September 12, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



255 



included the following : " Outlines of Theoret- 

 ical Chemistry," by Dr. F. H. Getman (John 

 Wiley & Sons), which is in its second edition 

 and has been revised and enlarged, notably 

 with respect to atomic structure, colloids, elec- 

 tromotive and photochemistry which has, no 

 doubt, added to the usefulness of a work al- 

 ready respected. The literature relating to col- 

 loids has been extended by a second edition of 

 Dr. M. H. Fischer's translation of Wolfgang 

 Ostwald's "Handbook of Colloid-Chemistry" 

 (P. Blakiston's Son & Co.), to which "Notes" 

 have been added by Emil Hatschek, but with- 

 out essential change in the nature of the 

 material. A further new work is that entitled 

 "The Chemistry of Colloids," by Dr. E. B. 

 Spear (Jolin Wiley & Sons), Part I. of which 

 is a translation of Zsigmondy's " Kolloid- 

 chemie," and Part II. is on " Industrial Col- 

 loidal Chemistry," written by Dr. Spear, with 

 a chapter on " Colloidal Chemistry and Sanita- 

 tion," by Dr. J. F. Norton. The subject is 

 brought up to date in an easily readable 

 fashion and is of interest to both the general 

 and technical reader. Dr. F. P. Yenable in 

 his " Brief Account of Radio-activity " (D. 

 ' C. Heath & Co.) has contributed in about fifty 

 pages an entertaining and somewhat popular- 

 ized summary of the phenomena of radio- 

 activity and their influence upon our notions 

 of atomic structure. 



The editor's table contained but one volume 

 on industrial chemistry, now become famil- 

 iar, namely. Dr. Allen Roger's " Elements of 

 Industrial Chemisti-y " (D. Van Nostrand 

 Co.), an abridgment of the larger work by 

 Rogers and Aubert. Both have an established 

 place in chemical literature. 



The fact that Dr. Phillip B. Hawk's " Prac- 

 tical Physiological Chemistry " (P. Blakiston's 

 Son & Co.) has reached its sixth edition is 

 sufficient evidence of its usefulness in "schools 

 of medicine and science " for which it was 

 written. The entire work has been revised 

 and brought up to date. 



" The Chemistry of Farm Practice," by 

 T. E. Keitt, which is included in the Wiley 

 Technical Series, has for its purpose the im- 

 parting of a "knowledge of the fundamental 



chemistry required for intelligent agriculture " 

 and its applications to the art and to the prob- 

 lems of the agricultiirist. The story is told in 

 non-technical language. In the same field 

 there has appeared a " Laboratory Manual 

 of Agricultural Chemistry " by Hedges and 

 Boyant which is apparently a useful little 

 book for agricultural institutions, although 

 open to some criticism as to the accuracy of 

 some of its methods for the standardization of 

 volumetric solutions. 



A distinct contribution to contemporary 

 literatirre is to be found in Dr. F. J. Moore's 

 " History of Chemistry " (McGraw-Hill Book 

 Co.). a volume which holds the interest alike 

 of the layman and the scientist, and deals 

 with its subject in a scholarly fashion. 



In line with the current effort to supplant 

 German reference works by English equiv- 

 alents, " The Chemist's Tear Book " for 1918- 

 1919, edited by F. W. Atack (Sherratt & 

 Hughes, London), is worthy of note. The 

 present is the fourth edition of this work and 

 is the result of a thorough revision of the last 

 edition. It seems to deserve a place in all 

 laboratories and libraries. 



Finally, and again in line with the trend of 

 the times, is a volume entitled " Chemical 

 French" by Dr. Maurice L. Dolt (Chemical 

 Publishing Co.). The author seeks to enable 

 students who have little or no previous knowl- 

 edge of French to read chemical literature in 

 that language through the medium of this 

 volume and, accordingly, includes instruction 

 in grammar in the earlier jwrtions. The latter 

 portion is devoted to selections from standard 

 and current journal literature. The book con- 

 tains 398 pages, a length which seems to be 

 somewhat out of proportion in an auxiliary 

 work of this sort; otherwise it is likely to 

 render real service. 



H. P. Talbot 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 



ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN 



SECTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL 



GEOPHYSICAL UNION. II 



The first general meeting, for preliminary 

 organization, of the American Section of the 



