REVIEWS. 
423 
FUNGI.* 
It is impossible to express too strongly tbe obligations under which stu- 
dents of natural history lie to those of their number who will undertake the 
labour of bringing together, into one handy book, references to all the scat- 
tered descriptions and figures published upon some group of animals or 
plants. This indebtedness is very great even when the compilers limit 
themselves to the preparation of a mere catalogue ; but when, as in the case 
of Messrs. Cooke & Quelet’s “ Key to the European Hymenomycetous 
Fungi,” brief characters of the species are added and the whole mass of in- 
formation is condensed into a volume small enough to be conveniently 
carried in the pocket, it must be confessed that the authors have conferred 
upon their brother naturalists a boon of the very highest value. The 
41 Clavis Hymenomycetum Europseorum,” which is written throughout in 
Eatin, contains short characters of nearly 3,000 species of agarics, boleti, and 
their allies, and will stand the travelling fungologist in good stead in the 
determination of unknown plants of this important order that he may meet 
with. The reputation of the writers is a sufficient guarantee of the quality 
of their work. 
MILLER’S ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY. SEVENTH EDITION, f 
M ILLER’S u Elements of Chemistry” has long held a distinguished position 
among chemical text-books, and there can be no doubt that the present 
edition, which has been ably edited by Mr. Groves, who has contributed 
much additional matter, will be equally appreciated by chemical students. 
Commencing with elements which form the least complex compounds, and 
gradually passing onwards to those forming more numerous and complicated 
substances, the order in which the non-metallic elements and their com- 
pounds are described is the same in this edition as in the last. As a standard 
of reference for the atomic weights of the elements and the densities of gases, 
as well as for a measure of the atomicity of the other elements, hydrogen 
occupies the first place, as being the type of electro-positive substances. 
This is followed by chlorine, as an example of an electro-negative element of 
remarkable chemical activity, and which forms a large and important series 
of combinations. Oxygen is then brought before the attention of the student 
as one of the most important elements, and one which, on that account, is 
even now sometimes placed first in order, as was the case in the earlier 
editions of this work. The compounds of oxygen with hydrogen and chlorine 
are subsequently described ; then follow boron, a triad ; carbon, a tetrad ; 
nitrogen, a pentad ; sulphur, a hexad ; together with the compounds they 
severally produce with the elements previously studied. The other non- 
* “ Clavis Synoptica Hymenomycetum Europseorum, conjunctis studiis 
scripserunt M. 0. Cooke, M.A., F.L.S., et L. Quelet, M.D., O.A., Inst, et 
Sorb. Laur.” Sm. 8vo. London, Hardwicke & Bogue, 1878. 
f “ Elements of Chemistry: Theoretical and Practical.” By 'William 
Allen Miller, M.D., LL.D., late Professor of Chemistry in King’s College, 
London. Revised by Charles E. Groves, Fellow of the Chemical Societies 
of London, Paris, and Berlin, &c. Part II., Inorganic Chemistry. Seventh 
Edition, with Additions. 8vo. London, Longmans, 1878. 
