. 
232 Scientific Intelligence. 
= chee of the great extent of its territory in respect to longi- 
“The President of the United States, convinced of the advantages 
of the reform in regard to the question, accordingly desires to 
obtain the opinion of the French Government in regard to an in- 
the French Academy to a commission from the Section of Astron- 
omy and rea that of ESSVG TARY and Navigation.— CORES es us 
dus, Jan. 2, 1883 
15. An tr odution to the Study of Organic Cheat by 
ot Be Pinner, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University 
Scientific Se hool. New York: John Wiley yes 1883, pp. xix 
and 403. 12mo. —Dr. "Pinner 8 Introduction is probabl our best 
tial explanations, the eens ee n group or methane cone s 
are described, including methane and its various halogen, hy- 
droxyl, sulphur, nitrogen (cyanogen bodies) and other derivatives 
he a chosen is that which most naturally leads from the’ 
simpler to the more complex bodies. The descriptions are full or 
rief aetna to the importance of the substance, and the genetic 
and constitutional relations Ey the compounds are brought out 1 
a clear and concise man The methane envatti ed occupy 
sixty pages. The ethane Sosvaaves olin { in similar order ; fol- 
lowed again by their homologues up to the hexa-carbon bodies. 
The e carbhydrates and uric acid derivatives are treated separately. 
Then follows a retrospect in which the more important pacers 
olefine and acetylene hydro-carbons, their halogen and hydrox xyl 
Pcie (including aldehydes, ketones and acids of various 
basicity), amines, etc., etc., are tabulated so as to emphasize their 
homologies. These t topics fill one-half of the book. Then f follow 
Ww 
8 plan of instruction ; it 18 written in a very simple, 
clear and appropriate style. The translation as well a the 
, and we cordially 
commend the volume to teachers and students of this ecient 
and now most * sean ” branch of science. & W, 
