Chemistry and Physics. 77 



One of the most interesting features of the book is the presen- 

 tation of a large number of letters between Hare and Benjamin 

 Silliraan, the elder, the founder of this Journal. This correspond- 

 ence records a close and sincere friendship between these two 

 early American scientists, which began in the time of their youth 

 when they studied and lived together in Philadelphia in 1802, 

 and continued until the time of Hare's death in 1858. They con- 

 sulted each other in the most intimate way in regard to their 

 work, and the letters have an interest similar to those of Liebig 

 and Wohler. It should be mentioned also that the greater part 

 of Hare's scientific publications appeared in this Journal under 

 Silliman's editorship. 



Hare was born in 1781, and was about two years younger than 

 Silliman. The historical position of these men may be shown by 

 the statement that Silliman, Davy and Berzelius were of almost 

 exactly the same age. Only a few of Hare's achievements can be 

 alluded to here. It is interesting to find that his best known 

 invention, the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, was made w^hen he was 

 only 20 years of age. It was on account of this invention that 

 the Rumford medal, granted for the first time, was conferred on 

 him in 1839. It appears that he was the first experimenter to 

 convert charcoal into graphite by heat, that he was the first to 

 isolate metallic calcium, and that he produced calcium carbide 

 and obtained acetylene from it, although the latter was not recog- 

 nized by him. He was a wonderful experimenter, particularly 

 interested in electricity, and his experiments before his classes 

 were performed usually on a large scale and in a most impressive 

 manner. 



The book contains much of Hare's theoretical discussions. 

 Many of the theories advocated by him have not survived, but 

 others are still important. He was fond of argument, wrote long 

 letters to such celebrated men as Berzelius and Faraday criticiz- 

 ing their views, and was regarded highly enough by them to 

 receive their elaborate replies, which add much interest to the 

 book. Three portraits of Hare, here presented, show him to have 

 been a man of imposing appearance. h. l. w. 



3. A Course in Food Analysis; b^ Andrew L. Winton. 

 8vo, pp. 252. :N'ew York, 1917 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).— The 

 purpose of this book is to provide a laboratory course compris- 

 ing about 40 periods of work. The author suggests that the 

 course may be used as a substitute for the usual training in inor- 

 ganic analysis, since it presents more variety in methods and is 

 perhaps of more general interest and of greater practical impor- 

 tance to many students. As the author has had a vast amount of 

 experience and is one of the highest authorities in this line of 

 work, it is found, as would be expected, that the best methods 

 and their most important applications have been presented. It 

 may be added that the operations are very clearly and fully 

 described. The examination of a great variety of products is 

 presented, wnth due attention to the detection of various preserva- 



