October 14, 1887.] 



SCIENCE 



191 



of physics will find this book an extremely valuable aid, and full of 

 suggestions. The chapters on other forms of heat-engines besides 

 the ordinary steam-engine tend to make the subject more interest- 

 ing, and place in the hands of the teacher a vast amount of impor- 

 tant information. 



The Elements of Qualitaiive Analysis. By WILLIAM A. NOYES. 

 Terre Haute, Ind., Moore & Lanzen. 12°. 



Professor Noyes's little book on qualitative chemical analysis 

 is a very brief and highly condensed account of ordinary modes of 

 proceeding in qualitative analysis of a simple kind, and the reasons 

 therefor. Of the properties of the elements considered, only such 

 are discussed as are immediately applicable to the scheme of 

 analysis, though the deficiency in this respect is supplied to a 

 certain extent in the table of re-actions, for which the author 

 acknowledges indebtedness to Biedermann's ' Chemiker-Kal- 

 ender ' for 1887. Of course, such a book may serve profitably as 

 the foundation merely, upon which the judicious instructor erects 

 the superstructure of his teaching, and for such use it will doubtless 

 find place. It is clearly written and well arranged. 



Elements of Modern Chemistry. By AdOLPHE WurTZ. 3d 

 Amer. ed. Tr. and ed. by W. H. Greene. Philadelphia, 

 Lippincott. 12°. 



The appearance of the third American edition of this well- 

 known and excellent text-book bears witness to its popularity. 

 The present edition is based upon the fifth French edition, and is 

 brought well down to date. 



QuantitattiJe Chemical Analysis by Electrolysis. According to 

 original methods, by Dr. Alexander Classen. Tr. by 

 William H. Herrick. New York, Wiley. 8°. 



It is perhaps not unnatural that an author who is also an 

 investigator should attribute to methods of his own finding greater 

 importance than he is inclined to yield to the devices of others. 

 Upon some such presumption only does it seem possible to explain 

 the presence of the phrase ' according to original methods ' upon 

 the titlepage of Professor Classen's book. Scarcely more than half 

 the fundamental methods of electrolytical analysis which are de- 

 scribed or referred to are the author's own ; and even in the 

 schemes for the separation of elements, and in the special applica- 

 tions, where the original methods are employed to the utmost 

 possible extent (and sometimes, it is to be feared, to the exclusion 

 of more suitable ones), recourse has been had in fully a fourth of 

 the cases discussed to the processes of others. For many years a 

 few electrolytical methods have held high rank, and justly, among 

 precise analytical processes, and recently the number of such has 

 increased. To note that these are recognized (though too scantily) 

 in the text, if not on the titlepage, is gratifying. Professor Classen 

 has rendered great and undoubted service to analytical chemistry 

 in arousing and directing attention to the uses of electricity in 

 chemical analysis; but stress of severe experience (to detail which 

 would be out of place here) compels the suggestion with reference 

 to some, at least, of the ' original methods ' that, before applying 

 them in work demanding close accuracy of results, to scrutunize 

 carefully and test by experiment is the part of wisdom. 



Elementary Trigonometry. By T. R0.4CH. Oxford, Clarendon 

 Pr. 12°. 



This work on elementary trigonometry is the result of many 

 years' experience in teaching the subject, both as assistant master 

 in Repton School and as a private tutor. The book-work is 

 divided into short portions, and at the end of each portion is 

 introduced a set of examples illustrating the point just taught. 

 The total number of examples in the text is more than a thousand, 

 and to these is added a graduated collection of two hundred 

 miscellaneous questions. The author expresses a hope to include 

 a collection of more difficult questions on the same part of the sub- 

 ject in a subsequent work on higher trigonometry. At the end of 

 the book is given a collection of papers recently set in some of the 

 principal examinations in England, in which a knowledge of 

 elementary trigonometry is required. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The interior department of Canada has received advices from 

 the exploratory survey party sent to northern British Columbia, 

 near the Alaska boundary-line. Dr. Dawson, who is in charge, 

 will return to Ottawa before winter sets in. The other section of 

 the expedition, under the direction of Mr. Ogilvie, has been gather- 

 ing general information regarding the country, and making a general 

 survey. Considerable data have been gathered regarding the dis- 

 puted boundary-line between the Dominion and Alaska. This, 

 when completed, will be transmitted to Ottawa, when diplomacy 

 will settle the boundary question. Mr. Ogilvie proposed to winter 

 near Fort Reliance, a point about one thousand miles north of Vic- 

 toria. After obtaining more men, he will endeavor to penetrate 

 across country as far north as the mouth of the Mackenzie. His pro- 

 posal to increase his party is simply a precautionary measure, as he 

 was informed that the Eskimos on the Arctic slopes are very 

 troublesome. He will start for home by another route, ascending 

 the Mackenzie River, and entering civilization in the North-west 

 Territoiy. He expects to reach Ottawa next fall. 



— The Canadian Government is making an effort to settle the 

 troubles at Metlakahtla, which were mentioned in the last number 

 of Science. Mr. A. Vankoughnet. deputy minister of Indian affairs, 

 left on Oct. 4 for British Columbia. He has been intrusted with 

 the task of investigating the troubles among the Metlakahtla In- 

 dians, who are removing to Alaska. Bishop Sillitoe of New West- 

 minster, British Columbia, has for the past week been the guest of 

 Sir John A. Macdonald, the Canadian premier. It is understood that 

 he visited Ottawa specially to urge the government to back down 

 with the hope of persuading the Indians to remain on British soil. 



— The Nautical Society of Hamburg has offered a prize of 500 

 marks for the best essay on the subject of calming the sea by the use 

 of oil. An exhaustive description of experiments of the effect of oil 

 made up to the present time is required ; also a criticism of the ar- 

 rangements used so far, and especially complete directions for its. 

 use by large steamers and sailing-vessels, as well as small vessels, — 

 pilot, fishing, and life-saving boats, — besides directions for the use 

 of oil at sea and near the coast. The essays are to be written in 

 English or German, and sent before Nov. I, 1887, to the president 

 of the Nautical Society, director of the Navigation School, Capt. F. 

 E. Matthiesen, Hamburg. Competition is not limited by nationality. 



— According to Nature, the Syndics of the Cambridge University 

 Press will publish early in October two works on elementary chem- 

 istry. One, intended as a companion to lecture-work, is by Mr. 

 Pattison Muir and Dr. Charles Slater : the other, intended to be 

 used along with the book already mentioned, is a course of labora- 

 tory work by Mr. Pattison Muir and Mr. Carnegie. Both books, 

 deal with the subject of elementary chemistry in a manner some- 

 what different from that usually adopted in text-books. 



— Bulletin No. 35 of the United States Geological Survey, on the 

 physical properties of the iron carburets, by Carl Barus and Vin- 

 cent Strouhal. is a continuation of the work published in Nos. 14. 

 and 27, and the investigation is still incomplete. This contribution 

 is devoted to the internal structure of tempered steel, and the 

 color-effect produced by slow oxidation of iron carburets. Bulletin 

 No. 36, on the subsidence of fine solid particles in liquids, by Carl 

 Barus, has a more obvious bearing on the proper work of the 

 Geological Survey, since this and kindred investigations have al- 

 ready thrown much light upon the process of sedimentation. 



— The ' Digest of the International Law of the United States,' 

 which has been prepared by Dr. Francis Wharton and issued from 

 the government printing-office in three volumes, is a splendid work. 

 The able editor has brought together a most valuable collection of 

 material, and arranged it m excellent order. This work will long 

 remain our standard reference-book on topics of international law. 



— The number of steamers existing in the world last year is esti- 

 mated, says \he.fournal of the Society of Arts, at 9,969, of an aggre- 

 gate burthen of 10,531,843 tons. The corresponding number of 

 steamers existing in the world in 1885 was estimated at 9,642, of an 

 aggregate burthen of 10,291,241 tons. The total of 9,969 steamers, 

 representing the world's steam-shipping in 1886, was made up as 

 follows: iron steamers, 8,198, of an aggregate burthen of 8,911,406 

 tons; steel steamers, 770, of an aggregate burthen of 1,206,962 



