272 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XVI. No. 398. 



author offers a deserved tribute. Another val- 

 uable featiire is the list of references for col- 

 lateral reading, the outcome evidently of long- 

 continued use of the note-book in the author's 

 own reading. The order of presentation of 

 the successive topics is a little different from 

 usual, and out of 346 pages only 49 are de- 

 voted to magnetism and electricity, including 

 5 closing pages on electrostatics. Formulas 

 are but sparingly employed and no problems 

 are offered. To many this may seem a dis- 

 tinct element of weakness. 



Mr. Gilley's book is a mixture of class text- 

 book with laboratory manual, and as such it 

 may be commended to those who are partial 

 to such a mixture. The opening chapter treats 

 of density^ both experimentally and theoreti- 

 cally, density being defined as the quotient of 

 weight by volume. This identification of mass 

 and weight is convenient, but obviously not 

 always allowable. Much space is occupied 

 with minute instructions and precautions for 

 the guidance of the student in manipulation, 

 and there are many indications that the author 

 is ingenious and energetic as a teacher. He 

 has introduced many well-chosen problems, 

 and his theoretical discussions are generally 

 satisfactory. Like Professor Slate he gives 

 scant attention to electrostatics, less than 4 

 pages out of 530 being thus devoted to 'surface 

 electricity.' For elementary students this plan 

 has much to commend it. Much of what pass- 

 ed for school instruction in the subject of 

 'frictional electricity' a half century ago was 

 mere trifling; and such theoretic discussion as 

 can now be given about it requires greater 

 maturity than that of the high-school student. 



Passing now to a manual which is not a 

 mixture but intended exclusively for the labo- 

 ratory, the high-school guide by Professor 

 Crew and Dr. Tatnall is exceedingly good. 

 Only simple exercises have been selected, in- 

 volving for the most part apparatus that is 

 commonly in use or fairly inexpensive if spe- 

 cially made. Nearly every exercise is intro- 

 duced with references to one or more of seven 

 elementary text-books in which the student may 

 find a discussion of the theory involved. Then 

 comes a list of the apparatus to be used; a 

 clear statement of the problem to be experi- 



mentally solved; such instructions as are need- 

 ful for the manipulator; and, finally, in the 

 earlier part of the book, tabular forms are giv- 

 en to aid the student in acquiring methodical 

 laboratory habits. These forms are discarded 

 for the most part after the second chapter. 

 Some of the exercises are merely qualitative, 

 especially in electricity. Of those that are 

 quantitative some will perhaps be welcomed 

 not only in the high school, but for beginners 

 in institutions that assume more pretentious 

 names. 



Kelsey's 'Physical Determinations' are in- 

 tended for students of rather more advanced 

 grade, having been written for a technical 

 school. The author's aim was 'to supply out- 

 line directions which might enable a class of 

 students to proceed with work until the dem- 

 onstrator could give individual instruction to 

 each group.' Discussion of detail is hence 

 omitted, and to such an extent that the book 

 does not seem destined to meet 'a long-felt 

 want' in very many American laboratories, in 

 view of the considerable number of more help- 

 ful books of this kind already in the American 

 market. The explanations of theory are not 

 always very clear, inconveniently long steps 

 being occasionally taken; nor are the instruc- 

 tions about manipulation sufficiently full to 

 warrant the student in making miich headway 

 with his work while impatiently waiting for 

 the arrival of the demonstrator. Nevertheless 

 the book would never have been prepared had 

 not its material served a useful purpose in 

 the laboratory for which it was intended. 

 W. LeC. Stevens. 



Washington and Lee Univeksitt, 

 July 25, 1902. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 RESEARCH CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 



Since last reported, the club has held two 

 meetings. At the first meeting Professors 

 Russell and McMurrich gave papers; the 

 former, using lantern slides, detailed his ex- 

 plorations in Idaho last summer, and the 

 latter addressed the club on the phylogeny of 

 the muscles of the human forearm. At the 

 last meeting of the year, held in May, Pro- 

 fessor Craig explained the process by which 



