932 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 363. 



relations of the Institution to Congress, as 

 found in the volumes of the Congressional Olobe 

 and Congressional Record, the Journals of the 

 Senate and House, and the Statutes at Large. 

 Part I. contains the documents pertaining to 

 the foundation, the will of James Smithson, 

 the correspondence ensuing and statements of 

 other bequests to the Institution ; Part II. em- 

 braces legislation relative to the establishment 

 of the Institution, 1835-1847 ; Part III. em- 

 braces the legislation in Congress from 1847 to 

 1887 ; and according to the table of contents of 

 a second volume (printed in Vol. I.), that will 

 contain details of legislation from 1887 to 1899. 

 These volumes will prove indispensable to 

 those seeking full and accurate information of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



H. C. B. 



q, ../j, . 



A College Text-book of Chemistry. By Ira Rem- 



SEN. New York, Henry Holt and Co. 1901. 



Pp. XX + 689. 



This book is intended to fill a place between 

 the ' Inorganic Chemistry ' and the elementary 

 text-books by the same author. After an in- 

 troductory chapter, in which some fundamental 

 principles, including the laws of definite and 

 multiple proportions, symbols, and equations, 

 are discussed, six chapters are given to oxygen, 

 hydrogen, water and the atomic theory. The 

 remaining elements are considered in the fol- 

 lowing order of the families of the periodic 

 system : Chlorine, nitrogen, carbon, lithium, 

 gluciuum, aluminium, copper, zinc, gallium, 

 germanium, chromium, manganese, iron, plati- 

 num. Two short chapters on carbon compounds 

 close the book. At appropriate points, topics 

 pertaining to theoretical chemistry are taken 

 up, such as theperodic law, mass action, dissoci- 

 ation, osmotic pressure, Faraday's law and 

 atomic heats. 



While President Remsen believes that ' the 

 time has not yet come for the abandonment of 

 the study of elements and their compounds in 

 what some are pleased to call the old-fashioned 

 way, ' those subjects which pertain to what is 

 commonly known as physical chemistry re- 

 ceive a fair degree of attention. Not only are 

 the fundamental theories of solutions discussed 

 in detail in two or three places, but several ap- 

 plications of the theory are considered in con- 



nection with individual compounds. The great 

 importance of such a reiteration of fundamen- 

 tal principles is, of course, clearly recognized 

 by all successful teachers. 



The laboratory study which the author in- 

 tends should accondpany the use of the text is 

 indicated by a series of experiments at the close 

 of the successive chapters. A few quantitative 

 experiments are included. The subjects for 

 experimental illustration are mostly well se- 

 lected, but the addition of some work, demon- 

 strating the fundamental properties of solutions 

 is needed. 



The book, as a whole, is written in that clear 

 and fluent English which is so characteristic of 

 the author and which has done so much to 

 make him one of the greatest of the teachers of 

 chemistry. 



W. A. NOYES. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The American Naturalist for November opens 

 with an article on ' The Parasitic Origin of Mac- 

 roergates among Ants,' by W. M. Wheeler, in 

 which the writer describes the occurrence of 

 certain monstrous workers of the genus Phei- 

 dole caused by the presence of a parasite of the 

 genus Mermis. These macroergates are com- 

 pared with phenomena observed among other 

 species, the author concluding that the char- 

 acter of the adult ants is not due to the efforts 

 of the attendant workers alone, but also to a 

 certain amount of initiative in the larvae. H. 

 L. Osborn describes ' Some Points in the Anat- 

 omy of a Collection of Axolotls from Colorado, 

 and a Specimen from North Dakota,' these 

 points being wholly external and connected 

 with the change of Siredon into Amblystoma. 

 ' A Parasitic or Commensal Oligochsete in New 

 England ' is described in some detail by M. A. 

 Willcox, and Albert C. Eycleshymer gives 

 some interesting ' Observations on the Breed- 

 ing Habits of Ameiurus nebulosus.^ M. Louise 

 Nichols considers ' The Spermatogenesis of 

 Oniscus Asellus Lim., with especial reference 

 to the History of the Chromatin,' and George H. 

 T. Nuttall treats of ' The Formation of Specific 

 Anti-Bodies in the Blood, following upon Treat- 

 ment with the Sera of Different Animals,' giving 

 the results of a series of investigations which 



