Am.  Jour.  Pharm ) 
June,  1S77.  / 
Reviews,  etc. 
333 
for  what  they  are,  and  they  have  considerable  value.  Try  to  find  in  them  the  architectural  plans  of  the 
chemical  molecules,  and  they  appear  absurd.  But  it  is  very  unjust  to  find  fault  with  a  thing  for  not  doing 
what  it  never  pretended  to  do,  and  what  its  originators  have  distinctly  stated  it  could  not  do. 
In  our  opinion,  the  work  will  prove  to  be  a  valuable  aid  to  the  chemical  student 
who  would  familiarize  himself  with  the  theories  of  the  science  that  have  led  to  many- 
important  discoveries. 
Die  rationellen  Formeln  der  Chemie,  auf  Grundlage  der  mechanischen  Warmetheorie 
ent^wickelt,  von  Baron  N  Bellingshausen.  Zweiter  Theil.  Organische  Verbin- 
dungen.  Heidelberg:  Carl  Winter's  Universitats-Buchhandlung,  1877.  8v°? 
pp.  156. 
The  rational  chemical  formulas  as  evolved  upon  the  base  of  the  mechanical  theory 
of  caloric.    Part  II.    Organic  compounds. 
While  the  preceding  work  bases  its  considerations  upon  the  atomic  theory,  the 
one  now  before  us  is  diametrically  opposed  to  it.  The  atomic  theory  finds,  among 
others,  its  main  proofs  in  the  alteration  of  the  volumes  of  bodies  and  in  the  chem- 
ical laws  of  constant  and  multiple  proportions;  it  is  the  author's  aim  to  prove  that 
the  volume  of  the  bodies  depends  upon  the  size,  form  and  number  of  their  vibra- 
tion atoms,  and  that  the  combining  proportions  of  bodies,  or  their  chemical  equiva- 
lents, are  determined,  without  atomic  composition,  as  the  carriers  of  equivalent 
motions.  The  culminating  point  of  the  atomic  theory  is  found  in  the  modern 
theory  of  chemical  structure,  which  finds  its  chief  support  in  the  explanation  of 
the  composition  of  the  organic  compounds  (of  carbon).  This  theory  cannot  be 
disproven  by  facts,  because  it  does  not  directly  depend  upon  such,  but  is  altogether 
a  chain  of  hypotheses:  that  bodies  are  composed  of  atoms  and  molecules;  that 
the  atoms  attract  each  other;  that  they  combine  to  molecules;  that  the  polyvalent 
atoms  neutralize  each  other ;  that  unsaturated  compounds  may  take  the  place  of 
simple  radicals.  The  proof,  therefore,  of  explaining  the  rational  formulas  without 
presupposing  the  existence  of  molecules  appears  to  the  author  to  be  the  best  weapon 
against  the  atomic  doctrine. 
The  author  has  studied  his  subject  very  thoroughly.  In  1875  (see  "Am.  Jour* 
Phar.,"  p.  479)  we  have  noticed  one  of  his  works,  a  predecessor  of  the  present  one. 
Since  then  he  has  published  another  one,  in  which  the  inorganic  combinations  are 
explained  by  the  mechanical  theory,  and  the  present  one  extends  these  considerations 
to  the  complex  carbon  compounds.  When  it  is  remembered  that  perhaps  the  great 
majority  of  chemists  are  in  reality  not  convinced  of  the  absolute  correctness  of  the 
atomic  doctrine,  but  rather  have  adopted  its  views,  because  most  of  the  chemical 
facts  observed  may  be  explained  thereby  in  an  apparently  natural  and  simple  manner, 
it  will  be  conceded  that  a  work  like  the  one  before  us  is  likely  to  have  considerable 
bearing  upon  the  evolution  of  chemical  principles  in  the  future. 
Gmelin-Kraufs  Handbuch  der  Che-nie.    Anorganische  Cbemie.     Heidelberg:  Carl 
Winter's  Universitats  Buchhandlung. 
There  are  now  before  us  the  first  and  second  numbers  of  the  second  division  of 
the  second  volume  of  Gmelin-Kraut's  Chemistry,  containing  the  metals  titanium, 
tantalum,  niobium  and  a  considerable  portion  of  tungsten.     The  revision  of  this 
