39b* Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
kinetic theory of liquids. Some general considerations based on 
the available experimental data conclude this Section. 
The work is one which will prove of very great interest to all 
students of molecular physics, and its value is greatly enhanced by 
the copious references to original memoirs. 
Bulletin of tli e Bureau of Standards. Vol. 3. Xos. 1-4. 
Washington : Government Printing Office. 1907. Pp. 72S. 
A mere cursory glance through these volumes is sufficient to es- 
tablish the great interest and importance of the investigations now 
being carried out by the Washington Bureau of Standards. Here 
we have papers on such subjects as the calculation of mutual in- 
ductances in various cases of practical importance, a comparison 
of the units of luminous intensity of different countries, the es- 
tablishment of the therm o-dynamic scale of temperature by means 
of the constant-pressure thermometer, the production of high- 
frequency oscillations from the electric arc, incandescent lamp 
photometry, the measurement of the capacity and power-factor of 
condensers, a determination of v, and others. Xo one who is 
anxious to keep abreast of modern progress in either pure or 
applied science can afford to neglect this standard publication. 
XXXIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
THE EVOLUTION AND DEVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTS. 
BY HUGH RAMAGE. 
Messes. A. C. and A. E. Jessup, in a very suggestive paper 
in the Philosophical Magazine for January, put forward as new 
the view that the chemical elements have evolved in groups, 
that is, down the vertical columns of Mendel eeff's table. This 
view was suggested by me in a paper on " A comparative study 
of the spectra, densities and melting-points of some groups of 
elements and of the relation of properties to atomic mass," 
published in the Proc. Eoy. Soc. vol. lxx. p. 1, 1901, and the 
cases of argon and tellurium were also discussed. This paper 
indicates the order of evolution as : — Li-Xa-K-Eb-Cs and 
Li-Xa-Cu-Ag-Au ; also Be-Mg-Ca-Sr-Ba and Be-Mg-Zn-Cd- 
Hg, &c. The suggestion that those sub-groups beginning with 
copper, zinc, and gallium have been indirectly evolved from 
carbon, and not directly from sodium, magnesium, and aluminium 
respectively, receives no support from the spectra of the metals. 
In fact, the evidence given by the spectra, and also by certain 
properties of the metals, is strongly opposed to it. 
The view that the formation of successive elements is attended 
by the escape of a large quantity of energy is contrary to that 
which has impressed itself upon me. The question, however, is 
too complex to be dealt with in a short note. 
C arrow Hill, Norwich, 
January 31st, 1908. 
