150 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 213 



40-41). This is truly wouderful in view of the 

 fact that Spinoza was dead eight years before 

 Berkeley was born ! But even with regard to 

 the later philosophers, the statement is thor- 

 oughly misleading. Again, the author might 

 have learned from any standard history of phi- 

 losophy, without even looking inside Fichte's 

 works, that the statement that ' Solipsism was 

 first developed and upheld by Fichte, though 

 he ultimately abandoned it ' (p. 83), is wholly 

 unwarranted. Finally, Mr. Mivart in denounc- 

 ing the futility of the question : ' How is ex- 

 perience possible ?' supposes that Kant and 

 others who have formulated the epistemolog- 

 ical problem in this form raised an absurd ques- 

 tion as to whether knowledge does or does not 

 exist, aud apparently does not at all understand 

 that they were inquiring what conditions its 

 actual existence implies (pp. 56, 275). 



Why should one write on a philosophical 

 subject without special knowledge, any more 

 than on biology or physics ? 



J. E. Creighton. 



Cornell University. 



The Freezing-point, Boiling-point and Conduc- 

 tivity Methods. By Harry C. Jones, In- 

 structor in Physical Chemistry in Johns Hop- 

 kins University. Easton, Pa., Chemical 

 Publishing Co. Pp. 64. Price, 75 cents. 

 lu this book, which is intended as a labora- 

 tory guide, the author has not only included 

 the mechanical processes, but has discussed 

 briefly the principles upou which these methods 

 are based. The subject is treated under three 

 heads. In the first part the historical develop- 

 ment and applications of the freezing-point 

 method are discussed, as is the boiling-point 

 method in a similar manner in the second part. 

 In the third part the method used to determine 

 the conductivity of solutions and the applica- 

 tions of this method are described. An ap- 

 paratus for use in the boiling-point method is 

 described by the author which is much simpler 

 thau the Beckmanu apparatus and very rapid 

 and accurate in its results. The methods de- 

 scribed in tl;iis book can be carried out in a 

 short time and should be tried by every student 

 of chemistry who is interested in the methods 

 which have done so much to advance our Ideas 

 of the nature of solutions. J. E. G. 



Outlines of Industrial Chemistry. A Text- book 

 for Students. By Frank Thorp, Ph.D., In- 

 structor in Industrial Chemistry in the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology. New York, 

 The Macmillan Co. 1898. Pp. xx+543. 

 This book aims to furnish an elementary 

 course in Industrial Chemistry suitable for stu- 

 dents in the schools of technology. The sub- 

 jects treated are broadly classified under the 

 heads, 'Inorganic Industries' and 'Organic In- 

 dustries,' about one-half of the book being de- 

 voted to each. Metallurgy has been entirely 

 omitted. Otherwise the topics selected for dis- 

 cussion are essentially the same as in other sim- 

 ilar works. The descriptions of processes, 

 while necessarily concise, are clear and inter- 

 esting. The author has evidently made a care- 

 ful study of recent methods of manufacture as 

 well as of older, standard processes. The fre- 

 quent reference to American practice is an im- 

 portant feature which distinguishes the book 

 from other works on chemical technology. A 

 select bibliography follows each subject, and 

 will be found very useful to those wishing to 

 study any topic in greater detail. 



W. A. NOY'ES. 



Apergus de taxinomie generate. Par J. P. 



DURAND (de Gros). Paris, Felix Alcan, 



Editeur. 1899. 



The title of this book leaves .one somewhat 

 in the dark as to the nature of its contents, but 

 a brief perusal shows that its mission is not so 

 much to tell us how to classify as how not to 

 classify. Not that the author does not believe 

 in classification ; on the contrary, he considers 

 that everything should be classified and may be 

 classified, provided we adopt the proper meth- 

 ods. What these methods are we are not told; 

 for, after exhorting us to set about fashioning 

 the general science of classification without de- 

 lay, M. Durand hastens to add that he himself 

 proposes to take no hand in so important an 

 undertaking, preferring rather to stand by and 

 criticise the efforts of others. Towards all 

 existing schemes the attitude of the author is 

 very much like that of the ship-wrecked Irish- 

 man who, as he crawled up the beach of the 

 desert island, waved a piece of driftwood about 

 his head, exclaiming : " Whatever form of gov- 



