574 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 173. 



The work is illustrated by 291 cuts, which, if 

 not elegant, are mostly sufficiently accurate, and 

 characteristic of the species indicated, to be of 

 value; many of them are original. Two or 

 three new species appear in the work for the 



first time. 



LuciEN M. Underwood. 



The Calorific Poiver of Fuels. By Hheman 

 Poole, F.C.S., etc. New York, J. Wiley & 

 Sons ; London, Chapman & Hall. 1898. 8vo. 

 Pp. XV + 255. 



The importance of a work on this subject is 

 to-day vastly more evident, and is very much 

 greater than before the days of scientific discus- 

 sion, investigation and experimental researches 

 in connection with the processes of modern en- 

 gineering in the department of heat production 

 and utilization. The extensive application of 

 scientific methods by the engineer in his steam 

 engine and boiler trials, and in a thousand other 

 lines of professional work, also makes the sub- 

 ject and such compilation of facts and data 

 peculiarly important. A work specially de- 

 voted to this subject thus assumes rare value. 

 This treatise is based upon M. Scheurer-Kest- 

 ner's Pouvoir calorifique des combustibles and has 

 been worked into a shape which adapts it to our 

 own data and methods and includes later devel- 

 opments both of method and of apparatus. It 

 gives us an excellent general discussion of the 

 calorimetric principles and of the calorimetric 

 apparatus now available for use by the chemist 

 and by the engineer, and, with especial fullness, 

 all of those found helpful in commercial work. 

 The fuels are described at considerable length 

 and their heating powers given as computed 

 from their composition and checked by direct 

 calorimetric measurement. The report of the 

 committee of the American Society of Mechan- 

 ical Engineers on exact methods of steam boiler 

 trial is introduced, and a large quantity of data 

 and an excellent bibliography are appended, 

 the latter including numerous and helpful refer- 

 ences to the files of scientific journals. The 

 'Fuel Table,' in which are given the composition 

 and the calorific power of the fuels of the 

 world, is the most extensive yet produced and 

 is extremely interesting and valuable. 



The book is well up to date and includes de- 

 scriptions of the latest calorimeters, as Berthe- 

 lot's, Mahler's Barrus' and Carpenter's, gives- 

 Bingelmann's 'smoke scale,' Kent's revision of 

 ' Johnson's Report on Coals,' and other no less 

 important recent contributions to the literature 

 of the subject. 



The book is one which is likely to find its way 

 into the library of all chemists and of all engi- 

 neers having to do with applications of the 

 calorific power of fuels. It is well written^ 

 well published and of moderate cost. 



R. H. Thurston. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 



The Journal of Physical Chemistry. The Janu- 

 ary number begins the second volume of thia 

 journal. The opening article is the first part 

 of an extensive paper ' On the General Problem 

 of Chemical Statics :' by P. Duhem, Professor of 

 Theoretical Physics at Bordeaux. The paper 

 is " a commentary on and a complement to the 

 celebrated memoir of J. Willard Gibbs, ' On the 

 Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances.' " 

 The second article, ' Fractional Crystallization:' 

 by C. A. SoCH, is a contribution to the theory 

 of separations by fractional crystallization. 

 ' Distribution of Mercuric Chlorid between 

 Toluene and Water :' by Oliver W. Brown, 

 completes the original matter. Several pages are 

 devoted to book reviews. The department of 

 reviews of the journal literature of physical 

 chemistry is very full and critical. 



February. ' Solutions of Silicates of the 

 Alkalies:' by Louis Kahlenberg and Azariah 

 T. Lincoln. From freezing point and conduc- 

 tivity determinations of solutions of the silicates 

 of sodium, potassium, lithium, rubidium and 

 cesium, it is concluded that in .such solutions 

 the silicate is hydrolytically decomposed into 

 the caustic alkali and colloidial silicic acid. ' On 

 the General Problem of Chemical Statics :' by 

 F. Duhem. The conclusion of the paper begun 

 in the January number. ' On Integrating Fac- 

 tors :' by P. Saurel. A mathematical introduc- 

 tion to theoretical studies that are to follow. 

 ' Vapor-tension of Concentrated Hydrochloric 

 Acid Solutions :' by F. R. Allan. It is conclu- 

 ded that electrolytic dissociation is not am 



