Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
2sove  i-ber,  1^98.  j* 
Reviews. 
577 
rying  on  in  eliminating  a  gas  from  the  atmosphere  that  is  lighter  than  hydro- 
gen, which  is  named  "  etherion."  Its  ability  to  conduct  heat  is  100  times  as 
great  as  hydrogen,  and  it  is  probably  not  confined  to  the  earth,  but  must  reach 
out  indefinitely  into  space. 
Sir  William  Crookes,  in  his  presidential  address  before  the  British  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  communicated  the  res-ults  of  the  exam- 
ination of  some  of  the  rare  earths.  "  In  the  spectrum  of  a  part  of  a  specimen 
which  had  been  isolated  from  the  rest,  he  discovered  lines  that  were  unrecog- 
nizable. Eventually  he  found  that  he  had  discovered  a  new  element,  and  he  is 
now  making  investigations  on  it."  Its  atomic  weight  is  118.  The  characteristic 
lines  of  its  spectrum  are  in  the  ultra-violet  and  stand  alone,  and  from  this  latter 
circumstance  has  been  called  "  monium." 
"  The  appearance  of  so  many  new  elements  at  one  time  will  no  doubt  prove 
embarrassing  with  the  present  arrangement  of  the  Periodic  System,  and  at- 
tempts will  probably  be  made  to  rearrange  the  system  to  conform  to  these  new 
discoveries.  Professor  Crookes  has  suggested  an  arrangement  of  the  elements 
in  the  form  of  a  double  spiral,  in  which  the  elements  are  arranged  in  three  di- 
mensions in  space,  the  three  elements  discovered  by  Ramsay  falling  in  the 
vertical  column  under  helium  between  the  hydrogen  family,  containing 
chlorine,  bromine  and  iodine,  and  the  lithium  family." 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Pharmaceutical  and  Medical  Chemistry.  Vol.  I.  General  Chemistry. 
By  S.  P.  Sadtler,  Ph.D.,  F.C.S.,  and  H.  Trimble,  Ph.M.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Com- 
pany. 1898. 
The  appearance  of  a  new  edition  of  this  most  excellent  work  will  receive  a 
hearty  welcome,  particularly  so  since  the  authors  have  divided  the  bulky  and 
expensive  one  volume  into  two  convenient  parts,  each  covering  a  distinctive 
field,  Volume  I  being  devoted  to  Elementary  Physics  with  Inorganic  and  Organic 
Chemistry,  while  Volume  II,  which  has  just  appeared,  takes  up  Qualitative  and 
Quantitative  Analysis,  with  Pharmaceutical  Assaying. 
OThe  thoroughness  of  this  well-known  work,  with  the  clearness  with  which 
the  subject  matter  is  treated,  leaves  but  little  to  criticise  except  it  be  in  the  in- 
troductory chapters  on  Physics  and  General  Chemistry. 
When  we  consider  the  growing  importance  of  the  subject  of  Physics  in  its 
applications  to  the  study  of  chemistry,  pharmacy  and  medicine,  one  is  natur- 
ally surprised  to  see  the  entire  subject  condensed  to  within  a  space  of  ninety- 
one  pages.  In  the  endeavor  to  keep  the  work  within  a  reasonable  size,  much 
descriptive  matter,  with  many  illustrations,  have  been  omitted,  which  are 
actually  indispensable  for  a  clear  and  proper  understanding  of  the  subject. 
Space  might  have  been  economized  in  omitting  a  number  of  large  illustrations 
devoted  to  pure  technical  operations,  as  "The  Lime  Kiln,"  "  Lead  Furnace," 
"Sodium  Furnace,"  "Silver  Cupellation  Furnace,"  etc.  For  example,  the 
entire  subject  of  electricity  is  covered  in  sixteen  pages,  with  but  six  illus- 
trations. Under  this  sixteen  lines  have  been  devoted  to  explaining  the  system 
of  telegraphy,  twenty  to  the  telephone,  with  about  the  same  number  to  the 
principles  involved  in  electrical  heating  and  lighting,  the  dynamo,  X-rays,  etc. 
It  is  an  impossibility  for  a  beginner  to  form  a  tangible  idea  of  these  subjects 
