708 
eyer, is evidently intended for a younger class 
of students than Ostwald intended his work. 
The author has so condensed the subject, and 
has attempted to cover so much ground, that it 
is believed it will be difficult for the student to 
grasp the real significance of the subject. It 
would have been a much more yaluable book 
if the theory of solutions had been presented 
more simply, perhaps at some greater length, 
and with more numerous discussion of ex- 
amples. 
Some of the statements will, undoubtedly, 
give the student a false impression. On pages 
19 and 21 it is stated that the amount of dis- 
sociation is increased by heat, giving the im- 
pression that this isa general law. Again, on 
page 21 one gets the idea that the greater the 
dilution the greater is the chemical activity. 
The explanation of the effect of a salt of a weak 
acid on the strength of a strong acid is merely 
a statement of fact. 
That portion of the book, pages 27-157, de- 
voted to the processes of qualitative analysis is 
wellarranged, practical and progressive, includ- 
ing all the more recent and approved methods 
of separation. Considerable stress is laid upon 
spectroscopic analysis. The application of nor- 
mal solutions to laboratory reagents is to be 
commended. Tel 18, 
Laboratory Instructions in General Chemistry. By 
Ernest A. Concpon, Professor of Chemistry, 
Drexel Institute. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston’s 
Son & Co. 1901. Pp. viii + 110. 
It is difficult to review justly a laboratory 
book of experimental chemistry which is pri- 
marily intended for the author's own students, 
because there is no means of knowing what in- 
struction the student has received from the lec- 
tures which accompany the laboratory course. 
When, however, it is stated that the book can 
be used with any standard text-book, the re- 
viewer’s task becomes much simpler, since the 
laboratory guide is supposed to follow some- 
what closely the text of the standard work. 
The first 21 pages of this book are devoted 
to experiments illustrating principally the laws 
of physical and chemical changes, and chemical 
reactions, These experiments, if the student 
is expected to follow them in order, are poorly 
selected and badly arranged. Indeed many of 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. XIII. No. 331. 
them are entirely out of place. Some of the 
experiments involve the use of substances, the 
properties of which must be entirely unknown, 
and it would be impossible to explain at so 
early a stage the nature of the reactions taking 
place. The student is asked, on his second or 
third day in the laboratory, to try the following 
experiments: the action of sulphuric acid on a 
mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar, the 
preparation of gunpowder, and red and green 
fires. These experiments undoubtedly do rep- 
resent physical and chemical changes, but 
perhaps too violently for a beginner. Under 
the chapter on reactions, the student is asked 
to write the reactions between ferric chloride 
and ammonia, and ammonium sulphocyanide, 
ferric hydroxide and hydrochloric acid. All 
this before oxygen has been studied ! 
Beginning with oxygen, however, the experi- 
ments are the standard experiments to illustrate 
the properties of the various elements. 
An appendix of fifteen pages contains quanti- 
tative experiments to illustrate the laws of 
definite and multiple proportions and the vari- 
ous gas laws. It is believed that some of them 
are too difficult for first-year students in chem- 
istry. 1ale 1; 
The Chemists’ Pocket Manual. A Practical 
hand-book containing tables, formulas, cal- 
culations, physical and analytical methods 
for the use of chemists, assayers, metallur- 
gists, manufacturers and students. By R. K. 
MEADE, B. §., Instructor in Chemistry in 
Lafayette College, Easton, Penn. Easton, 
Penn., The Chemical Publishing Co. Price, 
$2.00. 
The nature and general contents of this book 
are described in the title. The book is well 
printed and contains such information as a 
chemist is almost daily in need of, and can be 
highly recommended as a reference book. The 
only feature of the book about which anything 
else than praise can be expressed is the price 
at which it is sold. The book is about 4x6 
inches and contains 193 pages. The ‘ Chemiker 
Kalender,’ the general nature of which this 
book follows, with its supplement, contains 
about three times the amount of material found 
in this book and only costs one half as much. 
djs 1 Ce 
