February 3, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



177 



telligent interpretation of results and on the 

 cultivation and development of habits of obser- 

 vation. 



There are some points on which the author 

 has either not laid enough stress or where a 

 better method of procedure might have been 

 offered. The difficulties produced by the 

 simultaneous presence of chromium and zinc 

 are not mentioned, and it would have been 

 much better to have given here, as an alterna- 

 tive method, the barium carbonate process, not 

 only for the separation of zinc from chromium, 

 but also for the separation in the presence of 

 phosphates. Again the Fresenius method for 

 separating small amounts of barium, calcium 

 and strontium would prove more accurate than 

 the separation by means of potassium chromate 

 and acetic acid. The preliminary tests and 

 operations necessary to get a substance into so- 

 lution are systematically treated, but no men- 

 tion is made of fusion with acid potassium sul- 

 phate. There are two portions of Book I. which 

 reflect on the intelligence of the student, and 

 the book would have been much better without 

 them, viz.: the tables at the end of each chap- 

 ter giving an outline of the process ; and Chap- 

 ter I., which treats of filtration, solution, evap- 

 oration, fusion, precipitation, ignition and 

 neutralization, processes, which properly belong 

 to experimental general chemistry. If the stu- 

 dent had not already been over the ground 

 here given he would not be fitted to begin 

 qualitative analysis. 



There will undoubtedly be a difference of 

 opinion concerning that portion of the book de- 

 voted to quantitative analysis, particularly in 

 regard to the selection of the gravimetric 

 analyses and to the details necessary to carry 

 them out. After the preliminary operations of 

 weighing and preparation of pure salts the 

 gravimetric determination of the more common 

 metals and acids is studied in detail, and then 

 follows a chapter on the determination of the 

 constituents of silver coin, solder, German 

 silver, bronze, dolomite, zinc blende and an in- 

 soluble silicate containing the alkalies. The 

 well known typical methods of volumetric 

 analysis are given. By excluding many de- 

 scriptive details and by conciseness and clear- 

 ness of expression the author has condensed a 



great deal into this portion of the book, which, 

 if followed under the guidance of an instructor, 

 should give any student a good general knowl- 

 edge of quantitative methods. 



Following the gravimetric and volumetric 

 methods, the physico-chemical methods for the 

 determination of specific gravity, boiling point, 

 melting point and vapor density are given. 

 The author could very advantageously, and 

 should, have included here the determination 

 of molecular weights by boiling- or freezing- 

 point methods, and then followed it by a brief 

 risiime of the more recent apjilications of theo- 

 retical chemistry to quantitative analysis. 

 Such a chapter would have been in harmony 

 with the rest of the book and would have in- 

 creased its value greatly. 



In his preface the author says, " I have care- 

 fully avoided the use of those symbolic abbrevi- 

 ated expressions, such as H^O (oxalic acid), 

 H,T (tartaric acid)," etc., and nevertheless he 

 uses the formula ' Cy ' instead of CN, offering 

 as an excuse that ' Cy ' is a recognized and con- 

 venient symbol for the radical (CN) cyanogen. 

 He is further inconsistent in the uses of the 

 doubled formula for the hydroxides of iron, 

 chromium and aluminium, as Fe,(OH),, etc., 

 while perhaps in the same equation he will use 

 the single formula for the chloride FCl^. 



The author it seems takes unusual precau- 

 tions in igniting filter papers apart from the 

 main portion of the precipitate. This tedious 

 operation might have been avoided in many 

 cases by the use of the Gooch crucible, which 

 receives no mention. 



As a whole the book is remarkably free from 

 objectionable points, and is a distinct advance 

 in the scientific treatment of analytical chemis- 

 try. 



Henry Fay. 



recent publications of the u. s. geolog- 

 ical stjevby. 



The following bulletins have been recently 

 issued by the U. S. Geological Survey : 

 Bulletin 89. ' Some Lava Flows of the Western 



Slope of the Sierra Nevada, California,' F. 



L. Ransome. 



The author describes a series of lava sheets, 

 one of which forms the celebrated Table Moun- 



