170 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 65S 



Such, as it now appears, is some small 

 part of the work of education that lies im- 

 mediately before us. It is a work that may 

 well call for the most serious consideration 

 of this greatly influential society, which 

 aims to make its philosophy a guide into 

 the larger life. The plea which has been 

 offered amounts in sum to this : That by all 

 means you will give encouragement and 

 stimulus to our already awakened spirit of 

 educational invention; for it takes no sec- 

 ond sight to perceive that the times call for 

 the exercise of that spirit in the highest 

 things to which it may aspirei. 



Elmer Ellsworth Brown 



U. S. Bdeeau of Education 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Electrochemistry. By Dr. Heinrich Dan- 



neel; translated by Dr. Edmund S. Mer- 



EiAM. Part one. New York : John Wiley & 



Sons. 



This is the first of a series of three volumes 

 which Dr. Danneel proposes to write upon the 

 subject of " Electrochemistry." In this vol- 

 ume the modern theories of electrochemistry, 

 as well as their physicochemical foundations, 

 are discussed. The second volume will contain 

 experimental results and methods of measure- 

 ment, while the third will be devoted to the 

 technical applications of the subject. 



Theoretical electrochemistry is beyond the 

 stage at which any radical innovation in the 

 method of treatment is possible. The author 

 does, however, depart from the more usual pro- 

 cedure in discussing transport numbers after 

 conductivity; and wisely too, we believe. We 

 are not, however, convinced of the advantage 

 of introducing a preliminary chapter on the 

 history of electrochemistry in which much of 

 the subject matter to follow is assumed to be 

 known. 



This volume, like its companion volumes in 

 the Sammlung Goschen, contains a surprising 

 amount of fact and information within a very 

 small compass. Whether such condensation 

 is always desirable in a theoretical subject, 

 where abridgment of statement does not 



necessarily mean a lessening of mental effort, 

 may be questioned. I am reminded of the 

 Abbe Terrassou's remark about a book " that 

 it would be shorter if it were not so short." 

 We are convinced, however, that this very 

 brevity coupled with its clarity will assure 

 it a place of its own among text-books 

 of electrochemistry. We imagine, for in- 

 stance, that it would be an excellent book to 

 furnish a mature student with a brief, though 

 comprehensive view of the whole subject. 



The translation is vigorous and clear. We 

 were sorry to see the familiar expression 

 " migration of the ions " supplanted by the 

 less apt " wandering of the ions." 



The physical appearance of the book is 

 better than that of the German original. 



Arthur B. Lamb 



Researches in Experimental Phonetics; the 

 Study of Speech Curves. By E. W. 

 ScRn>TURE. Washington, D. C, published 

 by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 November, 1906. Pp. 204. 

 Under this title is published the ground- 

 work of the results of Dr. Scripture's recent 

 work abroad, in the laboratories organized at 

 Munich, Berlin and Zurich. Save for illus- 

 trative examples from the records, the present 

 volume deals almost exclusively with methods ; 

 nearly all of the last fifty pages are taken up 

 with tables, some of which appear for the first 

 time, and should prove most helpful to other 

 investigators along these lines. A discussion 

 of the precise philological and psychological 

 bearings of the results we may await in an- 

 other volume. 



The speech curves studied are obtained from 

 amplified tracings on smoked paper of phono- 

 graph (cylinder) and gramophone (disc) rec- 

 ords. Dr. Scripture has here employed mainly 

 the disc records, the horizontal movement of 

 the recording point giving a more accurate 

 tracing. The workable portion of the records 

 is practically confined to the vowels. The 

 voiceless sounds as a rule give nothing beyond 

 a straight line. The investigator seems to 

 have brought his method to a high degree of 

 technical perfection. The drawings illus- 

 trating the apparatus are unusually clear. 



