Chemistry and Physics. 191 



6. The Theory of Measurements ; by A. de Forest Palmer. 

 Pp. xi, 248, with 16 figures. New York, 1912 (McGraw-Hill 

 Book Co.). — This volume has been prepared primarily to meet 

 the needs of students in engineering and advanced physics who 

 have a working knowledge of the differential and integral calcu- 

 lus. It is intended not to supersede but to supplement the 

 manuals and instruction sheets usually employed in physical 

 laboratories. Consequently, particular instruments and methods 

 of measurement are described only in so far as they serve to 

 illustrate the principles under discussion. 



The first seven chapters deal with the general principles that 

 underlie all measurements, with the nature and distribution of the 

 errors to which they are subject, and with the methods by which 

 the most probable result is derived from a series of discordant 

 measurements. The next five chapters are devoted to a general 

 discussion of the precision of measurements based on the prin- 

 ciples established in the preceding chapters. The criteria of 

 accidental errors and suitable methods for dealing with constant 

 and systematic errors are developed in detail. In chapter thir- 

 teen, the relation between measurement and research is pointed 

 out and the general methods of physical research are outlined. 

 Throughout the book, particular attention is paid to methods of 

 computation and to the proper use of significant figures. The 

 twenty-three tables of formula? and numbers, which immediately 

 precede the index, are exceptionally well selected. [In Table Y, 



9 " 9 "~i 



page 219, read ^- aU for ^r— TI. This text should be use- 



ful to graduate students and teachers as well as to advanced 

 undergraduate students. Everything about the volume is so 

 complete, elegant and pertinent that both the author and the 

 publishers deserve to be congratulated for their care and success 

 in producing a most useful text. h. s. u. 



7. Physical Laboratory Guide • by Frederick C. Reeve. 

 Pp. x, 182, with 16 figures. New York, 1912 (American Book 

 Co.). — This manual covers all the requirements of the " College 

 Entrance Board" and similar Examination Boards. The guid- 

 ing principle of the book may be inferred from the following 

 quotation from the preface : " ... the working directions in 

 this manual are unusually full. The delusion of giving the pupil 

 only a hint about the experiment and then expecting him to 

 work it out for himself always results in confusion on the part of 

 the pupil and an impossible situation for the teacher." A large 

 number of questions, to be answered in writing by the student, 

 are scattered through the text. Chapter X, pages 115 to 146, is 

 entitled "Notes on the Experiments," and it amounts to a care- 

 fully prepared synopsis of the definitions and physical laws 

 which are involved in the preceding experiments. The next 

 chapter consists of 19 tables of mathematical and physical con- 

 stants. The last chapter gives a list of apparatus required for 



