SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
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DOD IDE DE DOD LDL GL IOL LL DLY DELI IAD GAGA ISEISATD 
MPO DODYDUDU DULL SLO 
Coal Tars and their Derivatives—Dr. G. Malatesta, pp. xi. + 530, with 180 
illustrations. ‘Translated from the first Italian edition, with revisions, correc- 
tions, and additions by the author. -E. and F, N, Spon Ltd., 57 Haymarket, S.W.1. 
This work forms a valuable addition to the useful series of handbooks published 
by E. and F. N. Spon for the use of technical chemists. The author devotes an 
initial statement to an historical account of the methods for extracting by- 
products from coal, and shows the prime importance of the coal-tar industry 
as a source of artificial colours and other valuable synthetic products. In the 
chapters on tar obtained from the manufacture of illuminating gas and of indus- 
trial coke, the various technical processes are described. Under “ Tar Compounds ” 
theories of the formation of tar are discussed, and the properties of the different 
series are given. Tar distillation, light. oil, pitch, and the distillation of lignite 
(brown coal) tar are other subjects dealt with. The concluding portion of the 
work gives an analysis of fuels from the point of view of their by-products. 
The Outlook for Research and Invention—N. M. Hopkins, M.Se., Ph. D. (pp. 
-+ 241), with six full-page portraits, New York, D. Van Nostrand Co., 1919. 
The author, who is an experimental and research engineer and assistant pro- 
fessor at the George Washington University, states that his object in writing 
this book is to stimulate a more general interest in the broader and more com- 
prehensive American research and to add toward lifting its inefficiency, its 
national worth, and the educational requirements to those new in the field and 
in pointing out the many snares and pitfalls awaiting the unwary inventor. It 
is evident that the author is well qualified to carry out his object, both from the 
point of view of scientific training and from experience in research work in 
connexion with the extensive American war researches and also his varied experi-_ 
ences abroad, in his endeayour to overcome the “ shut-in feeling in a Washington 
laboratory” in 1914 by travelling abroad and working in other experimental 
shops to “note the progress in other laboratories, research standards, factories; 
and production method.” He travelled through Germany early in 1914, and was 
caught in Russia during the mobilization. One of the most pleasing features 
is the style of printing that has been used. A larger and heavier type has been 
used than is generally the case, and use has been made of italics, also of a 
corresponding clear type. This, of course, means fewer lines (30) to the page, - 
which must result in an increase in the cost of production with the high rates 
of paper. There can be no question, however, as to the advantage to the reader. 
There are six full-page portraits much above the average with a short biography 
on the covering leaf of each. The publishers are to be congratulated on. their 
work. The text is divided into eight chapters, each of which is complete in 
itself. The author is a free lance, and writes in the first person, making full 
use of quotations of distinguished scientists and scholars. He does not fail to 
criticise either destructively or constructively, or to reflect the views and com- 
ments of many brilliant men with whom he has had associations. He gives a 
fair comparison of the scientific achievements of men of various nationalities 
and has trite criti¢ism for much. of the past American work, THis impartiality 
_ and free criticism should result in a careful analysis of the main subjects on 
which he writes. These may be seen from the headings of-the chapters— 
(1) The Spirit of Research, (2) Men of Research and their devel 
(3) Some ete ae uk past, (4) American war research, ( 5) The tates 
or research, Some border-line limits, (7) Research i 
making and protecting of inventions. ; cree echt eS ene 
380 
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