Notices respecting JS T ew Books. 701 



Landolt-Bornstein Physikalisch-Chemische Tabellen. Dritte urngear- 

 beitete und vermehrte Auflage, herausgegeben von Dr. Richard 

 Bornstein und Dr. Wiehelm Meyerhoeeer. Julius Springer, 

 Berlin, 1905: pp. xvi + 861. 

 The appearance of a new revised and enlarged edition of this 

 standard and deservedly popular work will be cordially welcomed 

 by all workers in physical science. Since the issue, in 1894, of 

 the previous edition of the work, numerous additions have been 

 made to our knowledge of physical constants, and of these 

 the editors of the present edition, assisted by numerous experts 

 and the Prussian Academy of Sciences, have fully availed them- 

 selves. The work as it stands at present is a remarkable monument 

 of human industry and of that conscientious attention to detail 

 which has been so largeiy instrumental in developing modern 

 science. 



Among the special features of the new edition, besides the 

 corrections necessitated by more recent researches, may be men- 

 tioned the numerous bibliographical references which occur 

 throughout the body of the work, and the new tables relating to 

 absorption, emission, and reflexion ; those relating to thermo- 

 electric constants, sparking potentials in gases, and magnetic 

 properties of materials used in dynamo construction ; and lastly, 

 the very large and important additions to the section which deals 

 with thermo-chemistry and physical chemistry generally. 



Researches on the Affinities of the Elements and on the Causes of the 

 Chemical Similarity or Dissimilarity of Elements and Compounds. 

 By Geoeerey Martex, B.Se. London : J. & A. Churchill. 1905. 

 Pp. xii + 287. 

 This original and interesting work should strongly appeal to all 

 interested in the wider generalisations of modern chemistry. 

 " The chemical properties of an element depend entirely upon its 

 chemical affinities ; and the similarity or dissimilarity of two atoms 

 or radicals depends on the proportionality or otherwise of the 

 affinities of the one to those of the other," — may be regarded as the 

 text from which the author preaches his sermon, and the text is 

 supported by an immense mass of facts culled from the field of 

 experimental research. Were the affinities of each element in 

 each state of valency known, then it would be possible to construct 

 for each its "affinity surface," and chemistry would then take 

 rank as a mathematical science. The "affinity surface" is con- 

 structed by the author as follows. In the oc-y plane the various 

 elements, arranged according to the periodic law, are represented 

 by points, the ^-coordinate corresponding to the group number 

 of the element, and the ^/-coordinate to its series number. The 

 affinity, for any element, of the element whose affinity surface is 

 required is then represented by the z- coordinate, and the surface 

 passing through the extremities of the z-coordinates is the affinity 

 surface. Owing to the absence of sufficient data, it is at present 

 impossible to construct accurately the affinity surfaces. The 



