December 13, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



829 



termination of the melting and boiling points 

 and preliminary tests for the elements present, 

 before taking up the identification of the 

 class and individual. These are clearly and 

 concisely stated and should lead to the identi- 

 fication of the more important organic sub- 

 stances, provided the identification is substan- 

 tiated by the preparation of the substance 

 itself, without which no identification is really 

 satisfactory. 



J. E. G. 



Notes on Qualitative Analysis. By Horace 

 G. Byers, Professor of Chemistry, Univer- 

 sity of Washington, and Henry G. Knight, 

 Director of Experiment Station, Univer- 

 sity of Wyoming. New York, D. Van Nos- 

 trand Co. 1912. $1.50 net. 

 We have here a further addition to the al- 

 ready too numerous volumes on qualitative 

 analysis. The author has devoted, as we find 

 to be the case in most of the recent books on 

 this subject, the first fifty or so pages to a dis- 

 cussion of the physical-chemical principles of 

 the subject before taking up the chemistry of 

 the metals and their separation. The usual 

 methods of analysis are used in most cases and 

 at the end of each chapter questions of a gen- 

 eral nature regarding the metals of that 

 group and their compounds are added. One 

 feature of the book which is to be specially 

 commended, owing to the increasing use of 

 special alloys, is the introduction of a chapter 

 on the analysis of materials containing the so- 

 called rare metals. 



J. E. G. 



Sociology in its Psycliological Aspects. By 

 Charles A. Ellwood, Ph.D., Professor of 

 Sociology in the University of Missouri. 

 New York and London, D. Appleton & Co. 

 1912. Pp. 402. 



This is a thoughtful book, based on wide 

 reading and careful scholarship. The large 

 range of subjects with which it deals have all, 

 at one time or another, attracted the serious 

 attention not only of sociologists, but of many 

 psychologists as well. The presentation of 

 these subjects follows a logical order. The first 



six chapters are largely introductory. They 

 discuss the conceptions, itiethods and prob- 

 lems of sociology and the relation of sociology 

 to other sciences. Later chapters treat of the 

 origin of society, social coordination, social 

 self-control, the role of instinct, feeling, intel- 

 lect, imitation and sympathy in the social life, 

 the social mind and forms of association. 

 The final topics are entitled social order, 

 progress and the nature of society. 



The chief unifying feature of the book is the 

 author's conception of society. Society he de- 

 fines as a group of individuals carrying on a 

 collective life by means of mental interaction. 

 In consequence the fundamental task of the 

 sociologist becomes the study of the continu- 

 ously changing coordinations or coadaptations 

 of the activities of the members of groups and 

 of the relations of groups to the environment. 

 Sanctioned modes of coordinated activity be- 

 come institutions. Systems of government, 

 law, religion, morality and education, how- 

 ever, are not to be understood from the stand- 

 point of any single mental element, such as 

 instinct, imitation, sympathy, feeling, desire 

 or intellect. Nor are they to be understood 

 from the standpoint of any special science, 

 such as geography, ethnology or economics. A 

 synthetic view is necessary. 



During the course of the book. Professor 

 Ellwood views this central position from al- 

 most every conceivable abstract point of view. 

 The terms society, sociology, the collective life 

 process, the unit of investigation in sociology, 

 social psychology, social coordination, inter- 

 mental stimulation, instinctive association, 

 social forces, social mind, social conscious- 

 ness, social will, public opinion, social organi- 

 zation, social control and many others that 

 have appeared in sociological articles or books 

 during the past twenty years, are all defined 

 with great care and considered in detail. The 

 various meanings that have been read into 

 them by those who invented them or who have 

 used them most are discussed. The reader is 

 told in clear language exactly how these mean- 

 ings differ from each other and from Pro- 

 fessor Ellwood's own conceptions. 



The value of the work thus accomplished is 



