August 28, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



271 



are employed, a specialist for each science, 

 who, to guard against error, review each 

 reference before publication. 



It is a matter of congratulation that this 

 country leads in the number of subscribers 

 to the catalogue, the number being 96, 

 equivalent to over 70 complete sets. The 

 individual volumes may be subscribed to for 

 a sum pro rata to the cost of the full set. 

 As the yearly subscription to the full set 

 of seventeen volumes is $85, this is an en- 

 couraging showing. Although this cata- 

 logue has not been free from the defects 

 and consequent criticism attending all new 

 enterprises, the work itself is being done in 

 a way to furnish a helping hand to both 

 librarians and students who have long 

 needed a concise subject index to the great 

 and ever-increasing scientific literature of 

 the day. This field the International Cata- 

 logue of Scientific Literature aims to Cover. 

 Cyrus Adler. 

 Smithsoniait Institution, 

 June 19, 1903. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



NEW TEXT-BOOKS IN PHYSICS. 



A Laboratory Manual of Physics. By Henry 

 C. Chestox, Philip R. Dean and Charles 

 E. TiM)tERM.\N. New York, American 

 Book Company. 1903. Pp. 128. 



Laboratory Exercises in Physics. By George 

 R. Twiss. New York, The Macmillan Com- 

 pany. 1902. Pp. 193. 



A Manual of Elementary Practical Physics. 

 By Julius Hortvet. Minneapolis, H. W. 

 Wilson. 1902. Pp. 276. 



Practical Physics for Students of Science and 

 Engineering. By Ervin S. Ferry. LaFay- 

 ette, Ind., Burt-Terry-Wilson Co. 1903. 

 Part I. Pp. 14G. 



Mechanics, Molecular Physics and Heat. By 

 Robert A. Millikan. Chicago, Scott, 

 Foresman & Co. 1902. Pp. 242. 



Elements of Physics. By Fernando San- 

 FORn. New York, Henry Holt & Co. 1902. 

 Pp. 426. 



Elements of Physics. By Ernest J. An- 

 drews and H. N. IIowland. New York, 

 The Macmillan Company. 1903. Pp. 386. 

 Introduction to Physical Science. By 

 Alfred Paysox Gage. Boston, Ginn & Co. 

 1902. Pp. 359. 

 Text-Booh of Physics. By R. A. Lehfeldt. 

 London, Edward Arnold. 1902. Pp. 304. 

 Light, for Students. By Edwin Edser. Lon- 

 don, Macmillan & Co. 1902. Pp. 571. 

 Lehrbuch der Physih; Erster Band, Meehanik. 

 Von O. D. Chwolson, St. Petersburg; 

 iibersetzt von H. Pflaum. Braunschweig, 

 Fricdrieh Vieweg und Sohn. 1902. Pp. 

 791. 



The annual crop of new text-books of phys- 

 ics is becoming so large that the bewildered 

 reviewer is scarcely able any longer to dis- 

 cuss them distributively; or, if so, it has to 

 be bj' some system of grouping with compari- 

 son of the members of each group. A three- 

 fold division may perhaps be made according 

 to the apparent aims of the authors. The 

 first group consists of those which are in- 

 tended for use chiefly or entirely in the labo- 

 ratory. The second is made up of those 

 adapted for class-room use in connection with 

 oral exposition. The third includes books in- 

 tended neither for the laboratory nor for the 

 class-room primarily, but as systematic pre- 

 sentations of principle, to be mastered by 

 private reading in courses of parallel study 

 aecompanj'ing the formal lectures or in prepa- 

 ration for formal examinations. 



To the first group distinctly belong the first 

 four books of the present list. In the prepa- 

 ration of an elementary laboratory manual 

 there is no longer much range for great orig- 

 inality or for adaptation to a large clientage. 

 The first volume is a little book of 128 pages, 

 prepared by three authors, who frankly begin 

 by saying : " The reason for adding this 

 book to the large number of laboratory man- 

 uals is that those now in use either contain 

 too much matter to be successfully covered 

 by a pupil in one year, or elaborate the prin- 

 ciples chosen without regard to economy in 

 time." The authors of the other manuals may 

 perhaps differ with these authors as to what 

 constitutes too much matter and in regard 



