i88o.] 
Analyses of Books. 
661 
Elements of Chemistry , Theoretical and Practical. By W. Allen 
Miller, M.D. Revised and in great part re-written by 
H. E. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S., and C. E. Groves, F.C.S. 
Part III. — Chemistry of Carbon Compounds, or Organic 
Chemistry. Section I. — Hydrocarbons, Alcohols , Ethers, 
Aldehyds, and Paraffinoid Acids. Fifth Edition. London : 
Longmans and Co. 1880. 
The “ Elements of Chemistry” of the late Prof. W. A. Miller 
has for years enjoyed a high reputation, both as a manual for 
the more advanced student and as a work of reference for persons 
engaged in research, whether of a more theoretical or practical 
character. Many a time, when some rather out-of-the-way 
question has arisen and authorities were being appealed to, we 
have heard the exclamation “To save time, look in Miller!” 
Even yet, among the chemical “ handbooks,” “ manuals,” and 
“ elements,” in which the English press has been so alarmingly 
prolific, this our old favourite has continued to hold its own. 
But in chemistry, more perhaps than any other science, with the 
doubtful exception of biology, discoveries have been made so 
numerous and important that no systematic work can continue 
to meet the wants of the student unless it too advances in a 
corresponding manner. The task which Dr. H. E. Armstrong 
and Mr. Groves have undertaken, and which they evidently wish 
to carry out without sacrificing those features which have ren- 
dered the work in its original form so valuable is not easy. New 
discoveries are rarely mere additions which can be simply interca- 
lated among what was already known ; they shed fresh lights upon 
the older parts of the science, and necessitate modifications. 
Prof. Miller’s system of classification, based as it was mainly on 
the sources from which the various compounds were obtained, 
has been of necessity abandoned in favour of an arrangement 
based on analogy in constitution and properties. 
The edition before us, so far at least as the present volume is 
concerned, may almost rank as a new work in which have been 
retained all such portions of the original as have been not essen- 
tially affedted by recent discoveries. 
Among the portions entirely novel we may call attention to 
Sedtion XI., in which the hypothesis of isomerism proposed, 
independently of each other, by Van’t Hoff and Le Bel, is ex- 
pounded and discussed, but with the conclusion that it is probably 
insufficient. 
The preface also, which contains some useful suggestions, is 
worthy of careful notice. 
The table of contents is copious and the index excellent— a 
feature for which we have a special afiedfion. We consider, in 
fine, that the authors have succeeded in their objedt of laying 
