108 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 942 



versity to have gained countless student-hours 



and experiment-units and to have lost what is 



highest and best in it? 



****** 



President Lowell has sent to the members of 

 the Harvard faculty a statement which 

 amounts to something like a repudiation of 

 the preposterous circular of inquiry issued sev- 

 eral days ago in the name of the assistant con- 

 troller of the university. A more complete 

 repudiation would have been more welcome, 

 but it should be safe to assume that Dr. Low- 

 ell's statement that " answers were intended to 

 be wholly voluntary " and that " the recent 

 circular was issued under a misunderstand- 

 ing " means the end of this folly. The epi- 

 sode is one that Harvard should be glad to 

 forget, except in so far as it drew out — as it 

 did, though we are not informed as to what 

 extent — threats of resignation on the part of 

 men who had a proper conception of the pro- 

 fessor's calling. It is humiliating to think 

 that such a protest should have been made 

 necessary at our country's most distinguished 

 seat of learning; but as it has happened, we 

 trust that the feeling of self-respecting pro- 

 fessors has been made so manifest as to pre- 

 clude the possibility of any resurrection of the 

 foolish scheme. — New York Evening Post. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Methods in Chemical Analysis Originated or 



Developed in the Kent Chemical Laboratory 



of Yale University. Compiled by Frank 



Austin Gooch, Professor of Chemistry and 



Director of the Kent Chemical Laboratory 



in Tale University. 1912. New York, 



John Wiley & Sons; London, Chapman & 



Hall, Ltd. Pp. xii + 536. Price $4 net. 



In his prefatory note the author states that 



"the object of this volume is to present the 



principal results reached by workers in the 



Kent Chemical Laboratory of Yale University 



in the investigation and development of 



methods in chemical analysis." As a rule, 



only those procedures are included which have 



been definitely proven to be useful, and the 



experimental data given are those immediately 



related to the facts stated. Copious refer- 



ences to original papers render further infor- 

 mation regarding details, discussions and vari- 

 ations of procedure easily accessible if library 

 facilities are available. 



The subject matter is divided into twelve 

 chapters, the first of which deals with " Ap- 

 pliances and General Procedure," the second 

 with " The Alkali Metals," the third with the 

 copper group, and so on, following the groups 

 in the order of increasing valence across the 

 periodic table. 



The book is in no sense a text-book, nor is 

 it of the character of a work for general ref- 

 erence with respect to methods of chemical 

 analysis. It is, rather, a bringing together 

 of abstracts of papers, all emanating from this 

 laboratory so well and widely known for its 

 contributions to chemical literature in this 

 important field, but published in many jour- 

 nals throughout a long series of years. As 

 such, it is a most remarkable compilation and 

 can not fail to be of service to those in search 

 of reliable analytical procedures, although its 

 usefulness will be more like that of a " Beil- 

 stein " than that of a " Fresenius." 



If it is recalled that the material is pre- 

 sented in concise, abstract form and yet occu- 

 pies more than five hundred pages, it will be 

 evident that the volume constitutes a striking 

 tribute to the versatility and activity of Pro- 

 fessor Gooch and his associates and a record 

 which it would be exceedingly difficult for any 

 other laboratory to parallel. The compilation 

 is that of one who is a master in the art of 

 clear, accurate and concise statement, but the 

 compiler has characteristically repressed the 

 evidences of his own share in the many inves- 

 tigations which made this volume possible. 

 It is a book which should do much to uphold 

 the " dignity of analytical chemistry," so 

 warmly defended by the late Dr. C. B. Dudley, 

 and one which may well incite others to re- 

 newed endeavor in this fundamental field of 

 chemical science — a field which some have, of 

 late, tended to regard as of inferior impor- 

 tance, but which happily shows signs of again 

 asserting its claims to a fair share of recog- 

 nition. H_ p_ Talbot 



