 been carried too far. For example, much more in- 

 formation might surely have been given concerning 

 the reactions involved in the Leblanc soda-process, to 

 which less than a page (p. 297) is devoted. The pre- 



