268 
the treatment of a subject so very important is 
rather astonishing, and it is the deficiency in 
this regard that will we fear detract from the 
general usefulness of the work. The main part 
of the book contains the descriptions of the in- 
dividual mineral species, of which some seventy- 
five are described, and their occurrence and uses 
commented on. A series of tables for the de- 
termination of the minerals, chiefly by means 
of their physical characters, are included in 
the descriptive part and is designed to supple- 
ment the latter. Part II. furnishes a brief de- 
scription and classification of the more common 
rocks. C. H. W. 
Lehrbuch der anorganischen Chemie. Von PRo- 
FESSOR Dr. H. ERDMANN, in Halle. Zweite 
Auflage, mit 287 Abbildungen, einer Rechen- 
tafel und sechs farbigen Tafeln. Braun- 
schweig, Druck und Verlag von Friedrich 
Vieweg und Sohn. 1900. . 
To quote from the author’s preface. ‘* First 
of all a text-book of chemistry should give 
reliable data concerning the properties and re- 
actions of substances; here were gaps to be 
filled, for our larger manuals generally take 
without criticism the frequently contradictory 
statements and figures of different authors. 
The most accurate data, however, remain life- 
less matter for reader and student unless the 
book explains the occurrence of substances on 
a geological basis, gives due attention to their 
therapeutic and toxic properties, and due 
recognition of their importance for the com- 
mon weal by a consideration of their varied ap- 
plication, and by statistics of production and 
price; nor should the historical aspect of the 
subject be neglected.’’ 
Through certain improvements in this edi- 
tion ‘‘somewhat more space could be devoted 
to those theories which have sprung up on the 
boundary space between physics and chemis- 
try. Yet their views should never occupy the 
main place in the presentation of chemistry. 
He who leads the student into our science by 
a by-path instead of stimulating him to pure 
chemical thought, does in verity make chem- 
istry a ‘science of inferior worth’ ’’ (Ostwald). 
“As Clemens Winkler aptly says, ‘ physical 
chemistry in no sense covers the same field as 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 320. 
inorganic chemistry, for thelatter, far from be- 
ing a closed branch of science, offers countless 
problems which must be solved by quite other 
methods than those furnished by the theory of 
ions.’ ”’ 
The quotations indicate the character of the 
book. It is a masterpiece of descriptive chem- 
istry, a book written for riper German univer- 
sity students. If a translation is made it will 
doubtless be harmfully introduced into our col 
leges, possibly into high schools. As there is 
fortunately no translation as yet, the use of the 
book will be limited to teachers and older 
students reading German, and to them it will 
be a benefit and a pleasure. 
As introduction, the author in seventy-five 
pages discusses weight and measure, heat, the- 
ories of gases, Avogadros law, laws of chemical 
changes, etc. In short, he has brought together 
what is generally scattered throughout the 
book. If this were a book for beginners this 
method would be open to adverse criticism. For 
older students the reviewer believes it to be the 
better arrangement, especially when the treat- 
ment is as good as here. The author tacitly 
assumes that the reader is prepared by previous 
study to follow him without diffuse explanations. 
The next division covers the non-metals in 
400 pages, the last division the metals in 320 
pages. Erdmann divides the non-metals as fol- 
lows: Chief gases, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen. 
Noble gases, helium, neon, argon, krypton, 
zenon. Air. Sulphur group, sulphur, selenium. 
Halogens, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine. 
Phosphorous group, phosphorous, arsenic, anti- 
mony. Carbon group, boron, carbon, silicium, 
germanium. 
It is evident from this division that the au- 
thor does not utilize the periodic system as a 
means of instruction; indeed he only devotes 
three pages at the close of the book to the sys- 
tem, his treatment coinciding with that of 
Ostwald’s ‘Grundlinien der anorganischen 
Chemie’ in this respect, but in no other. This 
shelving of the periodic system is to be regret- 
ted ; it does not accord with the influence which 
this system exerted and still exerts in the chem- 
ical thought and chemical work of the last 
“thirty years and of the present. 
At the close of each chapter is a beautifully 
