74 Notices respecting New Boohs. 



the older edition was unnecessarily lengthy and that many of the 

 articles were out of place in a dictionary of pure chemistry, so that 

 there has here been ample scope for condensation. On the 

 other hand, when we consider that the subject of organic chemistry 

 as treated in Beilstein's Handhucli, the most perfect type of 

 compressed information at present at the disposal of chemists, 

 requires three large volumes of the most closely printed matter, it 

 is difficult to see how the compilers are going to treat of the whole 

 of the science in the prescribed limits. But we must not anticipate 

 difficulties since the present notice refers only to the first volume, 

 and in this Messrs. Morley and Muir have certainly shown their 

 ability to perform the literary feat which has been demanded of 

 them . 



The first volume of the Dictionary, which we are glad to see is 

 still to retain the name of the late author of the first edition, takes 

 us as far as the letter C, the concluding article being on Chemical 

 Action. The work of editing has been facilitated by each editor 

 taking charge of one of the two great divisions of the science, Mr. 

 Muir being responsible for the inorganic and general chemistry, and 

 Dr. Morley for the organic portion of the subject. This division 

 of labour was no doubt necessitated by purely practical considera- 

 tions, since the unavoidable tendency to specialization among 

 modern workers has arisen from the enormous multiplication of 

 facts, which renders it more and more hopeless for a chemist to 

 become an adept in both departments of his science in the present 

 state of its development. While conceding the practical necessity 

 for this division of our science into organic and inorganic, we only 

 do so with the understanding that there are not two chemistries, 

 but that the compounds of the one particular element carbon, 

 having been studied in greater detail than those of any other 

 element, and the number of these compounds being practically un- 

 limited, the mere wealth of material in this department of knowledge 

 claims all the faculties of the chemist who devotes himself to its 

 study. This multiplicity of carbon compounds is of course nothing 

 more than an accident contingent upon the nature of the atom of 

 the element on the one hand and of our present methods of 

 investigation on the other. With the development of the science 

 and the consequent perfection of our methods of research, we may 

 expect to see the chemical histories of other elements developed 

 into a state of complexity comparable with that of carbon, and the 

 " organic " chemist of the future may be rivalled as a specialist by 

 his brother worker on the compounds, say, of silicon, or of any 

 other element to which new methods of investigation may be 

 applied. 



Among the features of the new edition to which attention must 

 be called are the special articles contributed by various writers, many 

 of whom are recognized authorities on the subjects of which they 

 treat. Nineteen such contributors, including the late Mr. Watts, 

 figure in the present volume. Taking these in the order given in 

 the list at the commencement of the work, we have articles on 



