May 1, 1908J 



SCIENCE 



689 



not as a favor, is at best a process of doubt- 

 ful value. Within a limited time it will, 

 in my judgment, be necessary to grant re- 

 tiring allowances only through institutions. 

 The true task of this board is not to pass 

 upon the merits of individuals, but of col- 

 leges; to decide upon such educational 

 standards as seem fair and wise, and then 

 to proceed to admit to the system of re- 

 tiring allowances such institutions as, com- 

 plying with these standards, come within 

 the provisions of the charter and the deed 

 of gift. To do this involves a study of the 

 educational situation in the United States, 

 Canada and Newfoundland. The first step 

 toward such a study is the bringing to- 

 gether of the facts themselves concerning 

 these institutions, such as their method of 

 government, their denominational relations, 

 the value of each institution as a center of 

 intellectual and moral influence, their 

 financial resources, and, most important of 

 all, their academic standards of work. In 

 a word, the Carnegie Foundation for the 

 Advancement of Teaching must be first an 

 educational agency before it can act wisely 

 in awarding retiring allowances. It is 

 charged with the duty of administering a 

 fund for higher education, for teachers in 

 colleges, universities and technical schools 

 of college grade. Its first concern is to 

 ascertain how many such institutions there 

 are and which of them are entitled on fair 

 and reasonable conditions to the privilege 

 of this fund. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Electro-analysis. By Edgar F. Smith, Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry in the University of 

 Pennsylvania. Fourth edition, revised and 

 enlarged, with forty-two illustrations. Pp. 

 336. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's Son and 

 Co. 1907. 

 The introduction of modern electrolytic 



methods into chemical analysis has brought 



about in that science a veritable revolution, in 

 which the author of this compendious but 

 handy volume has been a prominent leader. 

 It is with authority that he discusses the 

 various electro-analytical methods of which 

 several hundred are described in the text, for 

 many of these methods were devised and ap- 

 parently nearly all have been tested in the 

 author's laboratory. 



The book is quite frankly a collection of 

 receipts which if followed to the letter will 

 lead to successful analyses. When a deviation 

 from the prescribed rule will lead to disaster, 

 or why this method succeeds and that method 

 fails, the reader is not told. Nor is this 

 altogether the fault of the author. Most of 

 the methods here given are like cook-book 

 receipts, based on pure empiricism. We do 

 not know why the investigator tried a given 

 method. We only know that he tried it and 

 it " worked." In general the practise of 

 quantitative analysis has so far outstripped 

 the theory that at present it may be considered 

 more an art than a science. This state of 

 things the author accepts without protest. A 

 chapter entitled " Theoretical Considerations " 

 is devoted to Freudenberg's work on the sepa- 

 ration of metals at constant E.M.F. Aside 

 from this no mention of theory is made except 

 occasionally when one of the old-fashioned 

 theories is treated as an experimental fact, 

 for example, on page 111 it is stated as if it 

 were well established that in the electrolysis 

 of potassium oxalate, potassium deposits on 

 the cathode and later reacts with the water 

 to produce hydrogen and alkali. 



The directions given in the book are as a 

 rule clear and explicit, but not always. Thus 

 on page 109 we read, " add 4 c.c. of a solution 

 of ammonium acetate, 20 c.c. of citric acid, 

 and dilute to 200 c.c. with water." It 

 would be convenient to know the strength of 

 the ammonium acetate and citric acid solu- 

 tions which are to be added. However, such 

 omissions are infrequent. A more serious 

 criticism may be made which applies to every 

 process described in the book, and it is not 

 that the author gives too few directions, but 

 too many to be mutually compatible. On 

 nearly every page we are told to electrolyze 



