June 30, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



997 



A Concise History of Chemistry. By T. P. 



HiLDiTOH. Pp. 263, 12mo. New York, D. 



Van Nostrand Co. 1911. 



This little treatise is an attempt to lay be- 

 fore students of chemistry a condensed sum- 

 mary of chemical history. In many respects 

 it is likely to be a useful book, although its 

 conciseness is often an obstacle to intelligibil- 

 ity. Its use demands a rather wider range of 

 knowledge than the average student is likely 

 to possess. The chapter upon the earlier his- 

 tory of chemistry, and the evolution of the 

 science, covers familiar ground, but with much 

 omission of detail; the chapters dealing with 

 more speciiic subjects are very unequal in 

 value. The author is an organic chemist, and 

 therefore the chapter upon organic chemis- 

 try is remarkably full and well handled. It 

 includes a number of tabular statements il- 

 lustrating classes of compounds, which will 

 doubtless be found valuable for reference. 

 The chapter on inorganic chemistry is much 

 less satisfactory, and hardly up to date. Apart 

 from a brief reference to the use of the rare 

 earths in incandescent lighting, there is little 

 or nothing relative to the modern utilization 

 of the less common metals, and the para- 

 graph dealing with synthetic mineralogy is 

 even misleading. Physical chemistry receives 

 rather better treatment, but even here the 

 phase rule is given inadequate space and in 

 the index it is credited to Wolcott Gibbs. 

 This error, which may be due to the indexer 

 rather than to the author, is one of several 

 indications that Mr. Hilditch is unfamiliar 

 with American work. For example, Classen 

 is credited with the introduction of electro- 

 lytic methods of chemical analysis, an ad- 

 vance which was really initiated by Wolcott 

 Gibbs, and to which Edgar F. Smith has been 

 a chief contributor. So also, although Eich- 

 ards is barely mentioned on page 202, his 

 name is omitted from the tabular statement 

 of atomic weight methods which follows. In 

 spite of these defects the volume may be 

 serviceable to advanced students. 



F. W. Clarke 



An Introduction to the Chemistry of Paints. 



By J. Newton Friend, Ph.D., D.Sc. New 



York, Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 204, 



8vo. 



This book is designed to present this sub- 

 ject to those who have had no training in 

 physics or chemistry, and may be regarded 

 as an unqualified success. It makes no claim 

 to be encyclopsedic, and yet one finds terms 

 and descriptions not given in much larger 

 works. 



One or two errors have crept in, such for 

 example as the saponification numbers (p. 

 126) being given as 19.3, etc., when they are 

 ten times as large: another is the position of 

 the thermometer bulb in Fig. 16 which is 

 much too low. 



It is an excellent book and may be cordially 

 recommended to all desiring information in 

 this branch of technology. 



A. H. Gill 



TBE WOBK OF THE MABINE BIOLOGICAL 

 STATION OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF 

 FISHESIES, AT BEAUFORT, N. C, 

 DURING THE TEAR 1910 

 A NUMBER of the investigations of the pre- 

 ceding year were continued and several new 

 lines of work were begun. The equipment of 

 the laboratory was maintained and a number 

 of additions were made to the same. A 

 launch, operated by two gasoline engines, was 

 substituted for the steam-launch formerly 

 used. The new launch is of small draft, which 

 feature enables it to be used for dredging and 

 for other operations in the vicinity of Beau- 

 fort. In addition to this vessel, the station 

 has been equipped with a motor-boat, a sail- 

 boat and twelve rowboats. 



During July and August the laboratory 

 was supplied as usual with electric lights. 

 During the same period a mess was conducted 

 at the station for the use of the scientific staff. 

 The cost of table board for each member was 

 five dollars per week, the same as during 

 the preceding year. The laboratory was sup- 

 plied with running fresh and salt water 

 throughout the year. The small storage ca- 



