458 



NATURE 



{April 16, 1874 



Take these in turn — the last-mentioned first. The 

 Physical Laboratory has been but six years in existence ; 

 simply because it was impossible sooner to find any accom- 

 modation for it. One small room was obtained capable 

 of holding a dozen students (at very high pressure). The 

 success of the first year was so great that in the next 

 session more than half of the applicants had to be refused 

 admission ; and as the demand grew, the working time 

 allowed each student per day had to be further and further 

 restricted, till, in the session just concluded, the lowest 

 admissible limit {one hour per day) had at first to be 

 adopted, and yet several applications for admission had 

 to be refused. In spite of these drawbacks, much sound 

 work has been done, and many of the Laboratory students 

 have already obtained excellent posts connected with 

 Astronomy, Telegraphy, Engineering, Sugar-refining, &c., 

 mainly on account of the training they have received. 

 The good thus done is to be measured, not by the mere 

 fact of the success of these men in life, but by the fact 

 that their success introduces into practical observatories, 

 workshops, &c., men who have learned the reasons for the 

 manipulations they employ, and who can therefore meet 

 an emergency in ways which no rule-of-thumb teaching 

 could possibly have suggested. 



In Anatomy and Chemistry, practical teaching has long 

 been established, and is afforded to every medical student 

 and to such others as study these subjects as parts of a 

 general scientific training. But it is necessary that a 

 great deal more should be done in this direction, especially 

 in the way of affording to advanced students opportuni- 

 ties of cultivating their own powers, and furthering Science 

 by original research. The present arrangements render 

 this possible only to a very limited extent. 



Although practical instruction in Physiology, Pathology, 

 and Pharmacology have not formed for so long a period 

 as in Anatomy and Chemistry an integral part of a 

 medical curriculum, yet the University authorities have 

 recognised its importance and have introduced it as far 

 as the meagre space at their disposal would admit. But 

 the increasing demand for a practical training has over- 

 crowded these rooms and made it imperative that addi- 

 tional accommodation should be provided, not only for 

 tuition but for self-training and discovery. 



Thus all the practical departments in both the physical 

 and biological sciences urgently demand additional house- 

 room. 



In conclusion, we would again call attention to the fact 

 that one of the great reasons for the present appeal is to 

 be found in the immense success of the University ; its 

 mere numerical growth has far exceeded the accommoda- 

 tion provided. But we would also specially note the fact 

 that, although the scheme has just been launched, the 

 contributions already received or promised amount to the 

 very handsome, though of course utterly inadequate, sum 

 of 60,000/. At least 40,000/. more, with the equivalent 

 which may reasonably be expected from Government, are 

 required to give us yet another University, furnished at 

 least with buildings which will enable it to preserve 

 for another century its well-deserved but hardly-won 

 fame. 



But it must not be forgotten that buildings alone, how- 

 ever perfect, are not sufficient for the work desired. The 

 further extension of the teaching staff must inevitably 



follow. But questions of this nature, as well as the an- 

 nual supply of funds for the purchase of apparatus and 

 materials, will, we hope, be effectively treated by the 

 Royal Commission on Science, whose Report on the 

 Scottish Universities, and whose proposals for their ade- 

 quate endowment, are, in the North at least, anxiously 

 expected. 



SCHORLEMMER'S "CHEMISTRY OF THE 

 CA RBON COMPO UNDS " 



A Manual of the Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds j 

 or, Organic Chemistry. By C. Schorlemmer, F.R.S., 

 Lecturer on Organic Chemistry in the Owens Col- 

 lege, Manchester. (London : Macmillan and Co, 

 1S74.) 



JUDGING from the rapidity with which text-books on 

 Organic Chemistry have made their appearance of 

 late, it might reasonably be inferred that a good treatise 

 on that subject is much wanted. The student who 

 turns eagerly to the present manual in the hope that 

 the eminent author will help him out of some of his 

 difficulties, and that he will find the subject treated in a 

 novel manner, will however, we fear, feel somewhat disap 

 pointed. 



The classification adopted by the author deals first with 

 the compounds of carbon with oxygen, sulphur, and nitro- 

 gen ; compounds which form the connecting link between 

 inorganic and organic chemistry.. He considers, justly, 

 that a knowledge of the compound radicals into which 

 these elements enter is essential to a proper understand- 

 ing of a large number of other carbon compounds. He 

 then describes the large group of fatty substances, sub- 

 divided again according to the quantivalencc of their 

 radicals, as well as the carbohydrates, terpenes, and cam- 

 phors. The next division comprises compounds richer in 

 carbon than the fatty substances, and which are not con- 

 verted into such by the addition of hydrogen. These 

 are again subdivided into several groups, including 

 that of the aromatic compounds, which has been most 

 fully investigated, and the group of compounds contain- 

 ing two or more aromatic nuclei linked together by carbon, 

 and the glucosides. Lastly, we have a division of artifi- 

 cial and natural bases (alkaloids), of colouring and bitter 

 principles, of compounds contained in bile and other 

 secretions of the animal body, and of albumenoids and 

 proteids. 



It will be seen from this brief synopsis that the author 

 deviates for the most part from the arrangement whicli 

 has found favour with many modern writers on Organic 

 Chemistry. Rather than treat of well-defined families of 

 organic bodies, such as hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers, 

 aldehydes, ketones, acids, &c., he prefers to retain groups 

 of homologous series, together with their derivatives. To 

 the student this arrangement has the decided drawback 

 that it involves much repetition in examining chemical 

 changes, and, what is more important, it does not 

 enable him to take in at a gl.ince in what consists the 

 similarity or dissimilarity between classes of bodies of 

 analogous structure, and derived from a homologous 

 parent stock ; nor is it so easy to see where one or 

 several links in the various homologous series are miss- 



