190 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1312 



glass, fertilizers, etc. — ought to be treated in 

 such courses, and crude drugs, essential and 

 fixed oils, and petroleum, are products closely 

 allied commercially to chemicals about which 

 the student should know something. A series 

 of lectures on the chemical markets — how 

 chemicals are sold, containers, insurance, fire 

 risks, sales contracts, etc. — ^might well be 

 delivered by some sales manager or broker 

 familiar through daily, practical experience 

 with this subject. Supplementary courses in 

 applied economics, such as given in many of 

 the larger universities on banking and finance, 

 commercial law, traffic and transportation, 

 business administration, advertising, and even 

 actual salesmanship, might to advantage be 

 offered to the students of commercial chem- 

 istry. 



A deftaite and very real need for men with 

 technical training in chemistry as applied to 

 commerce exists and, as yet, there has been 

 no systematic, serious effort on the part of 

 our colleges and imiversities to supply this 

 demand. Young men equipped with this 

 training would find places in the most highly 

 paid branch of industry open to them, and 

 institutions giving this training would in- 

 crease the scoi)e of their chemistry depart- 

 ments. Moreover, to supply the American 

 chemical industry with technically trained 

 merchandizing experts will strengthen a "key 

 industry," necessary to national prosperity 

 and, in event of war, essential to national 

 preservation. 



Williams Haynes 



New York City 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Physical Chemistry of the Metals. By 

 EuDOLPH ScHENCK, Profcssor of Physical 

 Chemistry in the Technischen Hochschule 

 in Aachen. Translated by Eeginald Scott 

 Dean, Eesearch Metallurgist, American 

 Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company. New 

 York. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1919. 

 Vin + 239 pages. 



It is surprising that this book published in 

 Germany in 1908 should have escaped the eye 

 of the translator imtil now. It is, however, 



most encouraging to the future of American 

 industry to fiad the translator connected with 

 one of the large metallurgical plants. Usually 

 texts which deal largely with theoretical sub- 

 jects are translated by college men for use in 

 their classes and find their way into the prac- 

 tical field only indirectly. It is, therefore, 

 doubly welcome to see a translation eman- 

 ating from an industrial plant. 



The book deals very largely with principles, 

 but is eminently practical for the metal- 

 lurgist. The chapter headings: I. Properties 

 of Metals; 11. Metallic Solutions and Alloys; 

 m. Alloys of Metals with Carbides, Oxides 

 and Sulphides, Iron and Steel, Mattes, Phase 

 Eule; rV. Metallurgical Eeactions, Oxidation 

 and Eeduction; V. DecomjKisition of Carbon 

 Monoxide, Blast Furnace Process; VI. The 

 Eeactions of Sulphides give a good idea of the 

 subject matter contained in the book. All of 

 this material is essential to the well-trained 

 metallurgist, but particularly that in the last 

 four chapters. Each subject is treated briefly, 

 but clearly and special emphasis is laid upon 

 equilibrium phenomena and the factors which 

 influence equilibrium. The reactions between 

 carbon and oxygen and metallic oxides receive 

 the full attention they deserve. 



With the many merits which the book has 

 it is surprising that it has some simple faults 

 which might easily have been con-ected. As 

 examples might be mentioned the following: 

 the omission of the eutectic lines in the dia- 

 gram on page 51; the form of curves 1, 2, 

 and 4 in diagram on p. 50; the inadequacy of 

 the treatment of Crystal Growth on p. 20; 

 the synonymous use of the terms martensite 

 and austenite; the use of the term sorbitic as 

 applied to chilled cast iron. These are, how- 

 ever, unimportant and it is hoped and be- 

 lieved that the book will be a distinct help to 

 American metallurgists. 



H. F. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE DEVELOPMENTAL ORIGIN OF THE 

 NOTOCHORD 



The notochord is so constant, fundamental 

 and distinctive a structure in the Chordate 



