If this is not the
rous editions of Paradise Lost?
rous editions of Paradise Lost?
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
The author choosing rather to set forth in the text
certain ruggedness which lends force to his latter part is a great deal more what we wbat be takes to be the general principles of
9
## p. 44 (#52) ##############################################
44
No. 4394, JAN. 13, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Literary Gossip.
the subject, and to illustrate his conclusions in Reader's Index : Personal Forces in Modern
the margin by reference to statutes and legal Literature, ld.
decisions. The purely descriptive tone of the The bi-monthly magazine of the Croydon
book, and the absence of any comparison of Public Libraries.
American labour regulations with those of other komilly (A. J. ), Thackeray Studies, 2/6 net.
countries, make it uninteresting to the general Three essays on ‘Becky Sharp,' Thackeray's
reader, but it is none the less valuable within Criticism of Life,' and. The Book of Snobs. ' The
its limits. There is an excellent index.
two latter cover old ground, without reinter- MR. JOHN MURRAY announces The
Cooper (Mahlon), Fact and Fiction : Tales and preting old estimates or suggesting any modi-
Essays, 5/ net.
fications of the old critical fashions. The
Life of George Borrow,' compiled from un-
Mr. Cooper is a literary dilettante, a circum- Becky Sharp study strikes us as being anti- published official documents, his works,
ambient philosopher of whimsical and errant
by Mr.
Herbert
predilections. Having but little to say, he of melodrama, a target for Mr. Romilly correspondence, &c. ,
says it at prodigious length and through a style broadsides. When Thackeray degraded her Jenkins ; ' Correspondence of Sarah Spen-
clad in purple. His prose pleasantly reflects
and distorted her likeness, it was rather as the cer, Lady Lyttelton, 1787-1870', edited
the idiosyncrasies of personality, and is only
judge than the artist. Mr. Romilly, convinced
incidentally the medium for the expression of of her creator's consistency,
fails to remark by her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Hugh
moral and aesthetic truths. We prefer Mr. this, and in doing so mars much of the subtlety Wyndham, with portraits ; and the
Cooper when he pinks himself and pricks his of the characterization and the interest of the 'Life of James, First Duke of Ormonde,
own bubble. He delights to commit felo-de-se personality.
1610-88,' 2 vols. , by Lady Burghclere.
in a sly, intellectual way which is comic. Stamp Year (The), 1912, 1/ net.
As a humorist, he is a rara avis ; otherwise he
Turkey, British Chamber of Commerce of,
is somewhat commonplace.
Quarterly Trade Journal, December, 2/6
He is also publishing The Decline and
Craufurd (Rev. Alexander H. ), The Religion and Viking Club Year-Book, 1910-11, 2/6
Dissolution of the Moghul Empire,' a
Ethics of Tolstoy.
In a certain sense we believe that Tolstoy Willing's Press Guide, 1912, 1/
series of lectures by Mr. Sidney J. Owen ;
A thorough and useful guide to the varied
was right, though not quite in the way that he activities of the newspaper world.
and “The Autobiography of Thomas de
understood matters. " This sentence-which
Women's Industrial News, January, 6d.
Witt Talmage, D. D. ,' well known both as
occurs at the bottom of p. 117-gives a fair
idea of the character of the whole book. The
a traveller and a preacher.
attitude of complacent patronage towards
Pamphlets.
Tolstoy of itself tends to misconception; and
Coombes (Rev. H. E. H. ), The Church and
the attempt to interpret him is eked out with
ERSKINE May's 'Constitutional History
Financial Reform: a Summary of the Report of England since the Accession of George
platitudes, trivial conjectures, and generaliza-
tions. Reference in detail to Tolstoy's works
is not attempted.
Finance and its Message to the Parochial III. ' has been a standard work for many
Clergy, 1d.
years. Messrs. Longmans are publishing
Equatorial and North Africa : a Monthly Journal
Hodge (Rev. E. Grose), “ Play the Game": a
for all Peoples living or having Interests in
Word to Young Men who have been confirmed,
next week a new issue in three volumes,
the West, Centre, East, and North, No. 1,
ld.
one of which, dealing with 1860 onwards,
January, 4d.
Missions of Help to the Colonies : Hints for will be added by Mr. Francis Holland, who
London Stories, Part VII. , 6d. net.
Workers and Missioners, by the Rev. E. A.
has edited the work.
This enterprise, which is edited by “ John o' Stuart and the Rev. J. C. Fitzgerald, ld.
London,” is to be completed in sixteen parts.
It is difficult to excite local patriotism in
AMONGST the articles in Chambers's
Londoners because so vast a city conveys such
FOREIGN
a woedley of confused impressions. The old
Journal for February are the following:
tales and associations are resuscitated, de-
Poetry and Drama.
· Dickens and Forster,' by Mr. S. M. Ellis,
scribed, and explained. In a literary sense, the Meyerfeld (Max), Robert Anstey : ein Akt. author of · William Harrison Ainsworth
publication might tone down its matter into a
more sober colouring.
History and Biography.
and his Friends, in which fresh light is
Martin (Edgar Walford), The Home and the Calvin (Jean), L'Excuse de Noble Seigneur Jaques
thrown on Dickens's quarrel with Bentley
Child, 2/6
de Bourgogne, Seigneur de palais et de Bredam. at the start of his literary career ; 'Some-
A reaffirmation of the conservative position
A reprint-now in its second edition from
concerning domestic and religious influences.
Mr. Martin deplores the spirit of unrest and dis-
the unique copy of the Geneva edition of 1548, thing Rotten in the State of Denmark,"
by
with an introduction by M. Alfred Cartier, Prof. Hugh Walker ; ‘A Wanderer's Note-
satisfaction which is abroad, and seeks to bind
the old ties closer. We doubt whether his
giving the history of Jaques de Bourgogne (a Book,' containing comments on industry
kinsman of Charles V. , and much favoured by and agriculture in Belgium, by Mr. A.
sentimental appeals will command a thoughtful him),
audience, on account of the familiarity of their L'Excuse was addressed to the Emperor by Whyte, M. P. ; Florence, Yesterday,
nature and the unconvincing manner in which Calvin in his name.
To-day, and To-morrow,' by Miss May
they are set forth.
Revue Historique, Janvier-Février, 6fr.
Moran (C. G. ), The Alpbabet of the National
Baldwin; and 'The White Ant of Northern
Insurance Act, 1911, 1/ net.
Philology.
Australia,' by Mr. F. A. W. Gisborne.
Munshi (Rustamji Nasarvanji), The History of
the Kutb Minar (Delhi).
Becker (Franz), Bryan Waller Procter (Barry
The booklet claims to be an authoritative Cornwall), 4m. 50.
MESSRS. SEELEY, SERVICE & Co. will
and original contribution upon the archæological Diehl (E. ), Vergil, Aeneis II. mit Servius, 2m. shortly publish the account of an adven-
history of what Elphinstone, in bis ‘History No. 80 of the Kleine Texte published by turous march across the Great Sahara.
of India,' calls the highest column in the Marcus & Weber of Bonn. The Commentary The author, Capt. A. H. W. Haywood,
world. ” Judging from its inscriptions and of Servius is printed page by page with the
the testimony of Mohammedan historians, text.
started from the West Coast of Africa,
the author concludes that it was raised during Gundermann (G. ), Hippocratis de aere aquis locis, struck across the desert, and in six months
the dynasty of Sultan Altamash in 629 A. H. , mit der alten lateinischen Uebersetzung, reached Algiers safely.
and not by Sultan Kutb-ud-din in 1193, as lm. 20.
is generally supposed. There are, however, no No. 77 of the Kleine Texte. The old Latin
inscriptions to that effect. The author also
translation is given side by side with the Greek
discusses the name of the column and the
MR. ROBERT SCOTT announces for imme-
text.
motives that led to its erection. Bad printing
and English somewhat depreciate the value of
Maas (Paulus), Apollonius Dyscolus de Pronomini- diate publication a new work by the Rev.
this inquiry.
bus, im.
Bernard M. Hancock, entitled "The
No. 82 of the Kleine Texte.
Nationalist (The): a Non-Political Magazine for
Prayer Book in the Parish,' with an Intro-
Wales, January, 1!
Fiction
The opening article takes the bit in its teeth
duction by the Rev. Dr. I. Gregory Smith.
with some injudicious and highly controversial
The author suggests how Churchmen may
Tolstoï (Léon), Le Père Serge, et autres Contes,
remarks. The unstinted praise meted out to
revise and reset some of their twentieth-
1fr. 25 net.
Sir Robert Morant, the new chairman of the In the Collection Nelson. See p. 38.
century pastoral work by going back more
English Insurance Commission, will arouse
opposition in many quarters. The attack on
simply and faithfully to the principles
the
General Literature.
linguistic sloppiness of the English
and discipline of the 1662 Prayer Book.
language, with particular reference to certain
Hugo (Victor), (Euvres complètes : Vol. 7, The work is intended for laymen as well
dialects employed by well-known men of letters,
Ruy Blas,; Les Burgraves ; Vol. 8, Han
does not seem to us either temperate or in good d'Islande, Édition Nelson, lir. 25 net each.
as the clergy, without regard to any
taste. Various specimens of Welsh poetry and
music are given.
This new publication
of the French classic party in the Church.
The journal is under the
began last October, and continues at the rate
impression that there is a general conspiracy of two volumes a month. In all fifty-one
among the English people to deny any morit volumes are to be issued. The print is clear and
The Right Rev. G. H. S. Walpole will
to the Welsh literary genius, an unjustifiable bold, and the binding is neat.
issue immediately through the same
assumption.
publisher A Simple Guide to Holy
Pratt (Edwin A. ), A History of Inland Transport
and Communication in England, 6/ net.
* All books received at the Ofice up to Wednesday Communion,' a work similar to his Com-
Morning will be included in this List unless
Queensland, Vital Statistics, 1910: Fifty-first previously noted. Publishers are requested
munion and Offering,' but simpler in form
Annual Report of the Government Statistician. to state prices when sending books.
and cheaper.
6
5
## p. 45 (#53) ##############################################
No. 4394, Jan. 13, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
45
are women.
>
even
6
MR. WILLIAM LE QUEux is in Khartoum, The total is 57,415, and of these 2,795 expedition, under the title of Shackleton
writing a new novel of Soudanese life,
The Universities most fre- in the Antarctic. It will be published by
which®Mr. Eveleigh Nash will publish in quented by men are Berlin, Munich, Mr. Heinemann next Thursday as the
the autumn.
Leipsic, and Bonn, and the favourite sub- first volume of his new series of Hero
jects are medicine, mathematics, philo- Readers” for schools.
Dr. Joseph F. Payne's library, which increase in the number studying evangelical that the directors of the Opposition
The concluding portion of the late sophy, and history; while there is an
It is reported from Constantinople
Messrs. Sotheby will sell on the 30th theology, which has been much
interesting, from the fact that it includes 2,856 entered for this subject, whereas in
and 31st inst. , is more than usually of late years. Even now there are only journals Meslek and Yeniyol have been
sentenced to forty-five and twenty days'
an extensive collection of first and
1888 there were 4,400. Nearly a third of imprisonment respectively for the pub-
other editions of the writings of Milton.
the women students are at Berlin, while
lication of statements of a nature to
These extend to over 100 lots. The nume-
Bonn and Göttingen come next in order of
disturb the public mind.
If this is not the
rous editions of Paradise Lost? include preference. The majority study philo- common understatement of the East, they
two of the first, one with the third title sophy and history, mathematics and seem only to be following the lead of the
page, and the other with the seventh.
natural science.
average Western journalist, who lives by
There are also first editions of · Paradise
alarming his readers and fostering unrest.
Regained,' and the 'Poems' of 1645. WE learn that the author of the inter-
The Milton pamphlets are abundant, esting book on 'The Seymour Family' MRS. STOPES contributes to this week's
and in many cases rare.
we noticed last week is a lady, Miss Audrey Notes and Queries some interesting notes
Locke.
COWBOY SONGS,' edited by Mr. John A.
of unpublished matter concerning the
Lomax, is an anthology collected from all
THE yearly analysis of books for 1911
vicissitudes of seventeenth-century books.
over the cowboy lands of North America. due to The Publishers' Circular shows that Wither's 'Hymns and Spiritual Songs
We have here not verses about cowboy-life
there were
more books published
were popular, and a royal patent was
by some professional writer, but the actual than in 1910, 10,914 and 10,804 being the secured to bind them up with the Psalms,
songs sung by the “ boys” round their figures. The largest increases are in the 4001. worth of copies being taken. The
camp fires, taken down from their own following classes : Philosophy and Re- Company of Stationers refused to do this,
lips. Rough though the songs may be, ligion, Science and Technology, History and in 1634 the Privy Council supported
the reader will recognize at once that and Biography, and Poetry and Drama. them.
they are expressions of real feelings ; New Fiction accounts for 1,238 volumes,
some of them have no little humour,
and with 933 new editions, 40 translations,
In the same year Dr. Speed pleaded for
the retention of his patent to bind up
his
remind one of old English and Scottish | 2,215; 1,159 books were published in allowed his privilege for seven years.
while others have haunting refrains which and 4 pamphlets, makes the total of
Genealogies' with the Bible, and was
ballads. The book will be published by September, 1,527 in October, and 1,203
Mr. Fisher Unwin.
in November.
THE death in his 78th year is an-
MR. HEINEMANN will publish next
We have already commented on the nounced from Breslau of the well-known
Thursday a new book by M. Octave significance of these figures. It is obvious writer Felix Dahn, Professor of Juris-
Uzanne entitled 'The Modern Parisienne. ' that the supply far exceeds the demand. prudence at the University of that town.
The Frenchwoman of to-day is considered Even the expert finds it difficult under Though he wrote a number of historical
in many respects a different type from present conditions to select the notable and legal works, he was best known by
that studied by Balzac. M. Uzanne things among such a crowd of competing his historical romances, which at one
time were widely read, but have been
analyzes and portrays many phases of volumes, but he at least recognizes a
womanhood in Paris, and at the same time host of réchauffés which do not deserve robbed of much of their popularity by
the development of the modern novel.
reviews the position of woman in other to exist.
His best work in fiction was “ Ein Kampf
modern cities.
The ordinary man, puzzled and confused
um Rom,' in which he made skilful
AMONG Mr. Murray's forthcoming fic by so many masterpieces,” all belauded
use of his historical studies. Some of
tion are The Forest on the Hill,' another somewhere, all “ the latest and best,” his shorter stories, especially Felicitas,"
of the Dartmoor stories of Mr. Eden Phill-tends increasingly, so far as our observa-
tends increasingly, so far as our observa- possess charm; and his fine play · König
potts; The Visioning,' by Miss Susantion goes, to trust to chance for his Roderich
Roderich' deserves to be more widely
Glaspell
, a study of a group of well-to-do reading, and sales apart from established read. Among his historical
works the
conventional views are reputations which are sure of the public most important is Urgeschichte der
upset ; and 'Roddles,' by Mr. B. Paul New- favour--are a more fallacious criterion of germanischen und romanischen Völker.
man, which deals with the training of two
merit than they ever were.
clever boys by a little tailor whom mis-
The popular magazines slavishly insist
'WE AND OUR CHILDREN’ is the title
fortune has made into a cynic.
on the “ up-to-date," and compare in this of Dr. Woods Hutchinson's latest volume,
MESSRS. MACMILLAN have in hand respect very unfavourably with the pre- which will be published next Thursday
Vol. VII. of Mr. J. W. Fortescue's fine decessors they have thrust out of exist-
by Messrs. Cassell. It has been written
*History of the British Army,' which ence. There are, however, signs that the not with the avowed object of laying down
carries on the story from the battle of few organs which show any independence any definite system, but rather to give
Corunna in 1809.
of view or real feeling for art have their practical advice to all who desire answers
meed of appreciation. We hope and believe to vital questions concerning child-life
* The Man whom the Trees Loved,' by that the “honourable minority" of which to-day: In method it resembles the
Mr. Algernon Blackwood, illustrated by George Meredith spoke will yet hold its author's book on 'Health and Common
Sense. '
Mr. Graham Robertson; The Victories own against the purveyors of sentiment
of Olivia, and other Stories,' by Miss and sensation, the snippet, and the mass
NEXT FRIDAY Mr. Edward Lovett will
Evelyn Sharp; and The Charwoman's
and "The Charwoman's of inferior writing of all kinds which is give a lecture to the Viking Club on The
Daughter,' by Mr. James Stephens.
commended as “ topical. "
Origin of Commerce and Currency,'
INCLUDING 630 women, the total of
There is at least an increased keenness beginning with the Stone Age, and dis-
matriculated students in Edinburgh Uni- about the records of sociology which cussing the standards of barter in many
versity last year was 3,421, or 55 more than ought to widen the public intelligence parts of the world.
1910.
concerning matters of vital importance,
and the scope of its sympathies.
NEXT WEEK we shall devote special
THE half-yearly returns of the German
attention to School-Books and the Lite-
students show an increase of 2,593, as com-
SIR E. SHACKLETON has abridged and rature of Education, noticing various
pared with those of the summer session, adapted for school use the story of his I meetings and conferences.
## p. 46 (#54) ##############################################
46
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4394, JAN. 13, 1912
66
Preparation of Partially Methylated Sugars Gamma rays at least a hundred times
and Polyhydric Alcohols' hardly lend them- greater than pure radium bromide one
SCIENCE
selves to summary treatment. One turns month old; while the Alpha ray activity
with pleasure from these to Prof. M'Intosh's of radio-thorium ought to be about three
'Brief History of the Chair of Natural hundred times greater than that of radium
History at St. Andrews,' which seems to in equilibrium. As it can probably be
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
have developed, oddly enough, from the produced at a much cheaper rate, we ought
Professorship of Civil History established to have here the easily obtained substitute
The Chemistry of the Radio-Elements, by by the Act of Union in 1747 on the ruins of for radium so long sought.
Frederick Soddy (Longmans), is one of a former Chair of Humanity. For the
It was this mesothorium with which
Prof. Findlay's series of • Monographs on twenty years before the memorable year Prof. Rutherford's lecture was mainly con-
Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. ”. By 1793, the fees reaped hardly covered, cerned. The lecture is fully reported in
omitting as far as possible all description of Prof. M'Intosh tells us, the cost of the paper, The Archives of the Röntgen Ray for this
processes and apparatus, Mr. Soddy has pens, and ink used by the occupant of the month, which announces in an editorial note
contrived to include within the space of a chair in preparing his lectures ; but they that Dr. Bottinger has placed a quantity of
hundred pages all that is known with made an advance about 1827, when Dr.
mesothorium at the disposal of the Berlin
certainty in regard to radium and its con- Chalmers insisted that a knowledge of natural Academy of Sciences, to be lent to medical
geners, which he asserts to be thirty in history, including botany, was indispensable
number. The book is well and clearly to students of divinity. A more congruous purposes.
men under certain conditions for experimental
In view of the increasing atten-
written, and its contents can be understood line of development was taken when it was
by the lay reader. What will most strike him, perceived that St. Andrews, owing to the research this is important. From the
tion paid to the use of radiumin cancer
perhaps, is the number of curious anomalies nature of its position, was an excellent place for physicist's point of view, the relation of
which these thirty new elements present. studying marine biology, and the Edinburgh thorium to uranium, the supposed common
Uranium, for instance, which is assumed Fisheries Exhibition in 1882–3 fortunately sup- parent of all these substances, remains a
rather than proved to be their parent, plied some of the funds required for establish-
mystery.
probably gives birth directly to actinium, and, ing a station there. Since then its progress has
at one or more removes, to the newly dis- been rapid,
and it now boasts a Marine Labora.
M. E. Bloch, Professor at the Lycée
covered ionium, which is ascertained to be the tory and other advantages, besides Research
St. Louis, lately lectured at the Sorbonne
immediate source of radium. Yet, unlike the Scholarships. If we compare this with the
on the electronic theory of metals, the lecture
other highly radio-active substances, uranium poverty-stricken nature of the University's being the last of a series organized by the
gives out no emanation that has yet been resources at the beginning of last century-
discovered, and its connexion with
thorium satirized, by the way, in Sir Walter Scott's Modern Ideas of the Constitution
of Matter. '
remains a mystery. Mr. Soddy here sug- Doom of Devorgoil? –we see the wisdom of He said that we must imagine the electrons
gests—so far as one recollects, for the first allowing such institutions to develope along in a conductor as free, so that the positive
time-as an explanation of this, that “ura- their natural lines instead of forcing them particles could displace themselves in one
nium is not a single element, but a mixture all into some State-modelled frame. A
direction, and the negative in the opposite
of two, chemically non-separable, differing similar latitude has, one believes, produced the other hand, they could also be displaced ;
In a dielectric or non-conductor, on
in atomic weight by four units, and both a similarly happy result at Marseilles.
expelling Alpha rays. ” The ionium which
but then a force like that of elasticity
Other papers agreeable to read in the appeared to come into play, which compelled
it produces-after changes only one of which,
i. e. , that into uranium x, has yet been present volume are Prof: D'Arcy Thompson? s them to return to their position of equi-
traced-chemically resembles thorium, the dential Address to the Zoological Section
librium. The united movement of the
chief difference between them being in of the British Association in August last, and
electrons gives rise to Maxwell's “ displace-
their respective atomic weights. Hence Mr.
ment current,” and the substance in which
one by Prof. Marshall on the Toxicity of this occurs is said to be electrically polarized.
Soddy suggests that “thorium and ionium Local Anæsthetics,' which, although highly
form a pair of non-separable elements, technical, may be regarded as of general
The lecture is reported at length in La
which would certainly remove some diffi- interest.
Nature for the 30th of last month, and
culties.
marks a decided advance in our conception
Mr. Soddy rejects the theory that all
of the constitution of matter. The idea of
matter is radio-active, which, he says, rests
the electrons forming a gas bears much
on no foundation; but his statement-
RESEARCH NOTES.
resemblance to a theory of Sir William
perhaps a little too dogmatic-that all
Ramsay on the subject, to which we may
common rocks and minerals contain minute
PROF. RUTHERFORD lectured last month return later.
amounts of radium" explains how the mis- to the Röntgen Society on 'The Radio- Sir William Crookes has a paper in the
conception, if such it be, has been brought activity of Thorium,' the commonest, and
about. He also admits the emission of Beta in some respects the most interesting, of all Royal Society on the spectrum of boron,
current number of the Proceedings of the
rays by potassium and rubidium, and, says the highly radio-active substances. It is which gives us for the first time much in-
that "it is not possible to doubt the largely used in the manufacture of incan- formation on some unsuspected qualities of
existence here of two new specific types descent gas mantles, and can be obtained this element. Boron, which with aluminium
of Beta-radio-activity. ” Yet he refuses to in practically unlimited quantities from the was said by Mendeléeff to form a kind of
believe that the atoms of potassium and monazite sand which occurs in most parts bridge between the metals and the non-
rubidium are really disintegrating until their of the earth's surface, especially in Brazil metals, has hitherto been virtually un-
disintegration products have been obtained, and North Carolina. Prof. Rutherford known in the metallic state, Moissan having
and in this he is doubtless judicious, though acknowledged in his lecture that our know- been able to produce it only in the shape
hardly logical. For the students to whom, ledge of the radio-activity of thorium was of amorphous brown powder. Dr.
as we gather from the prospectus of the largely due to the work of Prof. Otto Weintraub, of the West Lynn Research
Series, it is primarily addressed, no better Hahn, who helped Sir William Ramsay at Laboratory of the General Electric Company
book can be recommended.
University College, London, in 1903, when of America, has, however, succeeded in
the last-named scholar was examining a preparing it from chloride of boron con-
THE PREFACE to the handsome book large quantity of thorianite from Ceylon, taining a large excess of hydrogen, by the use
entitled University of Saint Andrews, Five Prof. Hahn discovered, as has been several of alternating-current arcs with water-cooled
Hundredth Anniversary : Memorial Volume times mentioned in these Notes, that the electrodes. He has placed several specimens
of Scientific Papers contributed by Members radio-activity of thorium is due to a sub- of the fused metal thus obtained at the dis-
of the University, edited by William c. stance which he called radio-thorium, which posal of Sir William Crookes, who finds
M'Intosh, John E. A. Steggall, and James C. in its turn presupposed an intermediate that it presents some extraordinary foatures,
Irvine (The University), tells us that it substance called mesothorium. This last, such as a hardness sufficient to scratch
is published in order that the distin- which is further separable into mesothorium i corundum, and an electric conductivity
guished guests of the University should and mesothorium 2—the difference between which rises enormously with a slight increase
receive an appropriate remembrance of which is negligible in practice-has the dis-
in temperature. Its spectrum exhibits three
their visit, and also in order to afford a tinction of possessing a very long period of new lines with a wave-length of 3451. 50,
record of the kind and quality of the scien- change, five and a half years elapsing before 2497. 83, and 2496. 89 respectively, but
tific research now pursued by her children. its activity sinks to half-value.
Sir William was unable to verify the exist-
Truth to say, the latter seems to be a little Meso-thorium is nearly as radio-active as ence of fourteen other lines previously an-
dry, and subjects such as Concrete Repre- radium, while it can be obtained in a much nounced by Profs. Eder and Valenta, or five
sentations of Non-Euclidean Geometry,' higher state of concentration. One day others claimed for it by Profs. Exner and
"The Algebraic Solution of Indeterminate after separation it shows, according to Prof. Haschek. In his spectroscopic examination
Cubic and Quartic Equations,' and 'The Rutherford, an emission of Beta and he was obliged to use clips of pure gold
an
## p. 47 (#55) ##############################################
No. 4394, JAN. 13, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
47
Mr. E. Jenkinson.
Palmer.
on
Residence Tarife. '
Linnean, 8. - Some Features of tho Marine Flora of St.
Andrews,' Dr. A. A. LAwson.
Chemical, 8. 30. - Boiling Points of Mercury, Cadmium, Zinc,
Potassium, and Sodium,' Messrs. C. T. Heycock and F. E. E.
be
FRI.
Institution of Civil Engineers, 8. -- The Turbo-Blower and
Present Development of the Turbine-Pump,' Messrs. E.
Hopkinson and A. E. L. Chorlton.
Bar.
Uganda,' Lecture I. , Rev. J. Roscoe.
an
for holding the metal, because, as he says, ' tissues. This he obtains by soaking them
THURS. Society of Arts, 4. 30. —'The Old District Records of Bengal,'
Rev. W. K. Firminger.
gold gives no lines near those of copper or in one of two liquids, one of these being the Historical, 8. The Records of the Royal African Company,
aluminium, and all its own lines are well methylic ether of salicylic acid, and the London Institution, 6. -'Literary Blunders,' Dr. A.
certain ruggedness which lends force to his latter part is a great deal more what we wbat be takes to be the general principles of
9
## p. 44 (#52) ##############################################
44
No. 4394, JAN. 13, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Literary Gossip.
the subject, and to illustrate his conclusions in Reader's Index : Personal Forces in Modern
the margin by reference to statutes and legal Literature, ld.
decisions. The purely descriptive tone of the The bi-monthly magazine of the Croydon
book, and the absence of any comparison of Public Libraries.
American labour regulations with those of other komilly (A. J. ), Thackeray Studies, 2/6 net.
countries, make it uninteresting to the general Three essays on ‘Becky Sharp,' Thackeray's
reader, but it is none the less valuable within Criticism of Life,' and. The Book of Snobs. ' The
its limits. There is an excellent index.
two latter cover old ground, without reinter- MR. JOHN MURRAY announces The
Cooper (Mahlon), Fact and Fiction : Tales and preting old estimates or suggesting any modi-
Essays, 5/ net.
fications of the old critical fashions. The
Life of George Borrow,' compiled from un-
Mr. Cooper is a literary dilettante, a circum- Becky Sharp study strikes us as being anti- published official documents, his works,
ambient philosopher of whimsical and errant
by Mr.
Herbert
predilections. Having but little to say, he of melodrama, a target for Mr. Romilly correspondence, &c. ,
says it at prodigious length and through a style broadsides. When Thackeray degraded her Jenkins ; ' Correspondence of Sarah Spen-
clad in purple. His prose pleasantly reflects
and distorted her likeness, it was rather as the cer, Lady Lyttelton, 1787-1870', edited
the idiosyncrasies of personality, and is only
judge than the artist. Mr. Romilly, convinced
incidentally the medium for the expression of of her creator's consistency,
fails to remark by her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Hugh
moral and aesthetic truths. We prefer Mr. this, and in doing so mars much of the subtlety Wyndham, with portraits ; and the
Cooper when he pinks himself and pricks his of the characterization and the interest of the 'Life of James, First Duke of Ormonde,
own bubble. He delights to commit felo-de-se personality.
1610-88,' 2 vols. , by Lady Burghclere.
in a sly, intellectual way which is comic. Stamp Year (The), 1912, 1/ net.
As a humorist, he is a rara avis ; otherwise he
Turkey, British Chamber of Commerce of,
is somewhat commonplace.
Quarterly Trade Journal, December, 2/6
He is also publishing The Decline and
Craufurd (Rev. Alexander H. ), The Religion and Viking Club Year-Book, 1910-11, 2/6
Dissolution of the Moghul Empire,' a
Ethics of Tolstoy.
In a certain sense we believe that Tolstoy Willing's Press Guide, 1912, 1/
series of lectures by Mr. Sidney J. Owen ;
A thorough and useful guide to the varied
was right, though not quite in the way that he activities of the newspaper world.
and “The Autobiography of Thomas de
understood matters. " This sentence-which
Women's Industrial News, January, 6d.
Witt Talmage, D. D. ,' well known both as
occurs at the bottom of p. 117-gives a fair
idea of the character of the whole book. The
a traveller and a preacher.
attitude of complacent patronage towards
Pamphlets.
Tolstoy of itself tends to misconception; and
Coombes (Rev. H. E. H. ), The Church and
the attempt to interpret him is eked out with
ERSKINE May's 'Constitutional History
Financial Reform: a Summary of the Report of England since the Accession of George
platitudes, trivial conjectures, and generaliza-
tions. Reference in detail to Tolstoy's works
is not attempted.
Finance and its Message to the Parochial III. ' has been a standard work for many
Clergy, 1d.
years. Messrs. Longmans are publishing
Equatorial and North Africa : a Monthly Journal
Hodge (Rev. E. Grose), “ Play the Game": a
for all Peoples living or having Interests in
Word to Young Men who have been confirmed,
next week a new issue in three volumes,
the West, Centre, East, and North, No. 1,
ld.
one of which, dealing with 1860 onwards,
January, 4d.
Missions of Help to the Colonies : Hints for will be added by Mr. Francis Holland, who
London Stories, Part VII. , 6d. net.
Workers and Missioners, by the Rev. E. A.
has edited the work.
This enterprise, which is edited by “ John o' Stuart and the Rev. J. C. Fitzgerald, ld.
London,” is to be completed in sixteen parts.
It is difficult to excite local patriotism in
AMONGST the articles in Chambers's
Londoners because so vast a city conveys such
FOREIGN
a woedley of confused impressions. The old
Journal for February are the following:
tales and associations are resuscitated, de-
Poetry and Drama.
· Dickens and Forster,' by Mr. S. M. Ellis,
scribed, and explained. In a literary sense, the Meyerfeld (Max), Robert Anstey : ein Akt. author of · William Harrison Ainsworth
publication might tone down its matter into a
more sober colouring.
History and Biography.
and his Friends, in which fresh light is
Martin (Edgar Walford), The Home and the Calvin (Jean), L'Excuse de Noble Seigneur Jaques
thrown on Dickens's quarrel with Bentley
Child, 2/6
de Bourgogne, Seigneur de palais et de Bredam. at the start of his literary career ; 'Some-
A reaffirmation of the conservative position
A reprint-now in its second edition from
concerning domestic and religious influences.
Mr. Martin deplores the spirit of unrest and dis-
the unique copy of the Geneva edition of 1548, thing Rotten in the State of Denmark,"
by
with an introduction by M. Alfred Cartier, Prof. Hugh Walker ; ‘A Wanderer's Note-
satisfaction which is abroad, and seeks to bind
the old ties closer. We doubt whether his
giving the history of Jaques de Bourgogne (a Book,' containing comments on industry
kinsman of Charles V. , and much favoured by and agriculture in Belgium, by Mr. A.
sentimental appeals will command a thoughtful him),
audience, on account of the familiarity of their L'Excuse was addressed to the Emperor by Whyte, M. P. ; Florence, Yesterday,
nature and the unconvincing manner in which Calvin in his name.
To-day, and To-morrow,' by Miss May
they are set forth.
Revue Historique, Janvier-Février, 6fr.
Moran (C. G. ), The Alpbabet of the National
Baldwin; and 'The White Ant of Northern
Insurance Act, 1911, 1/ net.
Philology.
Australia,' by Mr. F. A. W. Gisborne.
Munshi (Rustamji Nasarvanji), The History of
the Kutb Minar (Delhi).
Becker (Franz), Bryan Waller Procter (Barry
The booklet claims to be an authoritative Cornwall), 4m. 50.
MESSRS. SEELEY, SERVICE & Co. will
and original contribution upon the archæological Diehl (E. ), Vergil, Aeneis II. mit Servius, 2m. shortly publish the account of an adven-
history of what Elphinstone, in bis ‘History No. 80 of the Kleine Texte published by turous march across the Great Sahara.
of India,' calls the highest column in the Marcus & Weber of Bonn. The Commentary The author, Capt. A. H. W. Haywood,
world. ” Judging from its inscriptions and of Servius is printed page by page with the
the testimony of Mohammedan historians, text.
started from the West Coast of Africa,
the author concludes that it was raised during Gundermann (G. ), Hippocratis de aere aquis locis, struck across the desert, and in six months
the dynasty of Sultan Altamash in 629 A. H. , mit der alten lateinischen Uebersetzung, reached Algiers safely.
and not by Sultan Kutb-ud-din in 1193, as lm. 20.
is generally supposed. There are, however, no No. 77 of the Kleine Texte. The old Latin
inscriptions to that effect. The author also
translation is given side by side with the Greek
discusses the name of the column and the
MR. ROBERT SCOTT announces for imme-
text.
motives that led to its erection. Bad printing
and English somewhat depreciate the value of
Maas (Paulus), Apollonius Dyscolus de Pronomini- diate publication a new work by the Rev.
this inquiry.
bus, im.
Bernard M. Hancock, entitled "The
No. 82 of the Kleine Texte.
Nationalist (The): a Non-Political Magazine for
Prayer Book in the Parish,' with an Intro-
Wales, January, 1!
Fiction
The opening article takes the bit in its teeth
duction by the Rev. Dr. I. Gregory Smith.
with some injudicious and highly controversial
The author suggests how Churchmen may
Tolstoï (Léon), Le Père Serge, et autres Contes,
remarks. The unstinted praise meted out to
revise and reset some of their twentieth-
1fr. 25 net.
Sir Robert Morant, the new chairman of the In the Collection Nelson. See p. 38.
century pastoral work by going back more
English Insurance Commission, will arouse
opposition in many quarters. The attack on
simply and faithfully to the principles
the
General Literature.
linguistic sloppiness of the English
and discipline of the 1662 Prayer Book.
language, with particular reference to certain
Hugo (Victor), (Euvres complètes : Vol. 7, The work is intended for laymen as well
dialects employed by well-known men of letters,
Ruy Blas,; Les Burgraves ; Vol. 8, Han
does not seem to us either temperate or in good d'Islande, Édition Nelson, lir. 25 net each.
as the clergy, without regard to any
taste. Various specimens of Welsh poetry and
music are given.
This new publication
of the French classic party in the Church.
The journal is under the
began last October, and continues at the rate
impression that there is a general conspiracy of two volumes a month. In all fifty-one
among the English people to deny any morit volumes are to be issued. The print is clear and
The Right Rev. G. H. S. Walpole will
to the Welsh literary genius, an unjustifiable bold, and the binding is neat.
issue immediately through the same
assumption.
publisher A Simple Guide to Holy
Pratt (Edwin A. ), A History of Inland Transport
and Communication in England, 6/ net.
* All books received at the Ofice up to Wednesday Communion,' a work similar to his Com-
Morning will be included in this List unless
Queensland, Vital Statistics, 1910: Fifty-first previously noted. Publishers are requested
munion and Offering,' but simpler in form
Annual Report of the Government Statistician. to state prices when sending books.
and cheaper.
6
5
## p. 45 (#53) ##############################################
No. 4394, Jan. 13, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
45
are women.
>
even
6
MR. WILLIAM LE QUEux is in Khartoum, The total is 57,415, and of these 2,795 expedition, under the title of Shackleton
writing a new novel of Soudanese life,
The Universities most fre- in the Antarctic. It will be published by
which®Mr. Eveleigh Nash will publish in quented by men are Berlin, Munich, Mr. Heinemann next Thursday as the
the autumn.
Leipsic, and Bonn, and the favourite sub- first volume of his new series of Hero
jects are medicine, mathematics, philo- Readers” for schools.
Dr. Joseph F. Payne's library, which increase in the number studying evangelical that the directors of the Opposition
The concluding portion of the late sophy, and history; while there is an
It is reported from Constantinople
Messrs. Sotheby will sell on the 30th theology, which has been much
interesting, from the fact that it includes 2,856 entered for this subject, whereas in
and 31st inst. , is more than usually of late years. Even now there are only journals Meslek and Yeniyol have been
sentenced to forty-five and twenty days'
an extensive collection of first and
1888 there were 4,400. Nearly a third of imprisonment respectively for the pub-
other editions of the writings of Milton.
the women students are at Berlin, while
lication of statements of a nature to
These extend to over 100 lots. The nume-
Bonn and Göttingen come next in order of
disturb the public mind.
If this is not the
rous editions of Paradise Lost? include preference. The majority study philo- common understatement of the East, they
two of the first, one with the third title sophy and history, mathematics and seem only to be following the lead of the
page, and the other with the seventh.
natural science.
average Western journalist, who lives by
There are also first editions of · Paradise
alarming his readers and fostering unrest.
Regained,' and the 'Poems' of 1645. WE learn that the author of the inter-
The Milton pamphlets are abundant, esting book on 'The Seymour Family' MRS. STOPES contributes to this week's
and in many cases rare.
we noticed last week is a lady, Miss Audrey Notes and Queries some interesting notes
Locke.
COWBOY SONGS,' edited by Mr. John A.
of unpublished matter concerning the
Lomax, is an anthology collected from all
THE yearly analysis of books for 1911
vicissitudes of seventeenth-century books.
over the cowboy lands of North America. due to The Publishers' Circular shows that Wither's 'Hymns and Spiritual Songs
We have here not verses about cowboy-life
there were
more books published
were popular, and a royal patent was
by some professional writer, but the actual than in 1910, 10,914 and 10,804 being the secured to bind them up with the Psalms,
songs sung by the “ boys” round their figures. The largest increases are in the 4001. worth of copies being taken. The
camp fires, taken down from their own following classes : Philosophy and Re- Company of Stationers refused to do this,
lips. Rough though the songs may be, ligion, Science and Technology, History and in 1634 the Privy Council supported
the reader will recognize at once that and Biography, and Poetry and Drama. them.
they are expressions of real feelings ; New Fiction accounts for 1,238 volumes,
some of them have no little humour,
and with 933 new editions, 40 translations,
In the same year Dr. Speed pleaded for
the retention of his patent to bind up
his
remind one of old English and Scottish | 2,215; 1,159 books were published in allowed his privilege for seven years.
while others have haunting refrains which and 4 pamphlets, makes the total of
Genealogies' with the Bible, and was
ballads. The book will be published by September, 1,527 in October, and 1,203
Mr. Fisher Unwin.
in November.
THE death in his 78th year is an-
MR. HEINEMANN will publish next
We have already commented on the nounced from Breslau of the well-known
Thursday a new book by M. Octave significance of these figures. It is obvious writer Felix Dahn, Professor of Juris-
Uzanne entitled 'The Modern Parisienne. ' that the supply far exceeds the demand. prudence at the University of that town.
The Frenchwoman of to-day is considered Even the expert finds it difficult under Though he wrote a number of historical
in many respects a different type from present conditions to select the notable and legal works, he was best known by
that studied by Balzac. M. Uzanne things among such a crowd of competing his historical romances, which at one
time were widely read, but have been
analyzes and portrays many phases of volumes, but he at least recognizes a
womanhood in Paris, and at the same time host of réchauffés which do not deserve robbed of much of their popularity by
the development of the modern novel.
reviews the position of woman in other to exist.
His best work in fiction was “ Ein Kampf
modern cities.
The ordinary man, puzzled and confused
um Rom,' in which he made skilful
AMONG Mr. Murray's forthcoming fic by so many masterpieces,” all belauded
use of his historical studies. Some of
tion are The Forest on the Hill,' another somewhere, all “ the latest and best,” his shorter stories, especially Felicitas,"
of the Dartmoor stories of Mr. Eden Phill-tends increasingly, so far as our observa-
tends increasingly, so far as our observa- possess charm; and his fine play · König
potts; The Visioning,' by Miss Susantion goes, to trust to chance for his Roderich
Roderich' deserves to be more widely
Glaspell
, a study of a group of well-to-do reading, and sales apart from established read. Among his historical
works the
conventional views are reputations which are sure of the public most important is Urgeschichte der
upset ; and 'Roddles,' by Mr. B. Paul New- favour--are a more fallacious criterion of germanischen und romanischen Völker.
man, which deals with the training of two
merit than they ever were.
clever boys by a little tailor whom mis-
The popular magazines slavishly insist
'WE AND OUR CHILDREN’ is the title
fortune has made into a cynic.
on the “ up-to-date," and compare in this of Dr. Woods Hutchinson's latest volume,
MESSRS. MACMILLAN have in hand respect very unfavourably with the pre- which will be published next Thursday
Vol. VII. of Mr. J. W. Fortescue's fine decessors they have thrust out of exist-
by Messrs. Cassell. It has been written
*History of the British Army,' which ence. There are, however, signs that the not with the avowed object of laying down
carries on the story from the battle of few organs which show any independence any definite system, but rather to give
Corunna in 1809.
of view or real feeling for art have their practical advice to all who desire answers
meed of appreciation. We hope and believe to vital questions concerning child-life
* The Man whom the Trees Loved,' by that the “honourable minority" of which to-day: In method it resembles the
Mr. Algernon Blackwood, illustrated by George Meredith spoke will yet hold its author's book on 'Health and Common
Sense. '
Mr. Graham Robertson; The Victories own against the purveyors of sentiment
of Olivia, and other Stories,' by Miss and sensation, the snippet, and the mass
NEXT FRIDAY Mr. Edward Lovett will
Evelyn Sharp; and The Charwoman's
and "The Charwoman's of inferior writing of all kinds which is give a lecture to the Viking Club on The
Daughter,' by Mr. James Stephens.
commended as “ topical. "
Origin of Commerce and Currency,'
INCLUDING 630 women, the total of
There is at least an increased keenness beginning with the Stone Age, and dis-
matriculated students in Edinburgh Uni- about the records of sociology which cussing the standards of barter in many
versity last year was 3,421, or 55 more than ought to widen the public intelligence parts of the world.
1910.
concerning matters of vital importance,
and the scope of its sympathies.
NEXT WEEK we shall devote special
THE half-yearly returns of the German
attention to School-Books and the Lite-
students show an increase of 2,593, as com-
SIR E. SHACKLETON has abridged and rature of Education, noticing various
pared with those of the summer session, adapted for school use the story of his I meetings and conferences.
## p. 46 (#54) ##############################################
46
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4394, JAN. 13, 1912
66
Preparation of Partially Methylated Sugars Gamma rays at least a hundred times
and Polyhydric Alcohols' hardly lend them- greater than pure radium bromide one
SCIENCE
selves to summary treatment. One turns month old; while the Alpha ray activity
with pleasure from these to Prof. M'Intosh's of radio-thorium ought to be about three
'Brief History of the Chair of Natural hundred times greater than that of radium
History at St. Andrews,' which seems to in equilibrium. As it can probably be
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
have developed, oddly enough, from the produced at a much cheaper rate, we ought
Professorship of Civil History established to have here the easily obtained substitute
The Chemistry of the Radio-Elements, by by the Act of Union in 1747 on the ruins of for radium so long sought.
Frederick Soddy (Longmans), is one of a former Chair of Humanity. For the
It was this mesothorium with which
Prof. Findlay's series of • Monographs on twenty years before the memorable year Prof. Rutherford's lecture was mainly con-
Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. ”. By 1793, the fees reaped hardly covered, cerned. The lecture is fully reported in
omitting as far as possible all description of Prof. M'Intosh tells us, the cost of the paper, The Archives of the Röntgen Ray for this
processes and apparatus, Mr. Soddy has pens, and ink used by the occupant of the month, which announces in an editorial note
contrived to include within the space of a chair in preparing his lectures ; but they that Dr. Bottinger has placed a quantity of
hundred pages all that is known with made an advance about 1827, when Dr.
mesothorium at the disposal of the Berlin
certainty in regard to radium and its con- Chalmers insisted that a knowledge of natural Academy of Sciences, to be lent to medical
geners, which he asserts to be thirty in history, including botany, was indispensable
number. The book is well and clearly to students of divinity. A more congruous purposes.
men under certain conditions for experimental
In view of the increasing atten-
written, and its contents can be understood line of development was taken when it was
by the lay reader. What will most strike him, perceived that St. Andrews, owing to the research this is important. From the
tion paid to the use of radiumin cancer
perhaps, is the number of curious anomalies nature of its position, was an excellent place for physicist's point of view, the relation of
which these thirty new elements present. studying marine biology, and the Edinburgh thorium to uranium, the supposed common
Uranium, for instance, which is assumed Fisheries Exhibition in 1882–3 fortunately sup- parent of all these substances, remains a
rather than proved to be their parent, plied some of the funds required for establish-
mystery.
probably gives birth directly to actinium, and, ing a station there. Since then its progress has
at one or more removes, to the newly dis- been rapid,
and it now boasts a Marine Labora.
M. E. Bloch, Professor at the Lycée
covered ionium, which is ascertained to be the tory and other advantages, besides Research
St. Louis, lately lectured at the Sorbonne
immediate source of radium. Yet, unlike the Scholarships. If we compare this with the
on the electronic theory of metals, the lecture
other highly radio-active substances, uranium poverty-stricken nature of the University's being the last of a series organized by the
gives out no emanation that has yet been resources at the beginning of last century-
discovered, and its connexion with
thorium satirized, by the way, in Sir Walter Scott's Modern Ideas of the Constitution
of Matter. '
remains a mystery. Mr. Soddy here sug- Doom of Devorgoil? –we see the wisdom of He said that we must imagine the electrons
gests—so far as one recollects, for the first allowing such institutions to develope along in a conductor as free, so that the positive
time-as an explanation of this, that “ura- their natural lines instead of forcing them particles could displace themselves in one
nium is not a single element, but a mixture all into some State-modelled frame. A
direction, and the negative in the opposite
of two, chemically non-separable, differing similar latitude has, one believes, produced the other hand, they could also be displaced ;
In a dielectric or non-conductor, on
in atomic weight by four units, and both a similarly happy result at Marseilles.
expelling Alpha rays. ” The ionium which
but then a force like that of elasticity
Other papers agreeable to read in the appeared to come into play, which compelled
it produces-after changes only one of which,
i. e. , that into uranium x, has yet been present volume are Prof: D'Arcy Thompson? s them to return to their position of equi-
traced-chemically resembles thorium, the dential Address to the Zoological Section
librium. The united movement of the
chief difference between them being in of the British Association in August last, and
electrons gives rise to Maxwell's “ displace-
their respective atomic weights. Hence Mr.
ment current,” and the substance in which
one by Prof. Marshall on the Toxicity of this occurs is said to be electrically polarized.
Soddy suggests that “thorium and ionium Local Anæsthetics,' which, although highly
form a pair of non-separable elements, technical, may be regarded as of general
The lecture is reported at length in La
which would certainly remove some diffi- interest.
Nature for the 30th of last month, and
culties.
marks a decided advance in our conception
Mr. Soddy rejects the theory that all
of the constitution of matter. The idea of
matter is radio-active, which, he says, rests
the electrons forming a gas bears much
on no foundation; but his statement-
RESEARCH NOTES.
resemblance to a theory of Sir William
perhaps a little too dogmatic-that all
Ramsay on the subject, to which we may
common rocks and minerals contain minute
PROF. RUTHERFORD lectured last month return later.
amounts of radium" explains how the mis- to the Röntgen Society on 'The Radio- Sir William Crookes has a paper in the
conception, if such it be, has been brought activity of Thorium,' the commonest, and
about. He also admits the emission of Beta in some respects the most interesting, of all Royal Society on the spectrum of boron,
current number of the Proceedings of the
rays by potassium and rubidium, and, says the highly radio-active substances. It is which gives us for the first time much in-
that "it is not possible to doubt the largely used in the manufacture of incan- formation on some unsuspected qualities of
existence here of two new specific types descent gas mantles, and can be obtained this element. Boron, which with aluminium
of Beta-radio-activity. ” Yet he refuses to in practically unlimited quantities from the was said by Mendeléeff to form a kind of
believe that the atoms of potassium and monazite sand which occurs in most parts bridge between the metals and the non-
rubidium are really disintegrating until their of the earth's surface, especially in Brazil metals, has hitherto been virtually un-
disintegration products have been obtained, and North Carolina. Prof. Rutherford known in the metallic state, Moissan having
and in this he is doubtless judicious, though acknowledged in his lecture that our know- been able to produce it only in the shape
hardly logical. For the students to whom, ledge of the radio-activity of thorium was of amorphous brown powder. Dr.
as we gather from the prospectus of the largely due to the work of Prof. Otto Weintraub, of the West Lynn Research
Series, it is primarily addressed, no better Hahn, who helped Sir William Ramsay at Laboratory of the General Electric Company
book can be recommended.
University College, London, in 1903, when of America, has, however, succeeded in
the last-named scholar was examining a preparing it from chloride of boron con-
THE PREFACE to the handsome book large quantity of thorianite from Ceylon, taining a large excess of hydrogen, by the use
entitled University of Saint Andrews, Five Prof. Hahn discovered, as has been several of alternating-current arcs with water-cooled
Hundredth Anniversary : Memorial Volume times mentioned in these Notes, that the electrodes. He has placed several specimens
of Scientific Papers contributed by Members radio-activity of thorium is due to a sub- of the fused metal thus obtained at the dis-
of the University, edited by William c. stance which he called radio-thorium, which posal of Sir William Crookes, who finds
M'Intosh, John E. A. Steggall, and James C. in its turn presupposed an intermediate that it presents some extraordinary foatures,
Irvine (The University), tells us that it substance called mesothorium. This last, such as a hardness sufficient to scratch
is published in order that the distin- which is further separable into mesothorium i corundum, and an electric conductivity
guished guests of the University should and mesothorium 2—the difference between which rises enormously with a slight increase
receive an appropriate remembrance of which is negligible in practice-has the dis-
in temperature. Its spectrum exhibits three
their visit, and also in order to afford a tinction of possessing a very long period of new lines with a wave-length of 3451. 50,
record of the kind and quality of the scien- change, five and a half years elapsing before 2497. 83, and 2496. 89 respectively, but
tific research now pursued by her children. its activity sinks to half-value.
Sir William was unable to verify the exist-
Truth to say, the latter seems to be a little Meso-thorium is nearly as radio-active as ence of fourteen other lines previously an-
dry, and subjects such as Concrete Repre- radium, while it can be obtained in a much nounced by Profs. Eder and Valenta, or five
sentations of Non-Euclidean Geometry,' higher state of concentration. One day others claimed for it by Profs. Exner and
"The Algebraic Solution of Indeterminate after separation it shows, according to Prof. Haschek. In his spectroscopic examination
Cubic and Quartic Equations,' and 'The Rutherford, an emission of Beta and he was obliged to use clips of pure gold
an
## p. 47 (#55) ##############################################
No. 4394, JAN. 13, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
47
Mr. E. Jenkinson.
Palmer.
on
Residence Tarife. '
Linnean, 8. - Some Features of tho Marine Flora of St.
Andrews,' Dr. A. A. LAwson.
Chemical, 8. 30. - Boiling Points of Mercury, Cadmium, Zinc,
Potassium, and Sodium,' Messrs. C. T. Heycock and F. E. E.
be
FRI.
Institution of Civil Engineers, 8. -- The Turbo-Blower and
Present Development of the Turbine-Pump,' Messrs. E.
Hopkinson and A. E. L. Chorlton.
Bar.
Uganda,' Lecture I. , Rev. J. Roscoe.
an
for holding the metal, because, as he says, ' tissues. This he obtains by soaking them
THURS. Society of Arts, 4. 30. —'The Old District Records of Bengal,'
Rev. W. K. Firminger.
gold gives no lines near those of copper or in one of two liquids, one of these being the Historical, 8. The Records of the Royal African Company,
aluminium, and all its own lines are well methylic ether of salicylic acid, and the London Institution, 6. -'Literary Blunders,' Dr. A.
