460 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 91. 



"by G. Upmann, and on Explosive Bodies and 

 Fireworks, by E. von Meyer, published in 

 Brunswick in 1874, and which were translated, 

 revised and enlarged by E. Desortiaux in the 

 admirable work published in Paris in 1878. 

 Following Desortiaux' s plan, Volume I. of Gutt- 

 mann's work is devoted partly to a description 

 of the sources, methods of production and 

 properties of the raw materials used in the 

 manufacture of explosives, and partly to the 

 manufacture, properties and the chemical and 

 physical tests of 'Black Powder,' while Vol- 

 ume II. treats of gun-cotton, nitro-glycerin, 

 dynamite, blasting gelatine, nitro-substitution 

 explosives, smokeless powders, caps, detona- 

 tors and fuses ; considerable space being given 

 to the description of apparatus for testing the 

 velocity, pressure and power of explosives, and 

 to the discussion of methods for their storage 

 and transportation and the construction of fac- 

 tories. There is in addition some seventeen 

 pages of a bibliography which is far from being 

 exhaustive. 



From his occupation, for many years past, 

 as a builder of works and inventor of apparatus 

 for use in the manufacture of explosives, Mr. 

 Guttmann has had unusually good oppor- 

 tunities for becoming familiar with the art, but 

 owing to his confidential relations with his 

 clients, it is not to be expected that much will 

 be published that has not already been made 

 accessible in periodical literature or patent pub- 

 lications, so that the work is to a large extent 

 historical and suggestive. As a consequence of 

 his occupation there is a lack of perspective in 

 the work, his own inventions being given undue 

 prominence. 



Notwithstanding that Mr. Guttmann has been 

 for many years the abstractor in this subject for 

 Dingier'' s Polytechnische Journal, he shows a sin- 

 gular lack of familiarity with American methods 

 and products, which differ materially from those 

 in vogue in Europe, but as a treatise on Euro- 

 pean practice this work is a sound and trust- 

 worthy one. It is probably because of this 

 lack of acquaintance with America that when 

 the author is treating of the history of com- 

 pressed powders. Professor Doremus, of New 

 York, becomes transformed into General Dore- 

 mus of Eussia. 



The chapter on smokeless powders is espe- 

 cially to be commended as probably the most 

 detailed and exhaustive description of the pro- 

 cesses of manufacture in use extant, but it is in 

 error as regards indurite. 



The style is usually clear but sometimes in- 

 volved, as when, in discussing the errors of 

 Kopp's Volumenometer and Say's Stereometer, 

 the author says ' ' so that the results obtained 

 with this apparatus only show the atomic weight 

 of the proportions of the various kinds of 

 powder ; " there is a lack of uniformity in the 

 use of the chemical nomenclature which is likely 

 to pi'ove confusing ; there is an uncertainty at 

 times regarding the constitution of organic sub- 

 stances which is likely to prove misleading ; 

 and there are occasional errors, notably where 

 the author after stating that nitro-glycerin 

 freezes at +8° C. (46. 4° F.) says " some experi- 

 ments made by the author showed that pure 

 nitro-glycerin, if suddenly exposed to a tem- 

 perature of 25° C. (13° F.), produced by a freez- 

 ing mixture, was not frozen even after some 

 hours," yet on the whole the work is a very 

 good one, and it is most liberally illustrated 

 with 328 well executed cuts. 



Charles E. Munroe. 



Columbian University. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Humphrey Davy, Poet and Philosopher. T. E. 

 Thorpe. New York, The Macmillan Co. 

 1896. Pp. vii+236. $1.25. 



Elements of Geology. Joseph Le Conte. 4th 

 edition, revised and enlarged. New York, 

 D. Appleton & Co. 1896. Pp. xiv+670. 

 $4.00. 



Biological Lectures Delivered at the Marine Bio- 

 logical Laboratory of Wood's Soil, in the Sum- 

 mer Session of 1895. Boston and London, 

 Ginn & Co. 1896. Pp. 188. 



The Nursery Book. A complete guide to the 

 multiplication of plants. L. H. Bailey. 

 3d edition. New York and London, The 

 Macmillan Co. 1896. Pp. xi+365. $1.00. 



Report of the Commissioner of Education for the 

 Year 1893-1894. Volume I. Washington, 

 Government Printing Office. 1896. Pp. 

 xlvii+1061. 



