October 27, 1905.] 



SCIENCE, 



523 



analysis appear to be no better than the one 

 first mentioned. 



While in our judgment Mr. Richardson's 

 committee is all wrong, and will ultimately be 

 admitted to be so, it is hardly to be expected 

 that Mr. Eckel would do otherwise than he 

 has ; nevertheless the book, addressed as it is 

 mainly to those who use cements, limes and 

 plasters, while well-nigh complete in other 

 respects, is deficient in respect to furnishing 

 a method of chemical analysis that will give 

 results that enable one to distinguish good 

 cements from bad cements. 



We congratulate those seeking information 

 upon this interesting subject that Mr. Eckel 

 has given them such a comprehensive and valu- 

 able work. 



A Treatise on Concrete, plain and reinforced; 

 materials, construction and design of con- 

 crete and reinforced concrete. With chap- 

 ters by R. Eeret, William B. Euller, 

 Spencer B. Newberry. By Erederick W. 

 Taylor, M.E., and Sanford E. Thompson, 

 S.B., Assoc. M. Am. Soc. C. E. New York, 

 John Wiley & Sons. 1905. 

 The preface of this work states : " This 

 treatise is designed for practising engineers 

 and contractors, and also for a text and refer- 

 ence book on concrete for engineering stu- 

 dents." 



As hydraulic cement is the basis of all con- 

 crete structures, this announcement exhibits 

 the book as designed to inform and instruct 

 those who use cement. While many of the 

 technical and engineering problems involved in 

 the use of cement in mortar and concrete are 

 of interest to us, we naturally turned to those 

 portions of the book devoted to the chemistry 

 of cements and cement mortars. A careful 

 examination of the book reveals an exceedingly 

 interesting chapter by Mr. Spencer B. New- 

 berry (a very successful manufacturer of 

 Portland cement), on the ' Chemistry of 

 Hydraulic Cements.' We found nothing in 

 this chapter especially designed to instruct the 

 users of cement. We looked in vain through 

 the body of the work for anything concerning 

 the analytical examination of cements, cement 

 mortars and concretes. In an appendix we 



found the ' method suggested for the analysis 

 of limestones, raw mixtures and Portland 

 cements, by the committee on uniformity in 

 technical analysis of the American Chemical 

 Society, with the advice of W. E. Hillebrand.' 

 As a method of ultimate analysis of the sub- 

 stances named the method proposed is well- 

 nigh perfect; but for any purpose associated 

 with the technical composition of cements, 

 cement mortars and concretes, it has no value 

 whatever. 



The authors of this book are not chemists, 

 hence they may be excused for any defects in 

 the book involving a purely chemical problem; 

 nevertheless, with all the good qualities the 

 book possesses it is a defect that the book does 

 not contain a scheme of chemical analysis by 

 means of which good cements can be distin- 

 guished from bad cements and also by means 

 of which the analyses of cements and cement 

 mortars and concretes may be correlated with 

 one another and with the physical tests of the 

 cements used. We believe the time is not far 

 distant when those who use cement will be 

 brought to realize the supreme importance o£ 

 such a method. S. E. Peckham. 



Technique de psychologic experimentale (Ex- 

 amen des sujets). In Toulouse's ' Biblio- 

 theque Internationale de psychologic experi- 

 mentale.' Toulouse, Vaschide et Pieron. 

 Paris, O. Doin. 1904. Pp. 335. 

 The scope of this work is much more lim- 

 ited than the first title would indicate; the 

 subtitle indicates more exactly the ground 

 covered; yet the scope is still narrower than 

 this at first suggests. The book does not, of 

 course, attempt to condense into one small 

 volume the whole subject of experimental 

 technique in psychology; it limits itself defi- 

 nitely to the technique of ' tests,' by which the 

 mental traits of individuals are measured. 

 But, further, the book makes no attempt to 

 cover the already rather extensive literature 

 of mental tests; it scarcely refers at all to 

 other authors. Its sole and consistent pur- 

 pose — a purpose which has guided the authors 

 in several years of experimentation, of which 

 this book presents the outcome — is to formu- 

 late a system of mental tests which shall take 



