272 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 10. 



this tabulated evidence of careless proof- 

 reading. 



The reviewer has found it difficult to give 

 a satisfactory account of the contents of the 

 second and third chapters in a short review, 

 so that those who may wish to follow the 

 author's applications of his fundamental 

 ideas must read the original. 



H. C. Jones. 



Johns Hopkins Univeesity. 



Text-book of Organic Chemistry. By A. 

 Beenthsen. 2d English Edition, trans- 

 lated by G. McGowAN, from the 4th 

 German Edition. London, Blackie & 

 Son. New York, D. Van ISTostrand. 1894. 

 The general excellence of this work is in- 

 dicated by its reception both in German 

 and in English speaking countries. Four 

 German editions in six years have been 

 found necessary, and the second English 

 edition will probably be even more exten- 

 sively used than the first. The present 

 book is a work of about 575 pages, fifty 

 more than the previous edition, and occu- 

 pies a position between the elementary and 

 the encyclopedic text-book. As stated in 

 the preface, the descriptive part is con- 

 densed as far as possible, and special em- 

 phasis put upon summarizing the charac- 

 teristics of each class of compounds. There 

 are frequent valuable tables of the princi- 

 pal properties of important classes of com- 

 pounds. The subject-matter is treated in 

 a way showing the intimate knowledge of 

 the literature to be expected from a chem- 

 ist like Bernthsen, though it seems strange 

 that he makes no reference to American 

 periodicals, but seems content to use the 

 often imperfect abstracts in the foreign 

 journals. The fourth German edition was 

 published in 1893, and the subject is well 

 brought to that date. A point would have 

 been gained, and the value of the book 

 greatly enhanced, had the translator 

 brought to the date of publication of the 

 English editions at least those chapters 



which treat of classes of compounds on 

 which important work was done in 1893 

 and 1894. I refer particularly to the 

 sugars, terpene, etc. The translation is 

 good, though sometimes too literal. Many 

 German expressions have crept in, and do 

 not make the matter anj^ clearer. In the 

 text, formulfe of substances are fi-equently 

 used instead of names. It would be better 

 to use names only, but if PoS^ is used in 

 one place becaiise it occupies less space 

 than Phosphorus Pentasulphidc, it should 

 be used always, and the one should not ap- 

 pear on one page, and the other a few 

 pages further on. On the whole the work 

 is well adapted to the needs of those Amer- 

 ican colleges in which organic chemistry 

 can receive the time and attention it de- 

 serves. With it a mature student can eas- 

 ily get a good working knowledge of the 

 subject. For undergraduate work, as car- 

 ried on in most of our colleges, a less am- 

 bitious course, thoroughly given and em- 

 bodying the use of a smaller text-book, 

 seems desirable. 



Felix Lengfeld. 

 ■University of Chicago. 



Systeviatische Phylogenie der Protisten und 

 Pflanzen. Eenst Haeckel. Jena, 1894, 

 Pp. 400. 



Prof. Ernst Haeckel, of Jena, has re- 

 cently begun an extensive work on the sys- 

 tematic evolution of animal and plant life. 

 It is to be in three parts, the first of which 

 has just appeared as the ' Phylogeny of the 

 Protista and the Plants.' The second part, on 

 the phj'logeny of invertebrates, and the 

 third part, on that of vertebrates, are also 

 promised during the present year. In the 

 present volume the author outlines his plan 

 and presents in the opening paragraphs the 

 main data upon which his phylogenetic 

 trees are based, namely, the three branches 

 of natural science, palfeontology, ontogeny, 

 or the life histor}^ of individuals, and mor- 

 phology. The work as a whole is in 



