JULV 23, 1908] 



NA TURE 



269 



could be given more usefully to another. As to the 

 general character of the book under review, we have 

 failed to discover anything very original in its treat- 

 ment of the subject, but it seems to be a thoroughly 

 safe and trustworthy guide. 



(2) This volume (the first of two parts) is for use in 

 Realschulen and Gymnasicn. It is divided into sections. 

 There is one on descriptive and practical chemistry 

 which covers 100 pages, including ten pages on 

 technical processes, one of forty pages on mineralogy, 

 including eight on crystallography. There are about 

 thirteen pages on geology, three pages describe ex- 

 periments on vegetable physiology, and the last forty 

 jjages are devoted to object lessons on topics which 

 range from Scheele's discovery of o.xygen to the 

 growth of coral islands. The book is well printed on 

 good paper, illustrated by e.xcellent drawings, and 

 compiled with evident care. It is also, in a sense, a 

 practical manual, the first section being interspersed 

 with a variety of simple chemical experiments. Yet 

 in spite of its attractive appearance it is a satisfaction 

 to think that such a book would find no place in any 

 school in this country. Its defect is diffuseness, 

 especially in the latter sections. We can form a pretty 

 clear notion of the effect of a course of this kind on 

 an average boy or girl. They would have absorbed 

 a number of scientific names, have formed a hurried 

 acquaintance with different kinds of apparatus, re- 

 membered several chemical formulae ; they would 

 describe the six crystallogrnphic systems, and talk 

 about sedimentary and igneous rocks ; but their know- 

 ledge would be a kaleidoscopic assortment of ideas 

 which could produce no sharp and permanent impres- 

 sion, and would do little to stimulate a living interest 

 in the things about them. 



Whatever shortcomings our systems of science teach- 

 ing- may possess, we do not set schoolboys and girls, 

 who are old enough to study science seriously, to nibble 

 at a scientific scrap-heap. They may do that as much 

 as they please out of school, and perhaps the more 

 they do it the better; but in school the process with 

 older children must be methodical and thorough, and 

 not superficial and diffuse, and should leave the boy or 

 :<irl with a solid foundation to build upon. 



(3) The authors state in their preface that " it was 

 with the idea of presenting in the simplest manner 

 the facts of organic and physical chemistrv which have 

 an essential bearing on medical science that the present 

 work was written." There is no doubt that in the 

 present state of organic chemistry a process of judicious 

 election for special needs is not only desirable, but 

 imperative. Like the botanist, one has to transplant 

 typical specimens into trim little beds where they can 

 be examined individually without the brain becoming 

 bewildered by an endless and varied flora. Thus the 

 authors have emphasised those facts which have a 

 >pecial relation to physiology and pharmacy, and have 

 ^.uppressed matter which they consider of less import- 

 ance, and have done it with considerable judgment. 

 Whether they have succeeded as well with the few 

 brief references to physical chemistry is doubtful, the 

 space allotted being altogether inadequate for even an 

 elementary exposition of the subject. 



NO. 2021, VOL. 78] 



We would direct the authors' attention to the follow- 

 ing errors which have been noted in glancing through 

 the book. Amyl and ethyl nitrite are not usually 

 described as " nitro " compounds (p. 162); no dis- 

 tinction is drawn between the metallic derivatives of 

 glycol and glycollic acid, both being described as gly- 

 colates (pp. 142 and 166) ; racemic lactic acid is not in- 

 dicated by " !," but by " r" (p. i6g) ; nitrobenzlideuc 

 is wrongly spelt (p. 195); purine is not the atomic 

 framework, but the mother-substance of the uric acid 

 group (p. 204); there is a step missing in Traube's 

 synthesis of uric acid (p. 201); and the formula for 

 safrole is wrong (p. 316). 



(4) This book is intended for those who are not 

 professed chemists, but are interested in the related 

 sciences of physics and chemistry. It is a clear and 

 concise exposition of the subject, a sort of abridged 

 Werner's " Lehrbuch," and will no doubt fulfil the 

 purpose for which it was compiled. Satisfactory as the 

 book is in many of its essential features, it reveals a 

 curious ignorance on the part of its author of much 

 of the recent work on stereochemistry published in this 

 country. We have noted the following more important 

 omissions. There is no reference to McKenzie's re- 

 searches on asymmetric synthesis, or to Patterson's 

 ivork on the activity of substances in solution, or to 

 his recent paper on " Optical Superposition," or to 

 Kipping's synthesis of optically active silicon com- 

 pounds. .A book which ignores, whether by accident 

 or design, contemporary research cannot be regarded 

 as an entirely trustworthy guide. J. B. C. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Animal Mind. A TcxI-bouk of Comparative 

 Psychology. By Dr. Margaret Floy Washburn. 

 Pp. xi + 333. (New York : The Macmillan Com- 

 pany ; London: .Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1908.) 

 Price 7^. net. 



This book is the second volume of a series to be 

 devoted to animal psychology, under the title of " The 

 Animal Behaviour Series." The first volume — "The 

 Dancing' Mouse," by Dr. Yerkes, recently reviewed in 

 these pages — was an exoosition of the diflerent experi- 

 mental methods applicable to the investigation of the 

 psychology of one particular animal. Miss Wash- 

 burn's book likewise follows the experimental method, 

 and aims at presenting concisely the facts and princi- 

 ples that have emerged as the result of the application 

 of this method during the last ten or twenty years to 

 the study of difTerent forms of animal behaviour. 



Starting' with a general statement of the difficulties 

 and limitations inherent in the science of comparative 

 psychology, the author proceeds to give a somewhat 

 brief yet penetrating and concise discussion of the 

 problem of inferring mind from structure and function 

 respectively. Miss Washburn's conclusion is so 

 typical of her general attitude throughout the book 

 that it may well be quoted here : — " We can say 

 neither what amount of resemblance in structure to 

 human beings, nor what speed of learning constitutes 

 a definite mark distinguishing animals with minds 

 from those without minds, unless we are prepared to 

 assert that only animals which learn so fast that they 

 must have memorv ideas possess mind at all. And 

 this would conflict with the argument from structure. 

 For example, there is no good experimental evidence 



