SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 781 



little book than in his " Grundlinien " ; but 

 Ostwald has the power of wording theory so 

 that an intelligent boy not only can under- 

 stand it, but will be fascinated by it. Hence 

 this is an exceptionally good book for a school, 

 and an ideal foundation for a modern college 

 course. The experiments are simple and re- 

 quire little apparatus. The book is illustrated 

 by excellent diagrams of apparatus and by 

 portraits of leading chemists. 



General Inorganic Chemistry. By Chaeles 

 Easkerville, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry 

 in the College of the City of New Tork. 

 Boston, D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 357. 

 This book differs from most text-books in 

 three important particulars: it is not illus- 

 trated, it has scarcely any experiments, its 

 arrangement is quite different from that usu- 

 ally adopted. As to its arrangement, after 

 consideration of hydrogen, oxygen, water, the 

 halogens, the alkali metals, nitrogen and car- 

 bon, comes the periodic law ; then the elements 

 are considered as such in the order of their 

 grouping in the system; next come the hy- 

 drogen compounds of the elements, followed 

 by the halides; chapters on molecular weights 

 and dissociation come next, followed by chap- 

 ters on the oxides, sulphides, hydroxides and 

 hydrosulphides of the first three groups and 

 part of those of group IV. ; then come the car- 

 bonates of all the groups; then oxides of 

 silicon, followed by the remaining oxides and 

 sulphides of group IV. Enough of the con- 

 tents has been given to show the plan of the 

 work. Some teachers may prefer this se- 

 quence to that commonly followed. While the 

 book is not large, it is well written, is dis- 

 tinctly original and replete with information. 



A Course in Inorganic Chemistry for Colleges. 



By Lyman C. Newell, Ph.D., Professor of 



Chemistry, Boston University. Boston, D. 



C. Heath & Co. 1909. Pp. 594. 



This book is intended for the first year in 

 college chemistry. It is well written, thor- 

 ough, longer than most books of the same 

 grade, but contains nothing too advanced; a 

 part of the excess text is given to theory; 

 electrolytic dissociation, reversible reactions, 

 equilibrium, catalysis, vapor pressure, elec- 



trolysis and the behavior of dissolved sub- 

 stances are adequately treated. Still the book 

 is mainly descriptive; descriptions of tech- 

 nical methods and the technical and practical 

 uses of chemical compounds are allotted much 

 more space than is usual. This is good, for a 

 student should familiarize himself with these 

 matters and the first year is the best time to 

 study the outlines of applied chemistry. 



Professor Newell's book is illustrated by 

 excellent diagrams and by portraits of great 

 chemists ; it ranlss among the best college text- 

 books for the first year. 



The Calculations of General Chemistry, with 

 Definitions, Explanations and Prohlems. 

 By William J. Hale, Ph.D., Assistant Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry in the University of 

 Michigan. New York, D. Van Nostrand 

 Co. 1909. 



The author intends this book on chemical 

 arithmetic to accompany the first year's labo- 

 ratory work in general chemistry; he says in 

 the preface: 



In the manner of presentation a somewhat dif- 

 ferent plan has been followed from that usually 

 found in books of this nature. This consists in a 

 gradual introduction of each new condition prop- 

 erly falling under the consideration of some one 

 subject, and the final development of the subject 

 in its entirety from all the conditions thus con- 

 sidered. 



The book is doubtless the best yet offered 

 in this field, and should be carefully examined 

 by college teachers. 



The Romance of Modern Chemistry. A de- 

 scription in non-technical language of the 

 diverse and wonderful ways in which Chem- 

 ical Forces are at Work, and of their mani- 

 fold application in Modern Life. By James 

 C. Philip, D.Sc, Ph.D., Assistant Professor 

 of Chemistry, South Kensington College of 

 Technology. London, Seeley & Co.; Phila- 

 delphia, J. B. Lippincott Co. 1909. 

 The cover of this work is multicolored and 

 lurid; the headings in the table of contents 

 suggest those in the daily papers ; as — " How 

 Artificial Alizarin has Ousted the Natural 

 Dye from the Market — Natural Indigo Badly 

 Hit — Synthetic versus Natural Camphor." 



