August 16, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



189 



A current or a projectile or a Foucault 

 pendulum is equally deflected whatever be 

 the direction of motion. The deflection is 

 always to the right in the northern hemi- 

 sphere and to the left in the southern. An 

 eastward going current in both hemispheres 

 is deflected toward the equator. 



THE NATURE OF VOWELS. 



Mt next criticism is of a statement con- 

 tained in article taken from the London 

 Times. This, of course, is not an authori- 

 tative source, but since it reappears in Sci- 

 ence it ought not to go unchallenged. 



Speaking of the use of the phonograph in 

 analyzing complex sounds, the writer says: 

 ' ' Hermann has obtained the curves corre- 

 sponding to the tones of the vowels and has 

 shown that vowels are true musical tones, 

 each having its oion pitch, and not, as Helm- 

 holtz supposes, the pitch of a harmonic 

 tone corresponding to the shape of the oral 

 cavity." 



ISTow it is true that the vowels are true 

 musical tones, but it is not true that each 

 has its own pitch. The vowel sounds are 

 a phenomenon, not of pitch, but of quality or 

 timbre. All the vowels can easily be made 

 successively without at all altering the 

 pitch of the voice. Pitch is made in the 

 larjrnx; the timbre is made in the mouth 

 cavity. The one depends on the nimiher, 

 the other on the form of the waves. Doubt- 

 less the phonograph will prove a very use- 

 ful instrument ia analyzing vowel sounds; 

 doubtless the investigations of Hermann 

 and others mentioned are important; doubt- 

 less Hemholtz's theory will be corrected and 

 improved, but that the vowel sounds are a 

 phenomenon of timbre and not of pitch is 

 too plain to be doubted. The writer has 

 not fully understood or else not clearly 

 stated either Helmholtz's theory or the bear- 

 ing on it of these recent investigations. 



Joseph Le Conte. 



Univeesity op Califoenia. 



[It would add much to the interest and 

 value of this journal, and thus contribute 

 to the advancement of science, if we should 

 all follow the recommendations made by 

 Professor Le Conte in his opening para- 

 J. McK. C] 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Analytical Chemistry. By M. Menschutkin ; 



translated by James Locke. Macmillan 



& Co. Pp. 512. $4.00 net. 



Among the numberless text-books on 

 analytical chemistry, the well-known work 

 of Menschutkin appears to occupy an 

 unique position in this respect, that the 

 author emphasizes the didactic rather than 

 the practical value of this branch of chem- 

 istry. Skill and accuracy in Qualitative and 

 Quantitative Analysis have such a distinct 

 commercial value that we cannot properly 

 find fault with the share of attention thej^ 

 receive in the chemical curriculum of most 

 institutions; the supply of competent ana- 

 lysts and essay ers cannot be too great. 

 Biit, in this age of specialization, it is allow- 

 able to ask whether the elementary educa- 

 tion of the scientific investigator ought to 

 be identical with that of the analyst. 



Largely through the influence of one 

 great writer, analysis has been ' codified,' 

 and 'Fresenius' has become for the chemical 

 student what ' Blackstone ' is to the begin- 

 ner in law. The ease with which we can 

 acquire the principles and methods of analy- 

 sis, by the careful study and pi'actice of such 

 a code, is wonderful ; but we do not, in the 

 meantime, advance appreciably beyond that 

 point, in chemical knowledge, where the Ele- 

 mentary Inorganic Chemistiy had left us. 

 Menschutkin's book is intended, accord- 

 ing to its Introduction, for students who 

 propose advancing into Organic, Physical 

 and Theoretical Chemistry, and he strives 

 to cultivate the same habits of thought, 

 in their study of Qualitative Analysis, as 

 will be essential in the advanced branches. 



