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NEW BOOKS Introduction t o Physical Chemistry. Rj.. / t z ! i i f J ll'a/kcv. fjX zz cui I. ~ - ? z j j , -\iw Jbrk : (l%c L l / ~ ~ m i i l f (Ci on ~ i i j ( i i i j ~rR99. , Z'rict,: rlofh, : ' ' I Iiave found, iii the course of ten $2.50.- 111 tlie preface the, autlior SJ years' experience i l l teacli.ng the sul ect, that tlie average studeiit derives little real benefit from reatling the larger \\-arks \\-liicli have liitlierto heeii at liis disposal, oi\-ing chiefly to his inability to effect a connection hetween tlie ordinary c1ieniic:il kno~vledgehe possesses atid the new material placet1 before him. € € e keeps his every-(lay ant1 his physical chemistry strictly apart. with tlie result that insteatl of ohtaiiiiiig any help froni tlie new tiiscipline i n the cotiiprelieiisiot~of liis systematic or practical work, h e inerel cumliereti J\ it11 an ad(litioiia1 I)iirtlien on the ineiriory, which i a n d purposes utterly useleis. ' ' 'rliis is paiiifully true. The real remedy for it has k e i i poiiitetl out by Ostwaltl antl is to have the lectures on organic antl illorgainic clietnistry delivered from a physical chemistry point of Tien-. This will not Iiappen to any great extent until 1 1 0 mail can be appointed to a chair uf organic or iiiorgaiiic cli~-niistry unless lie has a workiiig kiiowletlge of physical cheinistry. Xilile TW are nearing that ideal, it will he a long time before we reach it. In the ineaiiwliile, we must (lo what Lve can. This volume ljy RIr. U7alker might well be made the basis of a course of lectures, iiitendetl to give students who do not meaii to specialize iii physical cheniistry a general idea of the subject, while the saiiie course might lie taken with profit as an introductory one by those who expect to go farther i n the subject. 'l'lie autlior has been very successful along the lines that he has laid tlo\rn, aiitl liis book can be recorrirnentled heartily. ll'iltier 11.f i t r i i c ~ ~ r f i .I-

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A Textbook of Physical Chemistry. l?y I?. A. Le/zJe/dt. 13 x r9 C ~ I L ; 30j flj. L o u d o z : ErfiLai-rZrli-iiold, '999. Prirt : cloth, 7 6. --This is a very different book from tlie preceding one. I t attempts to give more of the suhject in fewer antl smaller pages. The order followed is : detertnillatioll of tnolecular weight ; physic.31 coiistants in relation to chemical constitution ; the priiiciples of tlierniodyiianiics ; chemical dynamics of hon~ogeileoussystenls ; application of therniodyiianiics in chemical equilibrium ; electrochenlistry. I t is characteristic of this book that the chapter on molecular weights should be the first as well as the longest i n the book. I t seems to he tlle opinioii of a great many people, including a number of physical chemists, tliat the chief end and object of physical chemistry atid pli~-sicalchemistry xnethotls is t o enable us to determine molecular weights. There are just tu-tj reasons for determining molecular weights : to get data which we can use in our quatltitative studies, and to get data which tlie organic and iiiorganic clietnist can use i l l preparing structure-foririulas. Seitlier of these reasoiis is sufficient to justify tile stress usually laid 011 detertnin~itioiiiof molecular Jreights. -4s far as our quail-

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titative studies go, we usually deduce the values needed from the experiments themselves and use the molecular weight deterniinations as a check. The organic chemist merely takes such data as suit his fancy, ignoring the remainder. This is not an, exaggeration as the following two instances will show. At ordinary temperatures the vapor-density of acetic acid points to niarked polymerization ; but no organic chemist ever writes a structure-formula to indicate this. Alcohol in benzene gives thoroughly abnormal values, hut no one attempts to do anything with these values. -411 that the organic chemist asks is that some value shall be found somehow which shall coincide with the formula as he wishes to write it. To come back to the hook, it is really surprising to see how much the author has succeeded in compressing into a small compass. H e points out the actual error introduced by writing ( p - - - p ’ j pinstead of log p p ’ ; and calls attention to the fact that the molecular weight of the solvent as vapor appears in the van ’t Hoff-Raoult formula. Reference is made to the ‘ convergence teniperature ’ in the discussion of freezing-points ; there is a most instructive pressuretemperature diagram with reference to the critical poitit ; a brief account of the corresponding temperatures : and so on through every chapter. Of course, there are some unfortunate statements, such as the following 011 page 38 : ‘‘ If from a solution some of the solvent be frozen out, since the volume is diminished, the osmotic pressure of the remaining solution is increased ; thus tlie osmotic pressure tends to resist the freezing, and the freezing temperature will be lower than that of the pure solvent.” Such slips as thisare infrequent and the reviewer is able to congratulate the author most heartily on everything except ~ 7 i i d e D. r BatzcJ-oyi on the perverse order adopted.

Kanon der Physik. Die Bcgi-ife, Pritzcipietz, Sitze, Foi*gtze!n,Diirzeiisiozfomrr/?z, ?c?td A’o?zsfa?zfeii de?. Physik. Bj,fit’lix Aut-itnch. J 6 X a#cvi ;$p. z2 - 522. Lripzig : Veit u f i d Coitzp., iSpp. Price: papev, I Z irznrks. -On a previous occasion, the professor of physics at Jena gave us an excellent monograph 011 hylrodytiamics. With the present work he adds a similarly useful volume covering the whole range of physics and addressed both to the special and to t h r general reader. I t is the object of the hook, to give clear-cut and illtelligible statements of the concepts, principles, laws, equations, and constants, of physics in such a way as to represent the present stage of advancement of the subject. U’ritten by a niaii of broad culture, there is much in the hook which goes beyond tlie mere vernacnlar of physics, hut it has been the author’s chief aitn to produce an encyclopedia in which the topics treated appear iii orderly developiiient. In this endeavor lie has beeii successful. .knyLody engaged in teaching physical science will find the hook iiivaluable as an aid to the judicious selection of suhjects for lecture purposes, to the same degree in wliicli the book is itself a tribute to the balanced attainments of the German professor. Xs the Kaiion ” is also to he of service to the reader not versed iii the higher niatl~ematics,there is necessarily much halting between self-evident and abstruse propositions, and tlie contrast is often arriusiiig. The book hegins with :in exposition of the fouiitlations of dynamics, arid cotitinues with rriolecular physics ( Chaps. I ,-V, ) . The chapter on potential I ‘

which follo7v.s is quite modern, inclucling full consideration of hj-drodynaniic, elastic, and (further along i 11 the book) therniodynatnic potentials. Here, as elselvhere, the total absence of figures interferes with easy reading. The remainder, and nearly two-thirds of the book, is devoted to energy (Chap. V I I . ) ant1 entropy (Chap. Y I I I . ) , In this respect, the division is to t h e reviewer's knowledge novel, and it may be questioned whether such a division is advisable, seeing that to consult the book one must look in two places instead of one. I n the first of these chapters, the tramforinations of energy are considered with reference to numerical d u e s only ; in the other, with reference to the coiidi. tions of occiirrence of the t-ansforniation. Hence the use of the term entropy is generalizecl to mean the quantity factor of any form of energy, and implying the existence of a correlatil e intensity factor which may be velocity, temperature, potential, etc. The In-o factors vary reciprocally, and all natiiral processes are characterized hy a decrease of the availability factor and a corresponding increase of entropy. -1part from the introductory matter, the whole of physics is tlien divided l)et\veen the two chapters in question. The information is throiighout x-ery full. the (lata well selected, the treatment inoderii, and t h e statenleiits accurate and frequently suggestive. Thus, for instance, under d y iininics, tlie principles of Maupertuis, Haniilton, D'.lleinbert, Gauss. Helniholtz, Hertz, atit1 the equations of Lagrange, are treated i n succession ; under the]-iriodyiiaiiiics, much att(:ntion is given to the tlierrnodpainic potential, and to the recent contributions of physical chemists. AIaxwell's theory and the electromagnetic theory of light are presented in the syininetrical form clue to Hertz aiitl Heaviside. The p:iragraph on geometric optics gives a terse account of tlie valuable methotis due to .1hl)e, etc. One leayes the hook with a feeling o f satisfactioii over tlie u i i i Forniitv of nomenclature which now prevails in all cotiiitries. tliaiiks to the tiniely t l overies of Hertz; ant1 it is interesting- to coiitrnst .4uerl)ach's paragraph on i i i netism with \\hat woul~lhave been written i i i Gerniany ten years ago. CtIYl l7lI?,t(S Determination of Radicles in Carbon Compounds. hy Zh-. H. JZLypr,. Y i ~ i r i t s l n f c t hi j . f./.!ishop Tijt,q-/e. 12 X 19 CVL ;p p . in- 133. L V m ~J b r k : ,/ubi/ 1C7ilc:i, i i r i i ! Sorts, 1S99. 1'1itz, : cloth, $i.oo- In this small book has been collected a very useful sele~:tion of reactions 11oth qiialitstive and quantitative, iv1iic.h are nsetl liy the organic chemist in solving questions of constitution in the compounds of carbon. For the most part, the reactions are quantitative in c h n r x t e r , ant1 enihr:ice the quantitative determinations of I i ~ d r o x y l tilethoxyl, , carboxyl. ainiiie, and diazo groups. h praiseivortliy feature is the large llunlher o f references to origina'. papers which are given under the various heads. c: c.L . ll~illf ~

Indicators and Test-papers. Thpir S ~ I I I ~ C Cpizykrixtio?z, ', irpfilictrtion. n)lir' .-ilfr*rii I.~ - i i / t t w . 13 x 19 ciii ;pp. 2'1. 249, 1br.L :fohu ll'ilty, t r r t d Salts, zS99. /'i.ii.t, : t l o f h , $z.oo. -'Tlie author gives the tiietliotls of preparation, properties, aiitl application of over sevelity ii1,licators, together with tlie met?iods uf preparation and the rules for al~plyingallout the same nutnlier of test-papers. The book should prove very uset'i~l f u r referellce. ll'ildrr I ) .E[iiiiir,f't t c s t s j b i - sc.risitiimc~.ts.

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N r w Bonks

Handbook of Practical Hygiene. BJ I>.H . R E Y ~ Y J J' .4 x 20 r m ;pp. 164. E a s t o z , Pa. : T h e CheriLirall/-'t~blishiiig Co.. 1899. Pl-ire: rloth, $1.50. -This book, which is intended for students, is remarkable when looked on from a hygienic standpoint in that in treating tlie analysis of water and air, absolutely no reference is made to the importance of hacteriological examination. T h a t a cheniical examination of water can give but the faintest evidence of its suitability for sanitary purposes is atlrnitted 1)y all practical sanitarians. \vithout a biological analysis it is useless, ant1 the two combined are also of sniall value nnless combined with a careful investigation of the history and source of tlie water. Had some of the numerous methods for the determination of nitrates been replaced by a fuller suniniary of the interpretation of the results, in connection with the biological examination, the chapter on the analysis of water would assuredly have heen more useful to the student. The hook is by no means well balancecl. c.G. L. M'olf The Chemistry of Soils and Fertilizers.

By Hal-vy S~zyder. 13 X

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pp.i.i- + 277. E n s t o n , Pa.: Thr Chemiral Piihlishiiig Co.. 1899. Price: rloth,

$1.50. - Professor Snyder has treated the chemistry of soils ant1 fertilizers in such a way as to procluce a book which may he read with profit not only 1)y t h e student of agriculture, for whoni i t is primarily designed, hut also hy the practical agriculturalist! who too ofteii employs haphazard measures a t times when a little more care would give much more satisfactor- results. The relation lietween crop production ant1 soil exhaustion is clearly niade out, as is also the proper treatment of farm manures in ortler to realize their maximum efficiency. A bibliography is appended. C. G. L. Wolf Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff. D J ~ E ~ m tCohc?~. 16 x 24 rin ; 5 6 p p . Leipiiz : 1V. E?igelinaan, zS99. Price: 1.60 7navks.- This is a brief sketch of van 't Hoff by one of his most promising pupils. From it we learn that rail ' t Hoff was horn in Rotterdam, August 30, 1Sj2. I n 1869 he went to the technical school at Delft, where he stayed two years. In 1871 he went to the University at Leiden, special permission being necessary for this because he had never studied Latin. The first examination was passed in rS72, and then van 't Hoff went to Bonn to study under K 6 k d 6 . At the end of t h e year he returned to Holland, and, after a short stay in Paris under \Vurtz, took his doctor's degree in Utrecht on December 2 2 , 1574. The twenty-fifth anniversary of this event has just been celebrated in Rotterdam, on which occasion his former pupils, following the good German custom, presenting him with a volume of theirown work, a jubilee volume of the Zeitsrhrift jiiiiir physiknlisrhe Cheinie. The further details of van 't Hoff's scientific life are Eanriliar to every chemist, with the possible exception of the fact that he had t o wait two years after taking his doctor's degree before h e could get an appointment. To those of us who have had the pleasure of working in van ' t Hoff's laboratory, of knowing the man himself, and of feeling the charm and enthusiasm of his manlier, it is, even more than to others, a n intense satisfaction to feel that we have every reason to look forward to at least another twenty-five years of research work, carried on under ideal conditions. IVildt3l- D . Baiicrofi