May 15, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



783 



clature and some pages on formula writing 

 and structural formulse. The division on 

 ' Dynamics ' includes the chapters ' Chemical 

 Actions,' ' Thermochemistry ' and ' Chemical 

 Calculations.' In the first, dissociation, ion- 

 ization and the law of mass action are taken 

 up. One can not help feeling that these sec- 

 tions are, as it were, dragged in, rather than 

 that they form an integral part of the subject 

 of which the book treats. This is especially the 

 case when one finds, in close contiguity, the 

 following, under the caption of superior chem- 

 ical attraction as a cause of reactions : ' In the 

 following, HgCl + 2ia: = HgI, + 2KCl, the 

 K leaves the I and takes the CI from the Hg, 

 and the Hg and I, being set free together, 

 unite.' Altogether, these first hundred pages 

 or so of the book give little evidence of the 

 advances that chemistry has made in recent 

 years. Perhaps this would appear less con- 

 spicuous if the material were scattered through 

 the book, as the author recommends when us- 

 ing the book for didactic purposes. 



The remainder, some four fifths, of the book 

 is taken up with ' Descriptive Chemistry.' 

 The treatment of this subject is much more 

 satisfactory. It is full enough for college 

 classes, a good sense of proportion is observed 

 in the amount of space devoted to the different 

 elements and compounds, errors of statement 

 and of typography are rare, and the material 

 is brought well down to date. A considerable 

 number of experimental illustrations are de- 

 scribed, which would serve well for lecture or 

 laboratory. The general arrangement of the 

 elements is according to the periodic system, 

 beginning with hydrogen and the inert gases 

 of the eighth group, and then proceeding in 

 order from the seventh group to the first, con- 

 cluding with the metals of the eighth group. 

 This order is occasionally departed from, as 

 in the treatment of manganese in close con- 

 nection with iron, and in discussing the at- 

 mosphere and combustion immediately after 

 the carbon group. Thulium is placed with the 

 halogens, samarium with manganese, and 

 gadolinium between silver and gold, but as 

 only a few lines are given to these rare ele- 

 ments, little harm is done. The nomenclature 

 of the groups, though not absolutely new, is 



new enough to appear strange, for the halogens 

 appear under the chloroids, group VI. is 

 treated in the two divisions of the sulfoids 

 and the chromoids, the inert gases under the 

 heloids, etc. 



For all those teachers — and they are many — 

 who believe that the newer conceptions of 

 physical chemistry should be reserved for stu- 

 dents more or less advanced in general chem- 

 istry. Professor Hinds' book will be found an 

 excellent text-book for a thorough course in 

 inorganic chemistry. 



' Chemistry by Observation, Experiment and 

 Induction ' is a laboratory manual prepared to 

 accompany Hinds' ' Inorganic Chemistry.' 

 The essential feature of the book is that un- 

 der each experiment a series of questions is 

 given, with spaces in which answers are to be 

 written. The experiments are simple and 

 well chosen. No quantitative experiments are 

 introduced, but there is a considerable number 

 of problems. 



In both of the books the revised spelling is 

 used. 



If Dr. Hinds almost ignores in his book 

 the newer physical chemistry. Dr. Jones goes 

 to the opposite extreme in his ' Principles of 

 Inorganic Chemistry,' and the book appears 

 almost like a treatise on physical chemistry, 

 copiously illustrated from inorganic chemistry. 

 Yet all the essentials of inorganic descriptive 

 chemistry are here, but viewed from the stand- 

 point of physical chemistry. This book must 

 be considered the most notable contribution to 

 didactic chemistry produced by an American 

 since the appearance of the Eemsen series of 

 text-books. 



We have here a conscientious attempt to 

 teach general chemistry purely from the stand- 

 point of the newer chemical conceptions, and 

 it doubtless gives us a little forecast of what 

 will be the character of the chemical teaching 

 of the future. The book, however, shows the 

 dogmatic spirit which is characteristic of 

 many of the physical chemists of to-day. Not 

 only are the old ideas looked upon as com.- 

 pletely overthrown, and their adherents as 

 antiquated — this might be condoned — but the 

 newer theories are treated as if in them the 

 last words in chemistry have been uttered. 



