May 24, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



r9 



treating of municipal government in tho 

 chief countries of Continental Europe, and 

 if we could be assured of a third volume, 

 prepared with equal care and accuracy, 

 ' On Municipal Governments in the Ignited 

 States, or how not to do it,' it would be. as 

 Artemus expressed it, 'a sweet boon." 

 Meantime, let Mr. Shaw's first volume be 

 made a subject of special study bj' the 

 younger professional men in this country, 

 for the time is near at hand when they will 

 be compelled to take some definite line of 

 action with regard to our own cities, each 

 of which presents its own peculiar problems, 

 but problems upon which much light is 

 thrown bj- the experiences of our transatlan- 

 tic brothers. J. S. B. 



Theoretical Chemistry. 'By Professor W. 

 Xernst, Ph. D., Univei"sity of Gottingen, 

 translated by Professor C. S. Palmer, 

 Ph. D., Uuivei-sity of Colorado. Mac- 

 millan & Co. Pp. 697. Price 85.00. 

 It has long been evident that the treat- 

 ment of the physical side of chemistry, in 

 text-books avowedly devoted to chemical 

 theory, is not satisfactory. In the present 

 work Physical Chemistry is the main object 

 in hand, and, correspondingly, chemical 

 theory proper is relegated to a subordinate 

 position. The treatment of purely chemical 

 topics is clear and suggestive, but brief, and 

 occasionally inadequate. Thus the discus- 

 sion of the stereochemistry of nitrogen is 

 confined to the mere statement of the views 

 of Hantzsch and Werner, with not even the 

 barest mention of the difficulties and ex- 

 ceptions which have led manj- to regard the 

 spatial conception, so far as it applies to 

 nitrogen, as prematurelj- developed. 



But insufficiency of this kind is to be ex- 

 pected whenever the attempt is made to 

 cover the whole field of chemical and 

 physico-chemical theorj- within the limits 

 of the same work, and it would be unfair to 

 criticise Professor Nernst's book adverselv 



on the ground of inadequate treatment of 

 purely chemical topics which, presumably, 

 were introduced simply for the sake of com- 

 pleteness. "We pass, therefore, to the main 

 subject. 



For some time a work has been needed 

 which would give concisely the remarkalile 

 results of the new Physical Chemistry, and 

 this want Professor Xernst's work is well fit- 

 ted to meet. The material is well selected, 

 the sections are well proportioned, the fiicts 

 are accurately and concisely stated, and the 

 translation has been faithfully made, too 

 faithfully perhaps, by one who is evidently 

 well fitted, on the scientific side, for the task. 



It may not l^e out of place to express the 

 opinion that the almost complete abandon- 

 ment of the historical method which char- 

 acterizes Professor Xernst's work is a mis- 

 take, even in so small a volume. This is 

 particularly plain in the account of the doc- 

 trine of electrolj-tic dissociation. One who 

 reads the fascinating chapter ' Geschichte 

 der Electrochemie ' in Ostwald's ' Lehrbuch 

 der Allgemeineu Chemie,' Vol. I., part II., 

 observes this concept vaguely adumbrated 

 in the minds of Grotthus and Daniell, sees 

 it implicitly present in the remarkable views 

 of Clausius, and finally recognizes it freed 

 from all obscuritj^ in the papers of Arrhe- 

 nius. In Xernst, on the contrary, one is 

 introduced to the doctrine fully formed, and, 

 looking about him in some bewilderment 

 to ascertain its source, discovers an incom- 

 plete justification for its existence in the be- 

 havior of aqueous salt solutions. 



The student who desires to devote him- 

 self specially to Physicivl Chemistry may 

 read the book with profit, but he would do 

 better, having acquired the necessary phys- 

 ical, mathematical and chemical prepara- 

 tion, to go directly to Ostwald's ' Lehrbuch'; 

 to those who wish simplj' to obtain a l)road 

 view of the present state of the science the 

 work will be decidedly acceptable, and this 

 will be its chief function. 



