i88i.] 
Analyses of Books . 685 
The general character of the work is thorough accuracy, the 
more to be noted as neither French nor English is the author’s 
native language. Yet with scarcely an exception his English is 
that of an Englishman, and his French, as far as we can judge, 
that of a Frenchman, well acquainted with his subject. The 
value of the work for Englishmen who wish to make them- 
selves acquainted with the technical literature of France is 
indisputable. 
Elementary Treatise on Physics , Experimental and Applied. 
For the Use of Colleges and Schools. Translated and 
Edited from Ganot’s “ Elements de Physique,” by E. Atkin- 
son, Ph.D., F.C.S. Tenth edition, revised and enlarged. 
London : Longmans and Co. 
The editor and translator of this work is guilty of no departure 
from the truth when he refers to the “ continued and increasing 
favour” which it experiences both as a college manual and as a 
work of reference. The subject-matter has been brought to a 
level with the present state of knowledge. Thus the researches 
of Cailletet and Pictet on the condensation of oxygen, &c., are 
now duly noticed, and the category of permanent gases has con- 
sequently disappeared. The recently invented electric-acoustic 
instruments, such as the photophone, are duly described and 
figured. The eledtric light and the various systems for its pro- 
duction are spoken of at some length, and the interesting expe- 
riments of Siemens on its effects upon vegetation are described. 
Paragraphs are devoted to the experiments of De la Rue and 
Miller on the stratification of the electric light, and to the phe- 
nomena observed by Crookes on producing the electric discharge 
in tubes very highly exhausted. The theoretical views which Mr. 
Crookes has deduced from his results are referred to merely as 
being still sub judice. 
The subject of polarised light, which if our memory serves us 
was to some extent overlooked in former editions, now receives 
due attention. 
In estimating the value of this work we must take into account 
the translator’s reservation that it does not and cannot attempt 
to give an exhaustive account of any one branch of Physics, 
since such an undertaking would be inconsistent with the pur- 
pose of a college text-book, and in so voluminous and rapidly- 
growing a science would be impracticable even within a fourfold 
larger compass. What the author and translator have aimed at 
is ably, accurately, and clearly done, and we can have no hesita- 
tion in giving the work as it now stands our cordial recommend- 
ation. There is a very complete index, the references being not 
to the pages, but to paragraphs. 
