NOVEMBEK 16, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



619 



ject of immense extent and one that must 

 be treated objectively.' 



Broadly regarded, physiology and medi- 

 cine are inseparable. Since the medical 

 man's object is to remedy the various ills to 

 which the human body is liable, every fresh 

 discovery in physiology will sooner or later 

 be serviceable to him in the preservation 

 and repair of that wonderful structure. It 

 is an extreme satisfaction to me that in 

 honoring the memory of a great physiol- 

 ogist and man of science I am able to make 

 use of ideas and facts which from a unique 

 standpoint affording every prospect of suc- 

 cess throw light upon the highest and most 

 complicated portion of the animal mech- 

 anism. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Lehrhuch der Anorganischen Chemie. Von 

 Professor Dr. H. Erdmann, Direktor des 

 anorganisch-chemischen Instituts der konig- 

 liehen technischen Hochschule zu Berlin. 

 Yierte Auflage (neuntes bis zwoKtes Taus- 

 end) mit 303 Abbildungen, 95 Tabellen, 

 einer Rechentafel, und sieben farbigen 

 Tafeln. Braunschweig, F. Vieweg und 

 Sohn. 1906. Pp. 796. In Leinwand ge- 

 bunden M. 17. 



A long review of the second edition of this 

 book appeared in Science in 1901.^ The pres- 

 ent edition has been thoroughly revised, and 

 contains valuable additions to text, to illustra- 

 tions and to tables. 



The weaknesses and the strong points of the 

 book remain practically the same, as both are 

 inherent in the author's scheme. Erdmann 

 believes that a text-book of inorganic chem- 

 istry should describe the occurrence, proper- 

 ties, reactions, manufacture and uses of all 

 inorganic elements and compounds, with lib- 

 eral illustration of instructive experiments, of 

 apparatus and of technical processes. No 

 other one-volume text-book is so complete, so 

 well illustrated and so thoroughly up to date 

 in these respects. 



Erdmann does not believe in the introduc- 

 » Science, Vol. XIII., pp. 268-70. 



tion of physical chemical theory in the de- 

 scriptive text, but makes a brief resume of 

 general chemistry in the 87 pages of the in- 

 troductory chapter. There are those who will 

 sympathize with Erdmann in this arrange- 

 ment, others who may be reminded of the 

 eccentric American author who left his book 

 unpunctuated and put several pages of com- 

 mas, periods, etc., at the end of the book for 

 use as the reader might please. Certainly 

 many phenomena in the field of inorganic 

 chemistry find the clearest explanation by the 

 application of the laws of physical chemistry, 

 and remain obscure if such explanation is not 

 given. 



This objection, however, does not lessen the 

 practical value of Erdmann's book, because 

 there is no text-book of inorganic chemistry 

 written from a physical chemical point of 

 view which is comparable with Erdmann even 

 in general descriptive data, still less in tech- 

 nical information. It is, therefore, to be ex- 

 pected that this fourth edition will meet the 

 same cordial reception and large sales as its 

 predecessors. E. E. 



Vermehrung und Sexualitdt hei den Pflanzen. 



Von E. KiJSTER. Leipzig, B. Q. Teubner. 



1906. Pp. vi + 120. 38 figures. 



In America one is accustomed to look with 

 suspicion upon all books in which an attempt 

 is made to popularize science. All too often 

 this suspicion is justified, for who has not met 

 with books in which scientific accuracy has 

 been sacrificed to the sensationalism demanded 

 by a certain class of the public or where the 

 science is so diluted by allegory or fable as to 

 be unrecognizable. The book before us is, 

 however, of an entirely different type. It is 

 one of a series of popular scientific works 

 (' Aus Natur und Geisteswelt ') in which each 

 book is written by a specialist who knows his 

 subject. 



The subject of reproduction and sexuality 

 in plants is a difficult one to handle so as to 

 be comprehended by persons who have studied 

 but little or no botany and it is in this con- 

 nection that the chief criticism can be made, 

 to the effect that it is to be feared that parts 

 of the book will be found too technical to be 



