[December, 
746 Analyses of Books, 
the Building Commission, that “ the patentee of an apparatus 
for moistening air by means of a system of aspirators, whereby 
it is claimed that in hot weather a reduction of temperature of 
eight or ten degrees can be accomplished, has offered to apply 
his invention to the new building.” We should think that in a 
museum a reduction of summer temperature would be dearly 
purchased if attended with an increase of moisture. We can 
only hope that the great Washington Museum may not experience 
any mishap like that which has occurred at Geneva. 
The Artists' Table of Pigments. Showing their Composition, 
Conditions of Permanency, Non-permanency, and Adultera- 
tions, Effecfts in Combination with other Pigments and 
Vehicles, and giving the most reliable Tests for Purity. By 
H. C. Standage. London : Wells, Gardner, Darton, and Co. 
We have here a set of tables which will be exceedingly useful to 
artists, decorators, and to the manufacturers of paper-hangings. 
The common names, chemical names and composition, condi- 
tions of permanency and non-permanency, possible adulterations, 
nature of impurities and tests for their detection, are given in 
parallel columns, with the addition of useful remarks not coming 
under any of the above-mentioned heads. We regret to find 
that the chrome-greens are counterfeited by or adulterated with 
a mixture of chrome-yellow and Prussian blue. Such sophisti- 
cated or spurious chrome-greens are not only liable to be attacked 
and blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen, but are from a sanitary 
point of view less trustworthy than the genuine greens. 
Extracft of coffee-berries-^. £., caffeo-viridic acid — is mentioned 
as an adulterant for sap-green. For ordinary artistic or decora- 
tive purposes this addition is to be condemned ; but as a colour 
for the use of confectioners, for staining toys for young children, 
&c., the coffee-green, being perfectly harmless, is preferable to 
the buckthorn extracft, which is a dangerous irritant. 
The synonymy of the green pigments would admit of amend- 
ment. Thus there is no mention of Paris green, one of the 
arsenical copper colours. The looseness of the nomenclature of 
pigments employed by dealers is even worse than we supposed. 
Thus we learn from the tables before us that ordinary Brunswick 
green is made of a mixture of chrome-yellow (chromate of lead) 
and Prussian blue. 
Under “ Cceruleum, Cerulian, or Egyptian Blue ” we notice 
an oversight. It is said that this pigment is a “ silicate of 
cobalt ,” and then that it is “ artificially made of carbonate of 
