558 
Analyses of Books . 
[September, 
That old rags can be transformed into starch-sugar by the 
process described by the author is perfectly true, but we devoutly 
trust that this transformation is not carried on anywhere upon a 
manufacturing scale. Old rags may be, and often are, saturated 
with the infectious matter of various diseases, and it by no means 
follows that such matter would be completely destroyed by the 
process of transformation. 
Among the errors which the author exposes is the popular faith 
in “ egg-powders.” These, he points out, have nothing in com- 
mon with eggs, being merely baking-powders coloured with tur- 
meric. They may consequently colour and lighten, but cannot 
enrich the cakes, &c., to which they are added. The “ corn- 
flours,” he reminds the public, are simply starch, and as such 
contribute nothing to the formation of blood. It is something 
curious that an enlightened British public turns up its respectable 
nose at Indian meal. But if anyone extracts from such meal all 
its more valuable constituents, the albumenoids, the saccharine, 
and the fatty matter, and offers the refuse, or starch, at a high 
price, the public aforesaid buys and eats. 
Ozone is another popular delusion. We can fancy the horror 
and disgust of Paterfamilias when he reads that the odour which 
he so greedily inhales at the sea-side consists “ principally of the 
effluvium from decomposing crabs and sea-weed.” The faCts are 
that the presence of ozone in the atmosphere is far from proven, 
and that its physiological aCtion is by no means invariably 
salutary. 
“ Household Chemistry ” may be pronounced useful reading 
for young and old. 
The Student's Guide to Quantitative Analysis , intended as an Aid 
to the Study of Fresenius’s System. By H. Carrington 
Bolton, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry in Trinity College, 
Hartford. New York : Wiley and Sons. London : Triibner 
and Co. 
This work contains instructions for the quantitative examination 
of a number of selected bodies ranging from barium chloride up 
to urine, raw sugar, and petroleum. It must be remembered, as 
accounting for what the author calls the fragmentary character 
of the instructions, that they were originally intended as leCture 
notes, intended more to remind the student of the main features 
of the methods to be followed than to give every routine detail 
of procedure. Under each head there are also references to 
special authorities. 
Turning to the instructions given for the analysis of potable 
