Miscellaneous Intelligence. 99 



periodicals are very numerous ; in England there have been but 

 few. There is more room, therefore, for this new journal, the 

 "Ion," which is started with the design of covering the field of 

 physico-chemistry, or in other words the various special branches of 

 physics in which the electron is the essential conception ; one of 

 the most highly developed of these is the subject of radio-activity. 

 Associated with the editor-in-chief are the following : Sv. Arrhe- 

 nius, Stockholm ; W. H. Bragg, Adelaide ; A. S. Eve, Montreal ; 

 O. Hahn, Berlin ; W. H. Julius, Utrecht ; A. Werner, Zurich ; G. 

 Bruni, Padua ; Mde. Curie, Paris ; Guilleaume, Paris ; Van't 

 Hoff, Berlin ; W. Marckwald, Berlin ; W. Wien, Wiirzburg. 



The first number of Ion bears the date of November, 1908, and 

 opens with an account of M. Henri Becquerel, the founder of 

 radio-activity, by F. Soddy, who also contributes a paper on the 

 charge carried by the a-particles. Other articles are on uranium 

 and geology by John Joly ; the transmission of energy in the 

 world of electrons by H. W. Julius ; and actinium C by Otto 

 Hahn and Lise Meitner. Following these articles are some 

 twenty pages devoted to reports of papers published elsewhere 

 and notices of new books. 



The new journal will be issued in monthly numbers of 64 to 

 80 pages, at the price of 30s. per volume ; the editorial address is 

 given above. 



3. Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer / by David Duncan. 

 Two volumes. Pp. viii, 414 and vii, 444, with seven full-page 

 illustrations. New York, 1908 (D. Appleton & Company). 

 — These two attractive volumes portray the human side of the 

 life of the great philosopher and form a fitting complement to 

 Spencer's own voluminous autobiography. The author and 

 compiler was commissioned by Spencer himself to prepare such 

 a work for publication, and to incorporate certain unpublished 

 papers and portraits. From the vast amount of correspondence 

 which passed between Spencer and members of his family, friends, 

 and the scientific men of the day, the author has made such 

 judicious selection, and has woven the whole together so skill- 

 fully by explanation and anecdote, that the work can be read with 

 perfect smoothness. And at the same time the reader gains such 

 vivid pictures of the real man, his attitude toward the great 

 problems of his day, and with frequent glimpses of his scientific 

 associates, as could hardly be secured in any other manner. The 

 letters are arranged largely with refereuce to subject matter, but 

 with some regard for chronological order, and the work is illus- 

 trated by a number of portraits not only of Spencer at successive 

 periods of his life, but also of persons with whom he corresponded. 

 In five appendices appear several hitherto unpublished essays, 

 together with lists of his writings (the titles covering fifteen 

 pages) and the honors which were offered the great scholar by 

 upwards of thirty universities and learned societies. It should 

 be added that these honors were, however, with few exceptions 

 declined. - w. n. c. 



