Phosphore, Arsenic, Antimoine

Abstract

THIS book is one of the forty volumes on chemistry forming part of an encyclopaedia of science which is expected to run to about a thousand volumes. The treatment aims at a compromise between text-books and dictionaries—the books being intended at the same time for reading and for reference. This is obviously a very ambitious scheme, and it raises the question as to whether such a compromise between matter and style is one which is likely to be useful. In the opinion of the reviewer, books intended for reference should aim at giving the fullest possible information in the smallest possible space. If the elementary rules of grammar are satisfied, the busy worker will be content, and questions of style have little interest for him. The references to original literature should in each case be checked carefully with the originals, and no differentiation should be made between the nationalities of the various discoverers. Although the well-known treatises compiled by German authors are not perfect, they are all we possess which have any pretension to completeness, and have proved of inestimable service to thousands of chemists of all nationalities. A proposal to publish such works in English has not proceeded beyond the stage of discussion, great as are the possibilities of success if trustworthy compendia could be issued within a reasonable period.

Phosphore, Arsenic, Antimoine

By Dr. A. Boutaric A. Raynaud. (Encyclopédic Scientifique: Bibliothèque de Chimie.) Pp. iii + 417. (Paris: Octave Doin, 1920.) Price 9.50 francs.