NEW BOOKS L’Architecture de 1’ Univers. By P. COUDERC.Paris: Encyclopedie Gauthier Villars, 1930. As the title indicates, the present volume, No. 6 in the series, attempts to describe the structure of the visible universe, but a glance at the table of contents indicates that the development of the universe also is included-in its widest cosmogonical aspects. I t is not meant as a text book, and indeed it more resembles a collection of selected chapters, the first of which, without much preliminary, really disposes of the question of the structure of our Milky Way system. A second chapter is devoted to a description of methods, terminology, and some related chemical and physical facts and laws. Chapter 111 treats of the spectral classification in detail and more specifically of the now defunct theory of stellar evolution, while chapter IV continues this with the Laplace-Jeans theory of the evolution of spiral nebulae, and Jeans’s tidal theory for the origin of t h e planets. With a rather prolonged excursion into the geological evidence for the age of the earth, the probable ages of the stars and the time scale of the universe derived from double stars and clusters are discussed. This naturally leads to relativity, and its bearing upon astronomical space and cosmogony. The last two chapters deal with cosmic rays and the problem of life outside the earth. The work is illustrated by eight excellent full-page photographs of star fields, clusters, and spiral nebulae. The principal criticism that might be advanced against it is that nearly all theories are presented as if they were final, without much comment or critical analysis. Thus, on p. 144 i t is stated quite calmly that epidemics of “grippe” on the earth may well have a cosmic origin. An unfortunate slip on p. 103 states that theinclination of the earth’s axis on the ecliptic varies in 26,000 years, and this may explain the periodic return of glacial epochs. W. J. LUYTEN. Annual International Tables of Constants and Numerical Data, Chemical, Physical, Biological, and Technological. Paris: Gauthier Villars e t Cie. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc. Volume V I I I , Literature of 1987-38 (published 1931-32) 4-40 Part I. xl 1101 pp. Part 11. xxi f 1102-2706 pp. Cloth. Volume I X , Literature of 1983 (published 1931) 4-40 i 1607 pp. Cloth. Numerical Data of Spectroscopic Literature of 1335-86. (Extract from Vol. VI1 of Annual International Tables) (published 1930). 4 4 0 xix, 414-927 pp. Boards. Indez to volumes of the 1st series (I to V, 1910-1922) (published 1930). Compiled 382 pp. Cloth. by G. Kravtzoff. 4-to lxii Index to Volume I X . Literature of 1989 (published 1932). Compiled by G. Kravtzoff. &to xxiv 124 pp. Boards. These volumes represent a continuation of the activities of an International Committee appointed by the 7th Congress of Applied Chemistry (London, 1909) and continued under the auspices of the International Research Council and the International Union of Chemistry. Dr. Ch. Marie, Secretary General of the International Committee, has unstintingly devoted his energies to the task of making this 1223
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project a success, and he merits the sincere thanks of all workers in the field of the chemical and physical sciences. The scope of the work as represented in the earlier publications is so well known to scientists that an extended review of the present volumes is unnecessary. I n these days when scientific data are scattered through a thousand “journals” it becomes imperative that someone undertake the task of collecting those data which appear t o possess more or less permanent value and making them available t o the researcher in some such form as those publications represent. It is a necessary consequence of this type of publication that volumes such as these should be rather expensive. However, their cost would represent an insignificant fraction of the cost of the time which the industrial or research worker without them would spend in searching the literature, so that the initial cost for their purchase will eventually be returned manyfold. It is an interesting commentary on human nature that the governing body of an organization will often quibble over a very moderate expenditure for books and a t the same time spend without a question thousands of dollars for machinery, equipment, or new personnel. The library is the heart of a university or of a research laboratory, and volumes such as these are a n invaluable adjunct to abstract journals. Special attention should be called t o the index volumes, the first being a collective index for Vols. I t o V. More than twenty thousand substances are classified here. It contains (1) an analytical index alphabetically arranged in four languages (in parallel columns), (2) an alphabetical index of all substances (animal, plant, mineral, technologic products, etc.) including many chemical “trade names” which the chemist does not always associate with the chemical formula, and (3) a formula index, (arranged according to empirical formulas) of all definite chemical compounds. These volumes, and those which preceded and those which will follow, should be on the shelves of every reference library and of the library of every research institution. Special prices may be secured by taking advantage of the subscription rates. Incidentally, i t may be noted that certain sections (note, e.g., section on spectroscopic data noted above) may be purchased separately if purchase of the entire volume is not desired. Ross AIKENGORTNER.
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Einjchrung i n die Elektronilc. By 0. KLEMPERER.25.5 X 17 cm.; xii 304 pp. Berlin: Springer, 1933. Price: unbound, 18.60 marks; bound, 19.80 marks. The sub-title is “The experimental physics of the free electron in the light of classical theory and of wave mechanics.” The experimental side of the subject is stressed throughout, the mathematical and theoretical sides being merely quoted in sufficient detail to give point to the story. Problems involving relatively abstruse sections of electron-gas kinetic theory are handled either very briefly, or not a t all; there is, for example, no mention of thermoelectricity. So far as concerns the mere experimental side of our acquaintance with the properties of the negative electron, the book may not inaptly be described as a small “Encyclopaedia Electronica.” It deals with a wide range of very diverse phenomena, here grouped for convenience-and of necessity somewhat arbitrarily-under three main headings: (1) the free electron; (2) electron emission; and (3) interaction between free electrons and atoms. The treatment, in a single volume of this size, is naturally not exhaustive (in the account of Millikan’s oil-drop experiments, for instance, the question of the validity of Stokes’ law is dismissed in a brief footnote), but the text is supplemented by well-chosen references to original papers. The value of the work is enhanced, for many classes of readers, by the inclusion of
