Chemistry and Physics. 269 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



I. Chemistry and Physics. 



1. A Laboratory Guide in Qualitative Chemical Analysis; 

 by H. L. Wells, M.A. Svo, pp. viii, 190. New York, 1898 

 (John Wiley & Sons). — The purpose of the author in writing this 

 book, as he tells us in the preface, was to introduce a method 

 which, as he has found in his own teaching, has a " tendency to 

 obviate thoughtless and mechanical work on the part of the stu- 

 dent." The volume is divided into three parts. Part I com- 

 prises the Analytical Course, Part II the Theory and Part III 

 the Descriptive Part ; to which are added as appendices a list of 

 apparatus and two sets of chemical labels. The object of the 

 analytical course " is to introduce the subject of qualitative 

 analysis in such a way as to develop the powers of observation, 

 inductive reasoning and memory and at the same time to give a 

 knowledge of chemical facts and methods which will be of use in 

 the further study of this and related subjects." In general the 

 methods of Fresenius are followed though with some changes. 

 In the second part the student's knowledge of theory is supple- 

 mented by additional matter directly connected with analysis, 

 the chapter on ions and ionization being especially valuable. In 

 the third or descriptive part, the radicals are classi6ed alphabeti- 

 cally, the properties upon which their analytical reactions are 

 based being briefly given. The novelty as well as the excellence 

 of the method developed in the Analytical Course seems of itself 

 to justify the addition of this book to our analytical manuals. As 

 a laboratory handbook it will prove most useful; being much 

 smaller than the treatise of Fresenius, which must always remain 

 the standard of reference. g. y. b. 



2. A Short Course in Inorganic Qualitative Analysis for 

 Engineering Students; by J. S. C. Wells, Ph.D. 12mo, pp. 

 viii, 294. New York, 1898 (John Wiley & Sons). — This volume 

 contains a short analytical course intended for the use of students 

 who have only a limited time to devote to the subject. In the 

 first section the grouping of the metals is considered, with the 

 reactions of the several groups. In the second, the grouping and 

 reactions of the acids are similarly treated. The third section is 

 devoted to the analysis of actual compounds, especially of com- 

 mercial products. The book is copiously supplied with " tables 

 of scheme reactions," following the tables of group separations 

 and those of separations of members of the groups. g. f. b. 



3. Introduction to Electro-chemical Experiments ; by Dr. 

 Felix Oettel. Translated (with the author's sanction) bv 

 Edgar F. Smith. 12mo, pp. 144. Philadelphia, 1897. (P. 

 Blakiston, Son & Co.) 



Practical Exercises in Electrochemistry; by Dr. Felix 

 Oettel. Translated (with the author's sanction) by Edgar F. 



