136 
Book  Reviews. 
Am.  Jour.  PharLu. 
March,  1907. 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
Elements  of  General  Chemistry  with  Experiments.  By  John 
H.  Long,  M.S.,  Sc.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Director  of  the 
Chemical  Laboratories  in  the  Northwestern  University  Medical 
School.  Eourth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Illustrated.  Phila- 
delphia :  P.  Blakiston's  Son  &  Co.,  1906. 
That  Professor  Long  was  more  than  justified  in  writing  this  text- 
book is  shown  by  the  iact  that  since  the  appearance  of  the  first 
edition  in  1888  two  other  editions  have  been  issued,  and  it  has  been 
necessary  now  to  issue  a  fourth  edition.  The  time  has  gone  by 
in  all  of  the  sciences  when  it  can  be  said  that  a  student  is  acquainted 
with  fundamental  principles  unless  he  has  repeated  some  of  the  class- 
room work  in  the  laboratory.  As  Dr.  Long  well  says  :  "  Repetition 
is  necessary  to  fix  elementary  principles  thoroughly  in  the  mind  of 
the  beginner." 
The  present  edition  contains  some  additional  matter  on  the  theo- 
ries of  solution,  the  conditions  of  chemical  equilibrium,  some  newer 
views  of  chemical  theory  and  the  description  of  several  new  sub- 
stances. The  book  is  a  remarkably  good  one  for  the  beginner,  and 
is  well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  Freshmen  class  in  any  of  the 
colleges  where  a  general  course  in  inorganic  chemistry  is  given. 
Chemical  Abstracts.  Published  by  the  American  Chemical  Society. 
Vol.  I,  Nos.  1  and  2.  Easton,  Pa. :  The  Chemical  Publishing 
Co.    January  1  and  20,  1 907. 
Under  this  title  the  American  Chemical  Society  has  begun  the 
publication  of  an  independent  semi-monthly  periodical  which  shall 
furnish  to  American  chemists  at  short  intervals  a  full  and  com- 
prehensive series  of  abstracts  covering  the  whole  range  of  pure 
and  applied  chemical  science  together  with  the  titles  of  American, 
British,  French  and  German  patents  on  chemical  subjects. 
The  importance  and  value  of  this  undertaking  can  hardly  be 
over-estimated.  The  Journal  of  the  English  Chemical  Society  has 
long  covered  somewhat  similar  ground,  but  hardly  in  the  complete 
manner  that  our  American  society  has  now  attempted  ;  the  Journal 
of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  has  always  made  a  feature  of 
its  abstracts  and  patent  references,  but  these  cover  applied  chemistry 
only ;  the  German  Chemical  Society  some  years  ago  took  over  the 
publication  along  with  its  Berichte  of  the  Chemische  Centralblatt 
