SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



NOTICES BY JOHN* 



CARRTNOTON. 



Micro-organisms and Fermentation. By Alfred 

 Jorgensen. Translated by Alex. K. Miller, 

 Ph.D.,F.I.C, and A. E. Lennholm. Third edition. 

 xiii + 318 pp., with 83 illustrations. (London and 

 New York : Macmillans, 1900.) 10s. net. 



This — the third — edition has been completely re- 

 vised, and a large portion of the book has been en- 

 tirely re-written, with considerable additions, so as 

 to bring the text up to the most recent knowledge 

 of this branch of the very progressive science of 

 bacteriology. There are several new features in 

 the book, including a summary of observations 

 on the behaviour of high-fermentation yeasts in use 

 in brewery-factories. It includes also descriptions 

 of some interesting yeast species discovered in 

 recent years. The organisms occurring in milk 

 and the pure cultures of lactic-acid bacteria in 

 dairies and distilleries are illustrated with new 

 figures. To those who are connected with breweries, 

 distilleries, and dairies, the work will be invaluable, 

 and the general reader who desires a knowledge 

 of the remarkable organisms of fermentation will 

 find this work of great help to a better understand- 

 ing of the subject. Added to the book is a 

 voluminous bibliography, extending to no less than 

 forty-two pages. The absence of an index is not 

 convenient. The first chapter will be useful to 

 microscopists who have not studied these curious 

 organisms, as it contains directions for procedure, 

 and particulars of the apparatus necessary for their 

 culture, microscopical preparation, staining, &c. 

 There are also valuable chapters on bacteria 

 generally and mould-fungi. This latter will be 

 of service to cryptogamic-botany students, as it 

 really forms a modern treatise on moulds that 

 appear among the products of fermentation and 

 alcoholic distillation. These beautiful vegetable 

 organisms are easily obtained, and form pleasing 

 objects for the microscope. 



Letters of Berzelius and Schoribein. Edited by 

 Georg W. A. Kahlbaum, translated by Francis 

 V. Darbishire, Ph.D., and N. V. Sedgwick. 112 pp. 

 7w in. x 5 in. (London, Edinburgh, and Oxford : 

 Williams & Norgate. 1900.) 3s. 



Christian Friedrich SchSnbein will ever be known 

 as the discoverer of ozone and the inventor of gun- 

 cotton. He was at one time Professor of Chemistry 

 and Physics at the University of Bale, and the 

 centenary of his birth occurred last year. His 

 correspondent. Baron Jons Jakob Berzelius, was 

 twenty years the elder of the two, and he had a 

 wider range of study than Schonbein, who concen- 

 trated his attention on a narrowly contracted field 

 of chemical and electrical energy. These letters 

 began in 1836, and continued during a period of 

 great activity among chemists and physicists. In 

 them are frequent references to the work of Faraday 

 and others whose names are familar to every 

 educated person ; they are thus of more than 



passing interest, on account of the personal riews 

 expressed by the two .eminent savants who con- 

 ducted the correspondence. 



The Temple Encyclopaedic Primers. An Intro- 

 duction to Science. By Alexander Hill, M.D. 

 139 pp., 6 in. x 4 in., with 6 portraits. Ethno- 

 logy, by D. Michael Haberlandt. viii + 169 

 pp., 6 in. x 4 in., with 56 illustrations. (London : . 

 J. M. Dent & Co., 1900.) Is. each. 



The publishers of these short educational works 

 have long been known for the issue of artistic and 

 well-chosen books. This new series will be found 

 handy little volumes to caiTy in one's pocket when 

 travelling or for reading at odd intervals. • They are 

 well printed, and written by people who know their 

 respective subjects, and will doubtless find a large 

 sale among the public generally. 



The Flowering Plant. By J. B. Aixsworth 

 Davies, M.A., F.C.P. Third Edition, xv + 195 pp.. 

 8 in. + 5£ in., with 70 illustrations. (London : 

 Charles Griffin & Co., Limited, 1900.) 3s. 6d. 



The intention of this successful work is to illus- 

 trate the first principles of botany. It will be 

 found useful as a class-book, as it is well arranged 

 and contains an appendix on practical work ; also 

 a second appendix, giving a series of examination 

 questions founded on the South Kensington and 

 London Matriculation systems. 



Common Objects of the Microscope. By J. G. 

 Wood, M.A., F.L.S. viii + 186 pp., 7§in. x 5 in., 

 with 14 coloured or other plates, and 16 illustra- 

 tions in text. Second Edition, revised by E. C. 

 Bousfield, L.B.C.P. (London : George Boutledge 

 & Sons, Limited, 1900.) 3s. 6d. ; with plain 

 plates, Is. 



There are few books more suited to the begin- 

 ner, or more likely to inculcate in him a desire to 

 examine for himself Nature's handiwork, than the 

 late Rev. J. G. Wood's well-known " Common 

 Objects of the Microscope." We welcome there- 

 fore the new edition that Dr. Bousfield has revised 

 and largely re-written for Messrs. Routledge. The 

 familiar plates by the late Tuff en West appear as 

 before, but to them have been added two excellent 

 plates of infusoria, rotifera, worms, etc., drawn by 

 Dr. Bousfield. The bulk of the text has wisely 

 been left much as the Rev. J. G. Wood wrote it ; 

 but the reviser has contributed an entirely new 

 chapter on pond-life and a popular account of 

 marine life, a new chapter on the preparation and 

 mounting of objects for the microscope, also an 

 introductory chapter on the practical manipulation 

 of the instrument. This last, however, is some- 

 what inadequate, even with due regard to the 

 scope and aims of the work. Whilst thoroughly 

 sympathising with the reviser's desire to leave 

 intact the author's original text, we think it is 

 misleading and unnecessary to illustrate or re- 

 commend to the notice of beginners — into whose 

 hands this volume will largely fall — -such an anti- 

 quated and defective microscope as is figured on 

 page 14. The making of microscopes has taken 

 large strides since this book was first written, and 

 a good microscope costs no more than a bad one 

 In all other respects Dr. Bousfield has done his 

 work excellently. The book has been well pro- 

 duced by the publishers, as the print, paper, and 

 binding are all good. The work is what it pro- 

 . fesses to be, a revision and not merely a re- 

 print. — F. S. S. 



