Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
December,  1920.  j 
Book  Reviews. 
941 
student  of  chemistry  and  should  for  generations  to  come  continue 
to  serve  the  purpose  of  the  author  in  preparing  this  course  of  lectures. 
G.  M.  B. 
Notes  on  Chemical  Research,  an  Account  of  Certain  Condi- 
*  TioNS  Which  Appi^y  to  Original  Investigations.    By  W.  P. 
Dreaper,    O.B.B.,    F.I.C.    Small    8vo.,    xv,    195    pages.  P. 
Blakiston's  Son  &  Co.,  Philadelphia. 
The  author  says  in  his  preface  that  modern  science  is  based  on  the 
record  of  past  investigation,  and  the  statement  could  have  been 
appropriately  supplemented  by  saying  that  as  all  who  now  practice 
a  profession  or  make  research  have  benefited  by  the  labors  of  past 
workers,  a  sense  of  gratitude  should  lead  every  one  to  add  a  little 
to  the  store.  The  book  in  hand  is  of  rather  an  exceptional  type. 
Many  books  have  been  written  to  aid  in  specific  lines  of  study  and 
research,  but  this  is  rather  a  treatment  of  the  philosophy  of  the 
subject  with  attention  to  the  methods  of  training  of  those  who  are  to 
undertake  chemical  investigations.  To  the  mass  of  the  statements, 
there  will  be  no  marked  dissent.  Every  one  who  knows  anything 
about  science  will  agree  that  there  is  a  need  for  active  research, 
especially  in  English-speaking  countries,  in  which  the  necessity  of 
being  independent  of  certain  other  countries  has  become  painfully 
evident  within  the  past  decade.  Mr.  Dreaper  quotes  H.  G.  Wells, 
who  makes  a  bitter  denunciation  of  the  "trained"  investigator  as 
contrasted  with  the  "born"  investigator,  the  latter  being  what  we 
commonly  call  the  "genius."  It  seems  to  the  reviewer  that  Mr. 
Wells  is  hardly  an  authority  in  this  field,  and  further,  that  the  routine 
worker  is  of  great  service  in  science.  The  accumulation  of  data  is  a 
most  important  department  of  all  scientific  work.  Dreaper,  indeed, 
does  not  take  Wells'  view  entirely  to  heart.  There  is  a  paragraph 
on  references  to  journals,  in  which  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  German 
sources  are  specifically  mentioned,  and  further  that  nothing  is  said 
about  American  publications.  The  comprehensive  and  valuable 
literature  that  is  now  being  issued  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  is 
ignored.  A  chapter  is  devoted  to  The  Student  and  His  Course  of 
Training,  but  it  is  limited  to  the  specifi(^  training  for  research, 
nothing  being  said  as  to  the  earlier  work.  It  would  have  been 
interesting  to  learn  the  author's  view  as  to  the  comparative  value 
of  the  classical  and  the  so-called  "practical"  preliminary  trainings, 
the  latter  being  now  much  in  vogue.  Henry  LEKFmann. 
( 
