594 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 174. 



Professor Cyrus Thomas has a critical re- 

 view of Goodman's book on the ' Maya In- 

 scriptions . ' The reviewer points out the in- 

 correct and unscientific character of most 

 of the alleged discoveries, while recognizing 

 that Mr. Goodman has shown for the first 

 time that the periods are indicated on the 

 monuments by symbols instead of by posi- 

 tion, as in the codices, and has identified 

 some of these symbols. 



THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 



The first number has appeared of the 

 ArcMv filr Religionswissenschaft, edited by 

 Dr. Thomas Achelis, and published by J. 

 C. B. Mohr, Leipzig (14 Marks). It is a 

 well-printed octavo of 112 pages, contain- 

 ing original articles by Hardy, Roscher, 

 Seler and others, and reviews of recent 

 works. The editor is well and favorably 

 known for his works on ethnology and 

 special studies in comparative religion. 

 The spirit in which the Archiv will be con- 

 ducted is that of broad inductive research 

 and modern philosophical investigation. 

 The problem which will constantlj"^ be pre- 

 sented in connection with religious history 

 will be psychological, that is, the critical 

 analysis of religious development as ex- 

 hibiting the general religious consciousness 

 of the species. 



The article by Dr. Seler is on an Ameri- 

 can subject — the derivation_ of certain ele- 

 ments in the myths of Centi-al America. 

 That by Roscher is on the significance of 

 Pan in Greek mythology. 



It is to be hoped that the Archiv will re- 

 ceive adequate support. 



D. G. Brinton. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



NOTi:S ON INORGANIC CHEillSTRY. 



In a recent number of the Comptes Renclus 

 A. Leduc has a paper on the composition 

 of air at different places. His figures for 

 the densities of different gases compared 



with oxygen agree very closely with those 

 of Lord Eayleigh, but compared with air 

 there is a constant difference, which 

 amounts to about 0.0001. From this he 

 draws the conclusion that the air of Paris 

 contains 0.1 per cent, more oxygen than 

 that of London. 



The determination of the density of a gas 

 has until recently been considered a diffi- 

 cult operation, requiring not only rather 

 elaborate apparatus but a considerable 

 quantity of the gas to be measured. Pro- 

 fessor Eamsay has, however, shown in his 

 work with argon and helium that it is pos- 

 sible to determine the density with accu- 

 racy with a quantity as small as thirty 

 cubic centimeters. T. Schloesing, Jr., has 

 now described, in the Comjjtes Bendus, an in- 

 genious method devised by him which is 

 simple, rapid, and accurate within 0.1%, 

 and can be carried out with onh^ a few 

 cubic centimeters of gas. It is based upon 

 balancing in a U-tube two gases, one of 

 which is easily absorbable and whose den- 

 sity is known. After equilibrium is at- 

 tained, the known gas is absorbed (as 

 carbon dioxid by potash) in order to deter- 

 mine the invisible surface of separation. 

 Very narrow tubes are used to reduce the 

 unavoidable diffusion of the gases, and this 

 has the advantage of reducing the quantity 

 of gas necessarj'- for determination. Hydro- 

 gen alone of gases yet examined diffuses 

 too rapidly for the determination of its den- 

 sity. It would seem that this method will 

 prove of great use. 



Another paper from the Coinjites Rendus 

 should be noted in which D. Berthelot de- 

 scribes a new determination of the fusing 

 points of silver and gold. A platinum- 

 iridium thermo-electric cell was used for 

 the purpose, and the melting-point of silver 

 found to be 962° as an average of six ex- 

 periments, while that of gold is 1064°. 

 These figures are not far from those of 

 Violle : silver 954°, gold 1035°; and the 



