AUGUST 22, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



307 



ratory. In the determination of the constants 

 of these compounds a great deal of founda- 

 tion has been laid. So far, it may be said, the 

 facts serve quite as much to do away with 

 false generalizations as to support true ones. 

 Perhaps the results reach toward that border- 

 land of residual affinity which Werner and 

 others have been cultivating. At any rate, 

 whatever is gained in real knowledge of halo- 

 gen combination touches chemistry every- 

 where, on inorganic, organic and physical 

 lines, either in elucidation or in restriction 

 of our theories of atomic union and our views 

 of the periodic system. 



There are several papers upon perhalides of 

 the metals in the division of 'General Inor- 

 ganic Chemistry,' and several upon organic 

 perhalides in the 'Organic Chemistry' volume. 

 In the same relation may be included the re- 

 searches upon double salts and metallic salts 

 of the anilides, and those upon the substitu- 

 tion of one halogen for another in the ani- 

 lides. 



The article on the 'Periodic System and In- 

 organic Compounds' gives a much needed dis- 

 cussion of the thesis that 'the nature of the 

 compounds of an element is also a function 

 of its atomic weight,' and then goes on to re- 

 port the results of very faithful experimenta- 

 tion upon the alums, in respect to solubilities 

 and other features. It is to be hoped that 

 Dr. Locke will continue his researches in this 

 field, important as it is, and calling for a spe- 

 cial allowance of the scientific spirit, evident 

 in his work. 



The papers in the volume on 'Organic 

 Chemistry,' familiar as they are to chemical 

 readers, now present a quite logical series of 

 cognate investigations, largely upon the ani- 

 lides and related imido compounds. Very 

 few of the papers deal with compounds desti- 

 tute of nitrogen. It is not too much to say 

 that the chemical literature of the bodies just 

 mentioned, as well as that of many formyl 

 compounds, and a good number of imido est- 

 ers, has been of late years materially enriched 

 by these contributions. The same may be said 

 of the literature of the esters related to car- 

 bamic acid and urea. And further experimen- 

 tations upon ester derivatives of urea are ap- 



pearing under the name of Professor Wheeler 

 in the journals current since these volumes 

 were issued. 



The recent records of the chemistry of Yale 

 are of the greater educational interest because 

 of the early development of the science in the 

 same institution. The account given in Vol- 

 ume I. of the establishment of the Sheffield 

 Laboratory is a good bit of history rescued 

 from the recollections of a very early chemical 

 period. It appears that, as a university labora- 

 tory distinctly for students, it was established 

 in 'the old President's house' from 1847 to 

 1860. The data are well worth saving, for the 

 history of the laboratory method, and to help 

 out what may be gathered from the biography 

 of the elder Silliman, and the sketches of 

 American chemists collected by the younger 

 Silliman in 1876. Albert B. Prescott. 



The Foundations of Geometry. By David 

 HiLBERT. Authorized translation by E. J. 

 TowNSEND, Ph.D., University of Illinois. 

 Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Com- 

 pany. 1902. Pp. vii+132. 

 The merest justice calls for a pointing out 

 of some few among the blemishes in what 

 Professor Townsend puts forth as a transla- 

 tion of Hilbert's beautiful 'Festschrift.' 

 These blemishes are the more indefensible 

 because Professor Townsend had before him, 

 in addition to the limpid original, the admira- 

 ble French translation of L. Laugel. 



To begin with, Hilbert, so studiously spar- 

 ing of words, uses the word Erklarung nine 

 times on his first thirteen pages. 



Townsend never renders it at all. Thus 

 Hilbert's profound and elegant distribution 

 into definitions, conventions, assumptions and 

 theorems is totally lost, not appearing in 

 Townsend's translation. 



In the third sentence of the introduction 

 Aufstellung is translated choice, and in the 

 fifth sentence aufzustellen is given as 'to 

 choose.' In the note to the introduction, 'in- 

 structive account' is rendered 'explanatory 

 report'! 



In § 1, p. 3, the point is missed when erfolgt 

 durch is rendered 'follows as a consequence 

 of.' 



