150 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 108. 



■clearly described experimeuts, so well fitted to 

 elucidate the text. Even experienced teachers 

 ■can gain many useful points from this book. 

 The introduction of quantitative experiments 

 near the beginning is a great advantage, and 

 one could wish that Prof. Hart had increased 

 their number, were it not for the great practical 

 ■difficulty of supervising a large class of novices 

 in quantitative manipulation. 



To another feature of the book attention is 

 called in the opening paragraph of the preface: 

 " In compiling the following pages I have tried 

 to bear constantly in mind the fact that a large 

 majority of those studying chemistry are not 

 likely to become professional chemists, and 

 have therefore taken pains to enlarge upon 

 those topics which all educated persons should 

 understand, such as water purification, fertili- 

 zers, the concentration of ores, the roasting of 

 ores, assaying, the iron blast furnace, steel 

 manufacture, etc." In these descriptions as 

 well as in most other cases the book is up to 

 date, and is remarkably free from portrayals of 

 antiquated processes handed down from author 

 to author, and so often found in modern text- 

 books. 



The book offers occasional opportunity for 

 criticism. NO is so universally called nitric 

 oxid or nitrogen monoxid that it is confusing to 

 name it nitrogen dioxid ; one can hardly say 

 that ' chloric acid is contained in chlorates;' but 

 points of this kind are few. 



The book is attractively gotten up and the 

 proof has been very carefully read. It should 

 find entrance into many laboratories outside of 

 that of its author. 



Jas. Lewis Howe. 



Washington and Lee University. 



Die Chemie im Idglichen Leben. Gemeinverstand- 

 lichen Vortriige von Dr. Lassar-Cohn, Uni- 

 versitats professor zu Konigsberg in Preussen. 

 Verlag von Leopold Voss, Hamburg und Leip- 

 zig. 1896. 



This book consists of twelve popular lectures 

 on chemistry delivered by the author before the 

 ' Verein fiir fortbildende Vortrage ' in Konigs- 

 berg. The lectures cover a wide range of 

 topics of interest to a popular audience and are 

 presented in a very clear and forcible manner. 



Among the many subjects considered may be 

 mentioned breathing, the weight and analysis 

 of the air, the barometer, argon and ozone, 

 combustion, matches, yellow and red phos- 

 phorus, the nature of flame, candles, oils and 

 petroleum, the elements, chemical formulas, 

 atoms and molecules, distillation, petroleum 

 ether, parafiin and vaseline, the manufacture 

 of illuminating gas and its by-products, the in- 

 candescent gas-burner and cooking with gas ; 

 artificial fertilizers, bones, superphosphates, 

 potassium salts, acids, bases and salts, food- 

 stuffs, digestion and fermentation, albumen, 

 fats and carbohydrates, alcoholic beverages, 

 vinegar, milk, cheese and butter, gunpowder, 

 gun cotton, dynamite, collodion, wool, cotton 

 and silk ; leather and tanning, bleaching and 

 dyeing, ink and paper ; the manufacture of 

 soda, potash, sulphuric acid, bleaching powder, 

 soap, caustic soda and potash, glass and porce- 

 lain ; photography in its various forms includ- 

 ing color-photography, the metallurgy of some 

 of the most important metals, alloys, alkaloids, 

 chloral, ether, chloroform, antiseptics, iodo- 

 form, carbolic acid, salicylic acid, etc. 



The book is illustrated with some fourteen 

 wood-cuts, which add much to the interest in 

 the reading matter and serve to explain much 

 that otherwise might not be so clear to the 

 reader. 



The most recent views on the subjects con- 

 sidered are given, and the book is up to date in 

 every particular, and yet the language is so 

 simple and the explanations so clear that any 

 person of average intelligence can readily un- 

 derstand them. 



The book is extremely interesting and in- 

 structive and will fully repay careful reading. 

 Even the experienced chemist will find here 

 much information not found in the ordinary 

 text-books. 



The publication of such a series of popular 

 lectures, which all can understand, must have 

 a very beneficial influence on the study of 

 chemistry and will show the uninitiated, as 

 nothing else can, what the chemist has done 

 and is doing. An English translation of the 

 book by M. M. Pattison-Muir, published by J. 

 B. Lippincott & Co. , has recently appeared. 



W. R. O. 



