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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1083 



ployed, are men of education. The managers 

 and heads of departments, often those who 

 are analogous to what we should call foremen 

 in England, have a university education. All 

 have spent many more years on their educa- 

 tion than is usual in England." 



In an address on " The Ethics of Chemical 

 Manufacture," Dr. Brown would have the 

 manufacturer remember that he has other and 

 higher privileges, and that nobler duties de- 

 volve upon him than those which necessarily 

 occupy the greater part of his thoughts during 

 business hours. The satisfactory thing to eon- 

 template in the development of the alkali in- 

 dustry is not the fortunes it made, nor even 

 the employment it gave to thousands, but that 

 it gave cheap and abundant means of cleansing 

 self, raiment and dwelling to every family 

 among the civilized nations of the earth. 

 Balard is revered now not because he manu- 

 factured so many thousand kilos per week of 

 salt from the sea water, but because, experi- 

 menting one day with the mother liquor, he ob- 

 served for the first time some reddish-brown 

 vapors, and followed them up, and became the 

 discoverer of bromin. " Joule doubtless made 

 excellent beer, because he is the sort of man 

 who does everything well he undertakes; but 

 his great work for which the world is indebted 

 to him, and by which he will be remembered 

 with gratitude throughout all time, was his 

 determination of the mechanical equivalent of 

 heat, whereby he laid the foundation of chem- 

 ical dynamics and of the science of thermal 

 chemistry, as well as brought about a revolu- 

 tion in an important branch of physics." The 

 coal-tar dyestuff industry is not looked upon 

 with much favor by Dr. Brown. " When one 

 sees the glaring colors which are now flaunted 

 before the public eye, often without any 

 thought of harmony and with no consideration 

 of appropriateness of position and surroundings 

 — in advertising placards, house decoration, 

 dress and so forth — one is sometimes tempted 

 to ask whether the production of these new 

 dyes has been a good thing for mankind, and 

 whether, when our last mines are worked out 

 and coal-tar dyes cease to be manufactured. 



the world will be any better for having had 

 them, and whether the huge industry, which 

 is at present flourishing, is not a waste of time, 

 and of carbon compounds that would be better 

 saved to keep us warm in winter — ^whether, at 

 least, its highest merit is not that it affords 

 a present means of livelihood to so many 

 thousand workmen." The knowledge gained 

 from the study of coal-tar products is the real 

 justification of the " waste " ; " this, rather 

 than cheap alizarin, gaudy bills, brilliant shop 

 windows and rainbow-colored dress, is the thing 

 of which the coal-tar manufacturer should be 

 proud." 



A most interesting chapter is the address, 

 " Reminiscences of August Wilhelm von Hof- 

 mann." Dr. Brown was a student in Hof- 

 mann's laboratory in the school of mines, and 

 the story of the great master in lecture room 

 and laboratory is most entertainingly told, 

 with delightful personal touches. Here also 

 we find most favorable views of German indus- 

 try as he speaks of Hofmann's students and 

 assistants working from nine in the morning 

 tiU six at night, and often returning after 

 dinner to work privately till a late hour. 

 " That is the kind of work which tells. An 

 eight-hours day may be all very well for work- 

 ing men who have no ambition and who are 

 content with daily bread (and beer) ; but a 

 gentleman has to work much harder." 



There is included in the volume Dr. Brown's 

 translation of the autobiographical fragment 

 of Liebig, which originally appeared in the 

 Deutsche Rundschau for January, 1891, and 

 which is of great interest; and also a single 

 original investigation, " Aquiculture : a Study 

 of Deposits in Pipes and Other Channels Con- 

 veying Potable Water," read before the Insti- 

 tution of Civil Engineers. Altogether, the 

 book as a whole is well worth perusal, both by 

 chemists and by the general public. 



J. L. H. 



SCIENTIFIC JOUBNALS AND ABTICLES 

 The July number (Vol. 16, No. 3) of the 

 Transactions of the American Mathematical 

 Society contains the following papers: 



