-January 18, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
577 
.a far larger and more expensive stock of apparatus than is 
usual. Gas-jars, gas-holders, complicated drying tubes 
for gase3, fragile eudiometric apparatus and things of 
that sort are freely employed in the course of the experi¬ 
ments, and there seems in most cases to be no instruc¬ 
tions for demonstrating the same facts by the use of in¬ 
struments less elegant but more easily managed by in¬ 
experienced hands. It is true that the author says in 
his preface that some of the experiments he describes are 
more suited to the lecture-room ; but this may be said 
of so many of them that he would probably render the 
Look more acceptable to mere beginners, and especially 
to students working alone, if in the next edition he 
would add considerably to the number of simple and easy 
experiments such as might be carried out without the 
aid of special apparatus. According to our own ex¬ 
perience nothing is more troublesome to beginners 
than being called upon at an early stage to employ ap¬ 
paratus which is not only strange in appearance, but is 
-called by an unfamiliar name, and at the commence¬ 
ment it taxes sufficiently the patience and memory of 
most young students to recollect the uncouth titles of all 
the strange substances which form the indispensable 
material for work, and which are unavoidably introduced 
so rapidly one after the other. 
In the treatment of some theoretical matters, we regard 
it as decidedly preferable to face difficulties boldly, and 
say to the student without rigmarole, “ Here are the facts 
stated as plainly and in as few words as possible, and 
there is the explanation which has been generally ac¬ 
cepted.” In the majority of cases a more distinct im¬ 
pression is at once made upon the mind than can be pro¬ 
duced by adopting any modification of the inductive 
process. In the book before us, as in so many other 
manuals, this latter is made.use of in discoursing of the 
laws of combination and the atomic theory. In the early 
■editions of ‘Fownes,’ which was tire text-book of our 
own student days, a chapter was headed ‘ Chemical 
Philosophy,’ in which the laws of combination were 
■first distinctly enunciated in three or four short and im¬ 
pressive paragraphs, and afterwards illustrations and 
examples were supplied, all the unintelligible jargon 
about little particles being left till last of all. We should 
be disposed to maintain that, especially in the present 
stage of the progress of chemistry, this dogmatic kind of 
way of stating well-established laws is distinctly pre¬ 
ferable to the possibly more logical but infinitely more 
difficult process of working from primary facts up to 
.generalizations. But these things are after all a matter 
of opinion, and we by no means wish to find fault on this 
score with Mr. Valentin’s book more than with others 
of the same class. It is astonishing, though, to what 
difficulties and inconsistencies even experienced teachers 
like Mr. Valentin are led in treating of this part of chemi¬ 
cal theory, and we think the following definition on p. 
44 a fair instance of this :— 
“ An atom is the smallest particle of matter capable of 
entering into or existing in a state of chemical combina¬ 
tion.” In the paragraph immediately preceding this we 
.are told that “ the smallest proportion* by weight in which 
an element enters into or is expelled from a chemical 
compound constitutes its atomic weight, the weight of 
hydrogen being taken as unity,” so that the smallest 
particle of matter weighs a ratio ! If the author and 
not a few other chemists would be content to leave the 
“ small particles” to whomsoever they may concern and 
be satisfied with proportions, no such absurdity could 
.arise. 
We observe that the author continues to make use of 
the hideous hybrids, monovalentic, divalentic, etc. Will 
no remonstrances induce him to change them, and are 
there no ears at the college F 
In conclusion, there are one or two statements in the 
book which will probably be modified by the author in 
a future edition. We may select one as an example 
“ the evolution of heat which accompanied the combination 
of the white powder (anhydrous sulphate of copper) with 
water points to an actual chemical combination between 
the water of crystallization and the salt.” 
We think this conclusion admits of dispute. 
A Manual of Chemistry, Theoretical and Practi¬ 
cal. By George Fownes, F.R.S. Eleventh Edi¬ 
tion, revised and corrected by Henry Watts, B.A., 
F.R.S. London : J. and A. Churchill, New Burling¬ 
ton Street. 1873. 
AVe cannot commence an examination of this well- 
known work without protesting in the loudest tone we 
cm utter agiiist the inordinate dimensions wh ch all 
the old-fashioned books, familiar to by-gone generations 
of students, are gradually assuming under the hands of 
their modern editors. We entertain the highest pos¬ 
sible respect for the learning of Mr. Watts, and for his 
experience in the literature of chemistry, but in the pre¬ 
sent instance we feel that although, as might be ex¬ 
pected of him, he has produced a text-book that may be 
relied upon for accuracy, he has ctrlainly made the 
volume unwieldy. We fully admit the difficulty of 
dealing with the daily increasing mass of organic com¬ 
pounds, but in mercy both to students and teachers we 
do hope Mr. Watts will not allow the book to grow any 
larger, and wall, if possible, reduce the present number 
of pages. This can be done, we think, without diffi¬ 
culty and without detracting from its usefulness, by 
simply omitting the details of preparation and proper¬ 
ties of all but really important and representative com¬ 
pounds. 
As in the original editions of the work, the first part is 
devoted to a short treatise on physics, good enough in 
itself, though, we think, better omitted altogether in the 
present day. 
Following this we have the usual account of the 
non-metallic elements and their chief compounds, but 
here, as throughout the whole book, is interspersed 
much new matter. It is ; however, in the. chapters de¬ 
voted to “ Chemical Philosophy,” the history^ of the 
metals, and especially in the organic division, that the 
most important changes and additions are noticeable. 
The chapter on the general principles of chemical 
philosophy"i 3 entirely re-written, and now includes not 
only the enunciation of the so-called “ Laws of Chemical 
Combination,” but also a discussion of the theory of 
atomicity and other subjects of comparatively recent 
growth. 
In the classification of the elements we observe that 
Mr. Watts still uses the term “metalloids” to desig¬ 
nate that class of elements which are not metals. Av e 
should have expected almost that his ingenuity would 
have discovered or devised a new name, seeing that the 
title “metallic” is most inappropriately applied to these 
elements which in no respect bear any likeness to metals, 
and also because it ought to be reserved for that small 
class of bodies which do to some extent imitate metals 
in physical characteristics and chemical relations. Now 
we venture to make a suggestion, and crude as^ it is, 
leave it to the consideration of writers of text-books. 
The elements may fairly be arranged in three classes. 
For the first of these the name “metal” must ob¬ 
viously be adopted. To the second, under vhich t.u 
and titanium, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, and vana¬ 
dium; tantalum and niobium; tungsten and molybde¬ 
num range themselves, the name “metalloid” as ob¬ 
viously belongs. These elements resemble metals m pos¬ 
sessing as a rule metallic lustre, rather high specific 
gravity, and in forming at least in some cases oxides m 
which the basic character is more or less developed. On 
the other hand, they differ from metals in being (ex¬ 
cept tin) so brittle as to be easily reducible to powder. 
* The italics are ours. 
