May 18, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



785 



suspensioa of 30,000 to 40,000 feet. This 

 is the equivalent of steel of about 100,000 

 pounds tenacity. Could the oast portions 

 of the steam-engine be made in this ma- 

 tei'ial for our torpedo-boats or aeronautic 

 and automobile machinery their weights 

 would be reduced about one-half. It re- 

 mains to be seen whether, the costs permit- 

 ting, this change would be to any extent 

 practicable. Dynamos have been construc- 

 ted, in the shops of Sibley College, of alu- 

 minium and a gain thus secured for portable 

 and automobile work of some importance, 

 and it is possible that magnesium, with its 

 higher tenacity and greater lightness, may 

 prove the coming material for some such 

 work. Costs will undoubtedly fall rapidly 

 with increasing area of market. 



E. H. Thurston. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 La constitution du monde. By Madame Clem- 

 BNCE EoYEK. Published by Schleicher 

 Freres, 15 Rue des Saints-Peres, Paris. Con- 

 taining 799 pages, 100 chapters, 92 figures, 

 and 4 plates. 



This pretentious volume is claimed by its 

 author to contain a new and satisfactory philos- 

 ophy of nature including everything from the 

 geometrical structure of molecules to a theory 

 of the evolution of worlds. In a somewhat re- 

 markable preface the author expresses in forci- 

 ble terms her contempt for those philosophers 

 who maintain that certain things are unknow- 

 able, and asserts that th^ir speculations were 

 advanced to enslave the minds of men and 

 support the dogmas of theologians. The fol- 

 lowing quotations of remarks concerning scien- 

 tific subjects will indicate her attitude of mind : 

 ' ' The kinetic theory of gases is certainly a 

 romance conceived by the imagination of a 

 German mathematician." The non-euclidian 

 geometries "founded on sophistic generaliza- 

 tions of analysis * * * have for their result 

 and their end, the clouding of the intellect in 

 undermining the foundations of rational certi- 

 tude, to the profit of those who are attempting 



to reduce mankind * * * to the credo quia ab- 

 surdum of blind and unquestioning faith," 



The ideas advanced vipou scientific questions 

 are not worth tlie space that it would require 

 to enumerate them, much less to make any 

 critical comments. They indicate, as is in 

 reality confessed in the preface, that the author 

 has read, though widely, with a mind strongly 

 biased by preconceived notions, and they show 

 at every point a lamentable lack of scientific 

 training and spirit. The contents of the 99th 

 chapter are sufficient to illustrate the statement. 

 The author in her ' evolution du monde ' sup- 

 poses that at some remote time a planet from 

 exterior space struck Saturn a glancing blow 

 greatly accelerating its rotation ; that the Satur- 

 nian oceans and portions of the solid crust were 

 hurled off and formed the rings, which are ice, 

 or perhaps aluminium ; that the striking planet 

 was broken up forming the satellites of Saturn, 

 Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Mars, and the Moon, 

 the asteroids, the meteor streams ; that Venus 

 and Mercury have no satellites because they 

 were on the opposite side of the sun when the 

 collision occurred ; that the Moon and the satel- 

 lites of Mars move with less linear velocity than 

 those of the larger planets because they are so 

 far from Saturn that the velocities of the flying 

 fragments had largely died out before they 

 reached their respective primaries ; and that 

 the second satellite of Mars ' by a remarkable 

 exception does not fulfil! the laws of Kepler.' 

 The figure inserted in the chapter makes the 

 theory very clear. 



It is to be regretted, for the sake of the 

 author who devoted so much time to writing 

 the book, and for the sake of Madame Valen- 

 tine Barrier who bore the expense of its publi- 

 cation, that it is impossible to say that the 

 work is worth reading. F. E. M. 



The Chemistry of Soils , and Fertilizers. By 

 Harey Snyder, B.S., Professor of Agricul- 

 tural Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 

 and Chemist of the Minnesota Agricultural 

 Experimental Station, Easton, Pa. The 

 Chemical Publishing Company. 1899. 12mo. 

 ix + 277 pp. Price, fl.50. 

 This book is the outgrowth of courses of in- 

 struction given at the University of Minnesota 



