596 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 567. 



ing flimsy, the typography bad, the cuts mis- 

 erable. 



The reviewer is not suffering from either 

 indigestion or disordered hver, and on taking 

 second thought is convinced that the above 

 estimate is not undeservedly harsh. 



Joseph W. Richards. 



Histoire de Vhabillement et de la parure. By 

 L. BouRDEAU. 1 vol. 8vo. Bibliotheque 

 scientifique Internationale. Paris, Felix 

 Alcan. Pp. 300. 6 francs. 

 This volume completes a series of culture- 

 historical studies by the author: The forces 

 of industry, the history of alimentation, the 

 conquest of the animal kingdom, the conquest 

 of the vegetal kingdom, and history of dress 

 and adornment. Three motives are urged as 

 having given rise to vestment — protection from 

 injury caused by the things that are vpithout, 

 the love of pleasure and modesty. The male 

 sex and the female have vied vpith each other 

 in the elaboration of innumerable inventions 

 in this category. Animals have clothing 

 provided by nature — carapaces, shells, hair, 

 bristles, feathers, down, wool and more. 

 Man's skin, on the contrary, is a tissue of 

 sensation structures, putting him into lively 

 contact and communication with the outside 

 world, but shielding him little. 



The unfolding of this story is divided into 

 two parts: (1) the materials — skins and tex- 

 tile substances and their preparations, and 

 (2) the history of costume. The substances 

 fit for clothing are not innumerable. They 

 had to be bad conductors of heat from the 

 body and to the body; they had to be pliable, 

 fitting themselves to the form, tough enough 

 to wear and last and pay for the time spent 

 in manufacturing them. The story begins 

 with skins and passes on through animal tex- 

 tiles, vegetal textiles and other substances, 

 from which must not be omitted the great 

 variety of things ornamental. Add to all this 

 the fashions in tissues, the dyeing, staining, 

 painting, bleaching, printing of patterns on 

 goods, cutting out, sewing and trimming, and 

 it will appear what a large fraction of human 

 hours are given to raiment. The making of 



buttons requires the services of 30,000 work- 

 men and an outlay of 30,000,000 francs (1900). 

 The development of costume fills the last one 

 hundred pages, its general evolution, the spe- 

 cial history of modern costume, head dresses, 

 foot gear and gloves, accessories of costume, 

 such as handkerchiefs, fans, parasols-, um- 

 brellas and jewelry. There is a chapter (pp. 

 124r-147) on artificial coloring of the hair and 

 skin, tattooing, painting and dyeing. And the 

 goodly friend of the species, soap, together 

 with perfumeries, baths, etc., is not neglected. 

 It is a great pity that there is no index to the 

 work, for there is an infinite amount of petty 

 detail gathered here, to which one would like 

 to refer. The author assumes the existence 

 of naked and unadorned peoples. When you 

 go to look for them, they are seldom to be 

 found, which leads to the inquiry whether 

 really there are any such. O. T. M. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The Journal ■ of the American Chemical 

 Society for November contains the following 

 articles : 



Roy D. Hall and Edgar E. Smith : ' Some Ob- 

 servations on Columbium.' 



Joseph H. Gooowiisr : ' Electrolytic Calcium.' 



Geo. a. HuiiETT.: ' Preparation of Nitrogen 

 from the Atmosphere.' 



H. M. GORDIN : ' On the Crystalline Alkaloid of 

 Calycanthus Glaucus.' 



William A. Notes and Howard W. Doughty: 

 ' Derivatives of Trimethylparaconic and of Cam- 

 phoronie Acids.' 



Edward Gudeman : ' Artificial Digestion Ex- 

 periments.' 



A. T. Lincoln: 'A New Burette Holder.' 



Review of American Chemical Research. 



The Museum News, of the Brooklyn Insti- 

 tute, for ISTovember may be termed a zoological 

 number, as it is principally devoted to notes 

 pertaining to that branch of science. There 

 is a little leader in the matter of labels, which 

 explains why labels are frequently absent, and 

 also gives the point of view of the curator. 

 The completion of a group of fur seals is 

 announced which has been in preparation for 

 some time, and is the finest of its kind in any 

 museum, comprising as it does thirteen speci- 



