78 | SCIENCE. 
HOUSTON’S ELEMENTS OF CHEM- 
TSin 
The elements of chemistry ; for the use of schools, acade- 
mies and colleges. By Epwin J. Houston. 
Philadelphia, Eldredge, 1883. 444 p., illustr. 
8°) 
Hovuston’s ‘ Elements of chemistry’ is a brief 
compilation of the latest facts in regard to the 
science, arranged for the use of schools, acade- 
mies, and colleges. Its use will be confined 
to the first named, or at least to institutions 
where the rudiments of chemistry are taught. 
The work is divided into three parts, — theo- 
retical, descriptive or experimental, and organ- 
ic, —and the arrangement is in most respects 
good. In the first part the fundamental laws 
are clearly and concisely stated, and present the 
subject in a form as well adapted to beginners 
as we have seen in any text-book. A short 
description of the different systems of crystal- 
lography concludes this portion. In the de- 
scriptive part the elements are discussed under 
the head of non-metals and metals in an order 
based upon their quantivalence ; but the divis- 
ion of the metals into perissad and artiad is 
not one which most text-books follow. A 
brief outline is given, in the seventy-five pages 
of the third part, of the chemistry of the car- 
bon compounds ; and the author has sueceeded 
in condensing into this space many important 
facts; there are, however, several erroneous 
statements and a general lack of complete- 
ness. The division of the carbon com- 
pounds into single link, double link, etc., is 
simply investing an old classification with a 
new name, and there is no gain in point of 
clearness. 
A large portion of the book, nearly one- 
fourth, is repetition in the form of a syllabus 
and questions for review, at the end of each 
chapter, and, at the close of the book, ques- 
tions for examination. ‘This seems to be for 
the purpose of aid, in case the teacher should 
have had insufficient training in the subject. 
Indeed, so great is the help afforded, that with 
it any one with little or no knowledge of chem- 
istry could assume the instruction of a class. 
We cannot but deplore the introduction of such 
a system of teaching at a time when it is all- 
important that chemistry should be scientifi- 
cally taught in our elementary schools. In- 
struction in chemistry, to be thorough, should 
depend upon the teacher, and not upon the text- 
book. Only a good instructor can impress up- 
on a beginner the necessity for observation, 
which is the prime requisite for successful work ; 
and a text-book intended to be crammed tends 
to destroy the sense of observation. The space 
Oe ee i ie 
devoted to this system could have been profit- 
ably devoted to increasing the number of ex-’ 
periments and illustrations of experiments; 
which last are few and illy executed, and often 
do not show the best method of conducting 
the experiment. We object to the use of the 
Fahrenheit scale and English measures as 
causing a needless confusion, inasmuch as the’ 
centigrade scale and metric system are the 
accepted scientific notation. 
BESANT’S HYDROMECHANICS. 
A treatise on hydromechanics. Part i., hydrostatics. 
By W. H. Besant, F.R.S., mathematical lec- 
turer of St. John’s college, Cambridge. 4th ed. 
Deighton Bell & Co., 1883. 288 p. 8°. 
Tuts is ‘‘a reproduction, with considerable 
alterations and additions, of the first part of a 
treatise on hydrostatics and hydrokineties, the 
third edition of which was published in 1877,”’ 
and is intended as a text-book upon this sub- 
ject, for those preparing for the mathematical 
tripos examinations at Cambridge, England. 
The principal heads treated are, the general 
conditions of fluid equilibrium; surfaces otf 
equal pressure ; resultant pressures; the equi- 
librium, stability, and oscillations of a floating 
body (metacenter) ; the pressure of the atmos- 
phere; the tension of flexible surfaces, and 
their relation to capillary phenomena; and, 
finally, the figure of equilibrium of a mass of 
rotating fluid, acted on by the mutual attrac- 
tion of its parts. This work requires, as do 
most of the Cambridge mathematical text- 
books, that the reader shall have perfect facil- 
ity in the employment of the differential and 
integral calculus. There is a plentiful list of 
examples, selected from previous examination 
papers, at the end of each chapter. It is per- 
haps superfluous to speak of the important 
place which the subject of hydromechanics has 
occupied in modern mathematical physics since 
the labors of Helmholtz, Maxwell, and Thom- 
son, in reducing the mathematical treatment of 
electricity and magnetism to that of the mo-. 
tion of incompressible fluids. This volume is 
put forth as an introduction to the discussion 
of fluid motion or hydrokinetics, of which the 
elements will be given in part ii., which the 
author hopes to have in readiness early in 4 
1884. 
It is a matter of great regret that the state 
of mathematical training among our colleges is 
of such elementary character, that there are 
comparatively few of them where the excellent 
text-books of this grade can be profitably be | 
by the undergraduates. 
[Von. IIL, No. 50. 
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