Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/283

Rh species of British forest trees. Among those classed as minor species not usually forming pure forests in Britain are five conifers introduced from North America. Something is told also in regard to the yew, juniper, hazel, alder, buckthorn, and hawthorn among useful shrubs.

body of notes, corresponding to an extended course of lectures, is given in this book. Many of the facts, laws, and processes which it includes are stated with much fullness and are accompanied with illustrative examples. As indicated by the title, the work is confined to theoretical chemistry, and much of the history of chemical theory is included in it. A chapter is given to solutions in which the recent work on that subject finds a place. Thermochemistry receives due attention, and there are short chapters on photo-chemistry and electrochemistry. Considerable prominence has been given to stoichiometry, but for problems in this subject students are referred to special manuals. The author is instructor in chemical physics and chemical philosophy at the School of Mines, Columbia College.

book is an attempt to put into small compass and cheap form a general view of the origin and growth of the use of ornament. The opening paragraph follows: "The Birth of Ornament! Countless centuries before man appeared upon the earth, the Creator of the universe had gazed upon the work of his hands, and declared that all had reached his lofty ideal." Certainly the author can not be accused of too modern a starting point, and he further on puts this beyond question. "Hence we claim for our subject nothing short of infinite antiquity, nothing less than divine authority." The first chapter deals with the value of a knowledge of past ornamentation, the study of principles, and various other general matters. Chapter II really opens the subject, with a consideration of Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Phœnician art. Chapter III deals with Greek and Roman art Chapter IV, division of the Roman Empire: Byzantine, Romanesque, and Early English Art; Chapter V, Causes of the Decay of Gothic Art, and the Renaissance; and Chapter VI, The Art of Islam, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Peruvian, and, finally. Art among the North American Indians and the Primitive Savages. The work seems to be the result of a large amount of labor and time. It is very well illustrated with examples from the various periods, and abounds in quotations from such authorities as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Guizot, Ruskin, and Wilkinson. It contains a useful index.

congratulate the editor and the publishers upon the completion of this valuable work. So many subjects requiring extended treatment fall within the latter part of the alphabet that the concluding volume has grown far beyond the size of the other two, and its price has been increased by five dollars. The article on Sulphuric Acid occupies sixty pages, and treats fully each detail of the process of manufacture. Sixteen cuts, showing brimstone burners, steam jet pipes, Gay-Lussac and Glover towers, and other apparatus are given. Another subject demanding large space is the making of sodium carbonate, which is described with like fullness. The making of other compounds of sodium and the extraction of the metal itself also receive due attention. Under the head of Silver the extraction of that metal is described, and under Zinc we find the methods of extracting the metal and the composition of its alloys. The article on Water, contributed by Prof. Percy F. Frankland, is characterized by a large number of results of analyses of waters from sources of various geological characters and from various local supplies mainly in the British Isles. The composition of many saline and other mineral waters is given also. Modes of purify, ing water for drinking and for industrial purposes are described, together with a process of chemical analysis. Prof. Frankland also gives a special section on the