May 7, igcSJ 



NATURE 



of the hygiene of potable waters. Those who are 

 acquainted with his former writings will not be sur- 

 prised at his warning that springs of apparently pure 

 water are in many cases merely the outflow of surface- 

 waters which have disappeared through fissures, carry- 

 ing with them pollution from the soil and not under- 

 going purification during their passage through the 

 rocks. Even chalk, according to the writer, is 

 generally far from being a thoroughly effectual filter. 



In glancing through M. Martel's work the reader 

 will find, probably to his surprise, that the speleologist 

 is unquestionably a being of large discourse, looking 

 before and after. In one part he discusses the origin 

 of man and the cradle of his civilisation ; in another 

 he speculates on the probable future of humanity ; in 

 an early chapter he discourses on the hypotheses con- 

 cerning the beginning of the earth ; in the last chapter 

 lie carries the reader forward to the catastrophes likely 

 to bring the history of our planet to a close. Not- 

 \\ithstanding the fact that the range of subjects is 

 thus so wide and diverse, the book remains readable 

 and informing throughout. M. Martel is always 

 vivacious, sometimes impressive, and occasionally 

 original — but never obscure. In fine, he has written 

 a little book which may be described in the best sense 

 of the word as popular. 



CHEMISTRY OF PHARMACOLOGY. 

 The Chemical Basis of Pharmacology. By Francis 

 Francis and J. M. Fortescue-Brickdale. Pp. xii + 

 372. (London : E. Arnold, 1908.) Price 145. net. 



THE general scope of this work is indicated by the 

 above title and the subtitle, reading " An Intro- 

 duction to Pharmacodynamics based on the Study of 

 the Carbon Compounds." Short general introductions 

 to chemistry and physiology are first given, dealing 

 with such subjects as valency, structural formulae, iso- 

 merism, correlation of chemical and physiological pro- 

 perties, and the relationships between structure and 

 action. Then follow chapters on the main groups of 

 carbon compounds, for example, hydrocarbons, alco- 

 hols, purine bodies, and the alkaloids, their methods 

 of preparation and properties, both chemical and 

 physiological. The book contains a fund of informa- 

 tion, from which many suggestions as to lines of 

 research may be gathered, and is a genuine attempt 

 to systematise our present knowledge of the chemistry 

 of pharmacology. As such it should prove of great 

 use, more particularly to physiological and pharma- 

 ceutical chemists rather than " to the practitioner 

 who is daily brought in contact with the claims of 

 new drugs," and whose chemical knowledge could 

 hardly be expected to reach the standard required for 

 the assimilation of the information given, however 

 desirable such a state of things might be. 



We agree with the authors that the student of or- 

 g-anic chemistry will find in the work an introduction 

 to a fascinating branch of applied chemistry, but 

 think that the usefulness of the book, alike to the 

 student of chemistry and manufacturer of synthetic 

 drugs, would have been largely increased had more 

 references to original papers been given. It is also 



NO. 2010. \"OL. rSl 



to be regretted that more care has not been bestowed 

 on the book during its passage through the press. 

 The orthography is sometimes unusual in such words 

 as "etherial," "radical," "Kekule," and the work 

 contains innumerable press errors, and many which 

 cannot be attributed to this cause. For example, the 

 expression (p. 90) 



C„H5.0H + HN02 = H20 + aH50N02 (Eihyl nitrite) 

 is not an equation, nor is the formula for ethyl 

 nitrite correct. Butyl chloral (pp. 79, 109) has not the 

 formula CClj.CH-.CHO, and trlchloroelhyl alcohol is 

 not accurately represented as CCl^.COH. Such faults 

 are inexcusable. 



A very deplorable aspect of modern chemistry in its 

 application to pharmacy or physiology would appear 

 to be the lack of system in nomenclature, and a conse- 

 quent flood of synonyms. This point does not seem 

 to have appealed to the authors, for we find them 

 either ignorant of, or not in agreement with, the 

 systems of nomenclature adopted by the Physiological 

 and Chemical Societies, and in consequence confusion 

 is rendered worse confounded by the adoption of any 

 and every style of naming. We quote as examples 

 " proteid or protein "; " methyl or methylic alcohol "; 

 " sodic or sodium acetate "; " silver hydrate, aqueous 

 potash, ammonium hydroxide"; "glycerol or 

 glycerin "; " mannlte or mannitol "; " oxybenzoic or 

 hydroxybenzoic acid"; and " i-oxy-2-iodo-4-chlor- 

 quinoline. " 



It could reasonably have been expected that the 

 authors would have made a serious attempt to intro- 

 duce order and method where chaos prevails by 

 adhering strictly to those generally accepted principles 

 of nomenclature which, though imperfect, materially 

 help to build up an intelligible chemical literature. 



A. C. 



TWO RECENT BOOKS ON EVOLUTION. 

 (i) .4 Picture Book of Evolution. By Dennis Hird. 



Part ii. Pp. vi + 214. (London : Watts and Co., 



1907.) Price 2S. 6d. net. 

 (2) Darwinism To-day. By Prof. V. L. Kellogg. Pp. 



xiv + 403. (London: George Bell and Sons; New 



York: Henry Holt and Co, 1907.) Price 7^. 6d. 



net. 

 ■\X7E cannot refommend anyone wishing to make 

 himself acquainted with the present aspect of 

 the problem of evolution to put himself under Mr. 

 Hird's guidance. His treatment of the subject is 

 crude and uncritical, nor does he give any evidence 

 of familiarity with the evolutionary questions that are 

 now chiefly engaging the attention of biologists. 

 Putting minor inaccuracies aside, the book might have 

 been of some service if published, say, forty years ago; 

 at the present time it is to a large extent either mis- 

 leading or superfluous. Opposition to the doctrine of 

 species-formation by natural selection comes to-day, 

 not, as the author seems to think (p. 25), from the 

 " House of Lords or the pulpit," but from scientific 

 men, both in this country and abroad; more parti- 

 cularly in Germany and .America. While no educated 

 person now disputes the fact of evolution, the Dar- 



