314 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 112. 



an excellent historical resume, quite full and 

 very interesting to every student. Of the next 

 chapter, on chemical formulae and equations, 

 less can he said ; the writing of chemical equa- 

 tions cannot readily be reduced to rules. Atoms, 

 atomic mass and valence are next taken up, 

 and well epitomized ; the periodic law is then 

 briefly described, and the author well says: 

 "Although the periodic law cannot as yet give 

 a logical explanation of all these phenomena, 

 still it stands unquestioned, that it is one of the 

 most far-reaching, if it be not the most impor- 

 tant law of chemistry." These two chapters, 

 which condense the whole of Lothar Meyer's 

 Moderne Theorie der Chemie, might have 

 been wisely expanded to several times their 

 volume without being disproportionate to the 

 rest of the booli. Molecules, molecular mass 

 (including osmotic pressure), and the structure 

 of molecules follow, and then a long chapter is 

 devoted to stoichometrical calculations. Chem- 

 ical arithmetic should certainly be thoroughly 

 studied in ' practical ' chemistry, yet the very 

 fact of its being included in this book reflects a 

 felt need. The concluding chapters are on 

 energy : chemical energy (in which there is an 

 excellent summary on measurement of chem- 

 ical affinity) and photo-chemistry, thermal 

 energy and thermo-chemistry, and electrical 

 energy and electro-chemistry. The book closes 

 with a quite complete bibliography of over 

 two hundred titles of works relating to the ma- 

 terial considered in the book, more than one- 

 half published within the last decade. 



The book is very free from typographical er- 

 rors as well as from errors of statement. It is 

 unfortunate that the terms specific gravity and 

 density of gases should be used interchange- 

 ably ; specific gravity is best used for air as the 

 standard, and density confined to those cases 

 where the unit is hydrogen. 



Jas. Lewis Howe. 



Washington and Lee Univeesity. 



The Argentaurum Papers. No. 1. Some Remarks 

 Concerning Gravitation. Addressed to the 

 Smithsonian Institution, the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, * * * 

 and all learned bodies. By Stephen H. 



Emmens, member of the American Institute 



of Mining Engineers, etc. The Plain Citizen 



Publishing Co. , New York. 



It is not generally worth while for any one 

 other than a psychologist or an alienist to look 

 beyond the title page of so pretentious a work 

 as this first installment of the Argentaurum 

 Papers. But the author of this pamphlet of 

 150 octavo pages has contrived to exploit him- 

 self so extensively in the advertising columns 

 of respectable journals, including Science,* that 

 his work demands a brief notice. 



The only part of the paper of any value is 

 the 'Envoy,' which occupies the last twenty 

 pages and gives the author's biography along 

 with a list of his numerous publications. From 

 this envoy it appears that in his academic days 

 he was a prize man in chemistry, physics, logic 

 and other subjects ; that he has published 

 treatises on pure and applied logic, Locke on 

 the conduct of the human understanding, the 

 philosophy and practice of punctuation, etc.; 

 and also that he has published ' well-received ' 

 work in the domain of fiction. We learn with re- 

 gret that he is at present a paralytic. ' 'I have for 

 the last nineteen years been paralyzed," he says, 

 "by an injury to my spine, and am unable to 

 move about with freedom." This might make 

 us charitable, but he is too vigorous and clever 

 a paralytic to implore any lenity ; for he adds, 

 stoically, " I do not say this by way of any 

 excuse. No physical disability is a valid apol- 

 ogy for bad work. Cripples must not inflict 

 themselves upon other people." 



As to the fate of his work he is fully resigned. 

 He says: "I am prepared to be told, in the 

 first place, that I am ignorant and foolish; that 



* The insertion in Science of an advertisement of 

 a book which tve review so unfavorably may seem to 

 need an explanation. In the contract with The Mac- 

 millan Co. the right is given to the responsible editor 

 to veto any advertisement, but it is not desirable to 

 use this power unless necessary. The author of the 

 present book is said to have done good scientific 

 work, and it would doubtless seem to him and to 

 others like persecution not to permit him to bring his 

 hook to the attention of men of science. It is our 

 duty to condemn the hook according to our judg- 

 ment, but the history of thought demonstrates that 

 it is wrong to suppress freedom of speech or of publi- 

 cation. J. McK. C. 



