Fkbeuaey 25, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



be sent to all persons who have been enrolled 

 as members of the Congress. 



H. W. Wiley, 

 Chairman of American Committee. 

 XJ. S. Departsient of Ageicultuee. 



ELIZABETH THOMPSON SCIENCE FUND. 



On February 14th last, at the twenty-third 

 meeting of the Board of Trustees, the following 

 new grants were made : 



No. 79. $250 to Professor Gustav Hiifner, 

 Tubingen, Germany, for the investigation of 

 hsemin and hsematine. Application No. 743. 



No. 80. $288 to Professor Carlo Bonacini, 

 Modena, Italy, for researches in color photog- 

 raphy. Application No. 741. 



No. 81. $250 to Professor John Milne, New- 

 port, I. "W., England, to aid in a seismic survey 

 of the world. Application No. 750. 

 Signed : 



Charles S. Minot, 



Secretary. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Text-hook of Physical Chemistry. By Clarence 

 L. Spbyers, Associate Professor of Chemis- 

 try, Rutgers College. New York, D. Van 

 Nostrand Company. 1897. 8vo. Pp. vii 

 + 224. Price, $2.25. 



' ' I have adopted the view that matter is a 

 collection of energies in space, considering the 

 relations of the energies to be the prime object 

 of investigation. With Ostwald, I feel confi- 

 dent that the materialistic interpretation has 

 passed its prime and has no promise in the 

 future. Still, as this is a text-book, I give the 

 prominent materialistic views of the present 

 time." 



These words, taken from the author's preface, 

 make frank avowal of his scientific creed and 

 indicate the point of view from which he pro- 

 poses to discuss his subject. 



Physical chemistry he defines as ' the science 

 which has for its object the investigation of 

 chemical changes by physical methods.' Con- 

 cerning matter he says : "That which seems to 

 cause a direct excitement of our senses we 

 usually call matter." The italics are in the 

 original. And again, "* * * we can define the 

 different forms of matter as collections of forms 



of energy in space. This definition is free from 

 any speculation ; it rests on experimental evi- 

 dence alone." 



Speaking of the seventy-five elements, or, as 

 he terms them, ' collections which do not sepa- 

 rate into other collections,' the author says : 

 "We cannot, however, believe that all the 

 seventy-flve collections will ultimately be re- 

 duced to one or more single separate forms of 

 energy, because in that case we should have 

 nothing left to account for the collection of forms 

 of energy in space. We need energy and a some- 

 thing to enable energy to collect in space before 

 we get a material substance. This something 

 which enables, and perhaps causes, the energy 

 to collect in space we shall call matter. The 

 dissimilarity in the innumerable substances 

 known to us come from the difierences in the 

 natures and proportions of the forms of energy 

 collected in space." 



Quotation from the work has been made at 

 such length, because, by so doing, the peculiar 

 attitude of its author towards matter and energy 

 could be most clearly depicted. 



Undoubtedly in close sympathy with the 

 ' ultra-dynamists, ' he nevertheless does not 

 seem wholly prepared to abandon entirely the 

 idea of matter, matter, that ' something which 

 enables, and perhaps causes, the energy to col- 

 lect in space. ' 



The topics considered in this volume are : 

 some general remarks on energy, gases, heat, 

 physical changes, equilibrium, chemical ki- 

 netics, phases, electro-chemistry, ions. 



The order in which these themes are pre- 

 sented appears, to a certain extent, haphazard, 

 as if selected at random. For instance, in spite 

 of the author's introductory lines to his final 

 chapter : "In these last pages we consider some 

 properties of the ions which do not seem to fit 

 in elsewhere, ' ' it seems difficult to understand 

 why these properties, alluded to here, were not 

 discussed in connection with the rest of the sub- 

 ject which received full and deliberate treatment 

 in the preceding chapter on electro-chemistry. 



As to the manner of treatment accorded to 

 various themes, this may be but the natural 

 outcome of the policy pursued by the author, 

 who in his preface states that he has not at- 

 tempted to give an historical development of 



