May 3, 1912] 
of Scotland Technical College. 
Van Nostrand Co. $1.25 net. 
In the first of these volumes efforts have 
been made to supply the organic chemist with 
a scheme of analysis and identification of the 
groups and compounds comparable to the 
scheme used for the identification of the me- 
tallic ions and acid groups. A system of this 
kind has been greatly needed; but, owing to 
the great similarity of organic compounds, so 
far as their constituents are concerned, and to 
the great diversity, so far as their behavior is 
concerned, up to the present has not been 
successfully developed. 
By classifying the substances according to 
the elements they contain and by studying 
their action with water, alkali, acid, reducing 
agents, etc., the authors have been able to 
separate the substances generally met with 
into groups which in turn are subdivisions of 
classes. Having reached this point, the exact 
division to which the substance belongs can 
be determined by specific tests. Detailed 
methods are given for testing for the different 
classes of compounds, and a table of many of 
the more important substances with their 
physical and chemical properties serves as a 
valuable and handy reference. While this 
scheme of analysis may seem very crude as 
compared with the one we use in organic 
chemistry, it is a step in the right direction 
and worthy of careful study and testing. 
The second of these books has the same ob- 
ject in view, but is on a less systematic and 
comprehensive scale. The general reactions 
seem too few and indefinite and the special re- 
actions not specific enough to enable one to 
identify organic compounds by its aid unless 
considerable reference is made to other rec- 
ords. 
New York, 
Contemporary Chemistry. A Survey of the 
Present State, Methods and Tendencies of 
Chemical Science. By E. E. Fournier 
p’Aupe, B.Se.; A.R.C.S.; M.R.1.A., author 
of “The Electron Theory, etc.’ New 
York, D. Van Nostrand Co. $1.25 net. 
The author has written a very interesting 
“)birds-eye view of the whole field of modern 
SCIENCE 
697 
chemistry.” While not intended as a history 
of chemistry, all the recent discoveries of im- 
portance have been included and their im- 
portance and relations to other phenomena 
have been pointed out. One who has worked 
im some other science than chemistry, as well 
as students of this subject, will find this book 
instructive and well worth reading. 
Progressive Problems in General Chemistry. 
By Cuartes BAsKERVILLE, Ph.D., Professor 
of Chemistry, and W. L. Estasrooxe, Ph.D., 
Instructor in Chemistry, College of the City 
of New York. Heath & Co. 1910. 
The authors have brought together a large 
number of problems covering all the phases of 
chemical action. This book will furnish the 
teacher a mine of material from which he may 
select examples to meet the needs of the stu- 
dents as the different subjects are studied and 
so test their understanding of the principles 
involved. The solution of problems, such as 
these, is of special value in the early stages of 
the study of chemistry and especially with 
young students, as it demands the power of 
applying the facts and reasoning from them 
and not simply the ability to commit facts 
and reactions to memory. The value of this 
work might be increased by adding at the be- 
ginning of each subject a general statement 
as to the methods of solving the problems in 
this section and the principles involved for the 
aid of those who are not sufficiently familiar 
with the subject to work it out entirely inde- 
pendently. 
J. E. Ginpin 
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
Bibliography of Non-Euclidean Geometry, in- 
cluding the Theory of Parallels, the Foun- 
dations of Geometry, and Space of n Dimen- 
sions. By Duncan M. Y. SomMMerviLLe. 
London, Harrison and Sons. 1911. 8vo. 
Pp. xii + 408. 
In these days, when a non-Newtonian me- 
chanics, based on the principle of relativity, is 
forcing itself upon the attention of the scien- 
tific world, it is instructive to notice how val- 
uable the non-Euclidean and n-dimensional 
