144 
Book  Reviews. 
/  A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      March,  1908. 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
Kurzes  Lehrbuch  der  Organischen  Chemie.  Von  William  A. 
Noyes,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Illinois.  Trans- 
lated by  Walter  Ostwald,  and  with  a  Preface  by  Wilhelm  Ostwald. 
Leipzig:  Akademische  Verlagsgesellschaft  m.  b.  H.,  1907. 
It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  our  institutions  of  learning  have  not 
accorded  to  pure  organic  chemistry  the  prominent  place  this  subject 
occupies  in  the  German  Universities,  nor  that  the  American  contri- 
butions to  its  literature,  both  in  text-books  and  original  memoirs, 
will  bear  no  comparison  with  the  output  of  the  German  chemists. 
It  might  seem,  therefore,  like  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle  to  translate 
into  German  an  American  text  on  organic  chemistry ;  and  yet  this 
has  been  done  repeatedly  and  successfully.  The  present  translation 
was  made  at  the  suggestion  and  under  the  direction  of  Professor 
Ostwald,  who  recognizes  u  the  independent  and  original  manner  in 
which  the  author  has  conceived  and  solved  his  problem,"  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  the  modern  developments  of  physical  chemistry  are 
adequately  brought  out  by  the  author.  As  the  book  was  first  pub- 
lished five  years  ago,  it  seems  unnecessary  here  to  call  special  atten- 
tion to  its  lucid  style  and  logical  arrangement,  nor  to  the  truly 
scientific  spirit  that  pervades  it.  The  German  version  leaves  nothing 
to  be  desired ;  it  reads  like  an  original,  and  embodies  a  number  of 
changes  that  enhance  its  usefulness  to  German  students,  as  well  as 
many  additions  and  corrections  supplied  by  the  author.  The  type, 
printing  and  paper  are  decidedly  superior  to  those  used  in  the 
making  of  the  American  book ;  the  cuts,  however,  are  not  up  to  the 
standard  set  by  the  best  German  and  French  text-books. 
If  the  novel  arrangement  of  the  subject  matter  appeals  to  other 
German  teachers  as  it  did  to  Professor  Ostwald,  this  translation  may 
become  even  more  popular  than  the  original. 
H.  F.  Keller. 
Central  High  School,  Philadelphia. 
Pharmaceutical  and  Chemical  Problems  and  Exercises  with 
Explanatory  Text,  including  pharmaceutical  and  chemical  arith- 
metic, weights  and  measures,  specific  density  and  specific  volume 
and  chemical  notation  and  nomenclature,  chemical  equations,  prob- 
lems in  oxidation  and  reduction  and  stoechiometry,  together  with 
