JanoaEY 24, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



137 



There is considerable scientific interest in the 

 present (8th) annual report, issued under the 

 editorship of the able director. Prof. Wm. Saun- 

 ders, who is acknowledged as ideally fitted for 

 his position. 



We can only refer to a few of the most inter- ' 

 esting results reported : 



Prof. Jas. W. Robertson, the agriculturist, 

 gives an outline of comparative tests of pure 

 cultures of bacteria in the ripening of cream, 

 from which he deduces results of a most inter- 

 esting nature, showing the practical application 

 of science in butter making. It was found that 

 the flavor of bvitter is largely determined by the 

 bacteria which develop in milk and cream, and 

 that the conditions favoring the most satisfac- 

 tory development of such bacteria prevail in a 

 perfectly clean, well ventilated dairy ; the bac- 

 teria present in the atmosphere under such con- 

 ditions being superior to any artificial cultures 

 tested. 



The Chemist, Prof. Frank T. Shutt, contri- 

 butes a notable article on the chemistry of the 

 apple, completing the record of an investigation 

 begun in previous years. It appears from the 

 tables accompanying this discvission that 1,000 

 pounds of the leaves of the apple contain, as an 

 average of the results of analyses of four varie- 

 ties, 7.42 pounds nitrogen, 2.45 pounds phos- 

 phoric acid and 2.52 pounds of potash, most of 

 which is of course returned to the soil. Esti- 

 mating the average crop of the four varieties 

 analyzed at 160 barrels per acre, there is re- 

 moved from each acre in every crop of fruit 

 the following quantities of important fertilizing 

 constituents: 8.952 pounds nitrogen, 5.228 

 pounds phosphoric acid, 32.808 pounds potash. 

 The chemist then advises the turning under 

 of a leguminous crop, wood ashes and barn- 

 yard manure as a means of restoring to the soil 

 the elements removed in the fruit crop. 



There is no unnecessary use of technical 

 terms in this admirable paper, and the deduc- 

 tions are drawn so directly from laboratory re- 

 sults that the veriest tyro cannot fail to be im- 

 pressed with the close relation of this science 

 to agriculture. The chemistry of the straw- 

 berry plant and of copper-salt fungicides is also 

 discussed. 



The reports of the horticulturist, the ento- 



mologist and the poultry manager are of the 

 same high order of practically applied science. 

 B. E. Feenow. 



Les Nouvelles Thiories Chiiniques. Par A. Etaed, 



Paris, G. Masson, et Gauthiers-Villars et flls. 



12 mo., pp. 196. 



This volume is one of a series, Encyclopedie 

 Scientifique des Aide-Memoire, published under 

 direction of M. Leaute, Membre de 1' Institut. 



The author aims to present, in brief outline, 

 the principal chemical theories of the day. 

 His book is divided into two parts. Part I. 

 consists of three sections, containing in all six 

 chapters. These are devoted to : Definitions 

 and general principles ; a discussion of the 

 atomic and kinetic hypotheses ; a consider- 

 ation of the chemical properties of molecules 

 dependent upon the three states of aggregation 

 of matter — the solid, the liquid, the gaseous. 



Part II. contains four chapters. The first of 

 these refers to the relation between mechanics 

 and chemistry ; the others treat respectively of 

 thermo-, photo- and electro-chemistry. 



Concerning the nature of matter the author 

 refers to the views held by some ' Dynamistes 

 purs,' that matter has no actual existence, but 

 that that which we term matter is rather a sort 

 of illusion of our senses impressed by a group 

 of factors depending on energy, space and time. 



Matter, he says, can not be precisely defined ; 

 it is everything which has weight, which can be 

 seen or felt. Chemistry is described as the 

 science of the transformations experienced by 

 matter. 



It will be of interest to many to learn (p. 46) 

 that A. E. Beguyer de Chancourtois in his Vis 

 tellurique, classement des corps simples ou 

 radicaux obtenu au moyen d'un syst6me de 

 classification helicoidal et numerique, Paris, 

 1863, is credited with being the first to have 

 published a continuous classification of the ele- 

 ments arranged according to their atomic 

 weights. It will be recalled that Newlands' 

 first communication ' On Relations Among the 

 Equivalents,' appeared in the Chemical News, 

 February 7th, of the year mentioned. 



Attention is also called to the various short- 

 comings of the Periodic Law, and the surmise 

 is hazarded that perhaps some day this system 



