(1) Outlines of Theoretical Chemistry (2) A New Era in Chemistry (3) The Progress of Scientific Chemistry in our own Times, with Biographical Notices

Abstract

(1) AS an introduction to the study of physical chemistry Prof. Getman's “Outlines” may be warmly recommended. It follows the usual order and arrangement of such subjects, dealing mainly with the physical properties of substances. It is carefully and clearly written, and most of the subjects are treated in a sufficiently simple fashion to enable a student who has completed an elementary course on chemistry to understand them without difficulty. The only question which has arisen in reading the book is whether the very brief and necessarily superficial accounts which are given of some of the topics are worth the space devoted to them. It is not merely that the account is incomplete; it has no beginning, and leads nowhere. It conveys as much information as a worn strip of ground to the lost traveller who is doubtful whether 'it is a pathway or not. We refer more particularly to the discussion of the properties of liquids, such as molecular volume, refraction, magnetic rotation, and so forth. The reply might, of course, be made that it is better for a student to know of the existence of such properties, even if they tell him little or nothing, than to remain entirely ignorant of them; but in a small book like this (which, by the way, seems very expensive for its size) we are of opinion that the space might be better utilised. One excellent feature of the volume is the set of problems introduced at the end of each chapter.

(1) Outlines of Theoretical Chemistry.

By Prof. F. H. Getman. Pp. xi + 467. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1913.) Price 15s. net.

(2) A New Era in Chemistry.

By H. C. Jones. Pp. xii + 326. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 8s. 6d. net.

(3) The Progress of Scientific Chemistry in our own Times, with Biographical Notices.

By Sir William A. Tilden. Second edition. Pp. xii + 366. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1913.) Price 7s. 6d. net.