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BO0.K REVIEWS Chemistry and Civilization. By ALLERTONS. CUSHMAN. Fuel Production and Utilization. By HUGHS. TAYLOR,D.Sc. (Liverpool), Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry, Prince21 X 14 cm. 151 pp. Richard G. Badger, Boston, 1920. ton University. [One of a series of volumes on “Industrial Price, $2.50. Chemistry,’’ edited by Samuel Rideal, D.Sc., London, F. I. C.] In the course of the first chapter the author brings the earth xiv 289 pp. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1920. from a gaseous mass to its present form, develops life, and carries Price, $4.00 net. chemistry from the alchemists through the phlogistonists to According to the preface “This volume is addressed more esLavoisier, Dalton, and Mendeleeff. The second chapter deals with chemistry in the service of man. Historically it starts pecially t o the young college graduate, a s an effort t o supplement his academic training with the broad facts of fuel production from the French Revolution. A sketch of the life of Rumford and utilization. It attempts t o present a survey of the whole includes the foundation of the Royal Institution and leads up to the work of Davy and Faraday. The title of chemistry in field ol fuel as the author has learned i t to be in the last few years, when the stress of circumstances has turned men’s activities the service of man is justified by the discussion of the work of from the more specialized problems of pure science.” Liebig and of Pasteur. Naturally, one would not expect a modern physical chemist to The third chapter deals with chemistry and industry, the special write the usual textbook of methods for analyzing and testing topics being the alkali industry, sulfuric acid, iron and steel, fuels, temperature measurements, combustion data, and tables including the Bessemer process, ceramics, portland cement, the of composition, and in this respect the reader will not be coal-tar dyes and medicinals, catalysis, and the synthesis of indigo, camphor, and rubber. After covering all this ground in disappointed. Indeed, there are plenty of good textbooks for 21 pages, it is a simple matter to discuss chemistry and the war teaching the elements of fuel chemistry to undergraduate chemin 25 pages. The important points as the author sees them are ists and engineers. The present volume is most timely in bringing together a the food problem and nitrogen fixation, poison gases and active charcoal, and the use of dichloramine-?‘, etc., in surgery. The record of the tremendous progress that has been made in the last fifth chapter is entitled chemistry and the future. It is rather few years in the more complete utilization of the world’s fuel an interpolated one designed to permit the author to discuss resources. The attention given t o present-day tendencies and the Einstein theory, though he also takes up radium. The possible future developments in fuel economics is of particular last chapter is on some modern aspects of chemistry and interest to those engaged in fuel research The concise presentathe sub-heads are: colloids and dispersoids; chemistry and tion of the physicochemical principles involved in the producits by-products; the future of alcohol; chemistry a t high and tion and utilization of fuels, as given in the introduction and in low temperatures and pressures; the liquefaction of gases ; subsequent sections on combustion, carbonization, and gasificathe story of helium; the electric arc furnace and its products; tion, is one of the most valuable features of the book. In such the cracking of petroleum and the motor fuel problem; the matters the author writes from actual experience. The engineerpromise of the future as compared with the past. There is also ing and economic aspects of the various processes described in an appendix on nitrogen supplies prepared under the direction of the book are drawn from recent articles appearing in English the author by Carleton H. Wright. and American technical periodicals and the publications of the The title of the book is misleading. The author has written a United States Bureau of Mines and the Canadian Department sketch of the progress of chemistry; but the bearing of chem- of Mines. The author has selected this material with proper istry on civilization is not discussed directly, and i t is not a t discrimination, €or the most part, and always cites his authoriall certain that there is any parallelism between the develop- ties. However, the inexperienced reader is occasionally left in ment of chemistry and the development of art or ethics, for doubt as t o which processes are current practice and which are instance. merely experiments where “the operation was a success but the A number of the proper name3 are spelled wrong, such as patient died.” Myer for Meyer and Thomsen for Thomson. The reviewer Apparently there is a rlerical error in the paragraph on drying does not like the way in which some of the illustrations are put in the chapter devoted to powdered coal, since an example at the top of the page instead of being centered. It may be the is cited of drying coal from 1.25 per cent t o 0.5 per cent latest thing in book-making, but it distresses one a t first. I n moisture. Were coal with 1.25 per cent moisture, available it spite of the general excellence of the book, there are a few errors would be unnecessary t o dry it. It is unnecessary for most which are rather unexpected on the part of a chemist of Dr. purposes to dry coal to 0.75 per cent moisture, as statedin this Cushman’s standing. The poisoning of catalytic agents is not article. It is rather unfortunate, too, that Fig. 5 shows an una profound mystery any longer. The adsorption of poison usual type of feeder. Most modern low-pressure feeders are of gases by charcoal and the passage of air though the mask (p. the screw set type. Also in Fig. 8 is shown an open-hearth fur94) is not analogous to a “poultry brooding coop in which the nace with no means of preheating the air. Lack of prehqating little chicks are free to run in and out and away, while the rendered this particular installation useless and it was scrapped. nervous and excited mother birds are forced to confine their mo- Much of the latter part of the article dealing with powdered coal tions within the meshes which hold them imprisoned.” The for steamships is purely speculative and these pages might have author has evidently forgotten that toxic smokes are not stopped been filled with more valuable material. appreciably by charcoal. The reviewer was surprised to find Following are a few typographical errors noted by the reviewer: i t implied (p. 98) that the occurrence of potassium bromate in Page 18, the heat of combustion of methane is given as 212,500 potassium chlorate was the chief cause of primer troubles. There in one place and 213,500 in two other places; on page 26 the subis a confusion on p. 116 between dialyzing membranes and semi- script(2)is omitted from T in the equation for the heat of reaction permeable membranes. The object of dialysis is not to remove Q2; page 150, 5th line from top, the words “carbon monoxide or add water, and dissolved substances do pass through the should evidently read “carbon dioxide.” dialysis membrane. Arrhenius was the man who put forward The selected bibliography at the end of each section provides the theory of electrolytic dissociation and not van’t Hoff. a most useful guide to recent literature on the subject. WILDERD. BANCROFT A. C . FIELDNER
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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
By EDWARD HART, PH.D. viii $- 211 pp. The Chemical Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., 1920. Price, $4.00. This book takes up in a descriptive manner the various industrial chemical operations and is well illustrated. The chapters deal successively with materials, location of works, boilers, prime movers, plumbing, crushing, dissolving, filtration, tanks, evaporators, crystallization, drying, distillation, absorption of gases, mixing, and containers. Dr. Hart, in his preface, touches one of the reasons for the lack of adequate books, particularly textbooks, on chemical engineering, when he states that “the writer whose own experience shall fully qualify him to cover this whole subject is still to be discovered.” In view of this lack of literature, criticism from any point of view other than that of improving the present situation is out of place. In reading over the book, one is impressed with the necessity, in writing a textbook, of being ever watchful of the relative weight given various topics. The young engineer, in reading the chapter on materials, is apt to overestimate the industrial importance of iron-silicon alloys, and phenolic condensation products, in view of the fact that one-half the chapter is devoted to these two materials. Many important materials, such as monel metal, acid-resistant bronzes, and hard rubber are not mentioned. In the chapter on distillation, the distilling of solvents and other volatile materials and the principles of dephlegmation are touched only slightly, while the greater part of the chapter is devoted to the distillation of inorganic acids, and here no mention is made of the vacuum process for distilling nitric acid. The book contains too many quotations from catalogs and letters from men directly interested in the products they describe. This is likely to contribute to a lack of balance in the subject matter, and those practicing in the field are apt to discount the quotations of one who may be over-enthusiastic. In the chapter on drying there is inserted a 4-page quotation and a page illustration describing the Lowden dryer. This description deals wholly with the mechanical construction and operation of the dryer, and no mention is made of its field or use. Another quotation in this same chapter gives the data required for making the proper selection of a dryer,but nothing is said about the significance of each point. Many fundamentals, such as the use of the wet and dry bulb thermometer and the significance of these readings, have been omitted. There is always a difference in point of view relative to the subject matter that might be included in a book dealing with a field as broad as chemical engineering. From the reviewer’s standpoint, i t would be better to replace the chapter on boilers by one on combustion, for surely combustion is an essential chemical engineering operation. Also, it would seem that the details of building construction in Chapter 2 might better be replaced by a chapter giving some of the principles of factory lay-out from the standpoint of types of buildings, future expansion, accessibility, and the ease of transportation within, as well as to and from, the plant. The reviewer feels that this book really describes the mechanical operations of industrial chemistry and not the art or science of chemical engineering. As the electrical engineer controls electrical forces, so must the chemical engineer control chemical forces, and this is done largely by the addition or withdrawal of materials and energy (usually heat) from a given point. Therefore, a real textbook of chemical engineering must cover these phenomena in general and their application to the field of chemistry in particular. Dr. Hart’s book will be found valuable to universities and others desiring t o give a course in industrial chemistry with more emphasis on the mechanical operations than is given in the usual textbook on this subject. R. T. HASLAM
A Text Book of Chemical Engineering.
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Gas Warfare. By EDWARD S. FARROW.xi 253 pp. 1st Ed. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York City, 1920. Price, $3.00 net. This book is a very complete compilation of data on the use of chemicals in the world war. A student of military science would find it of unquestionable value, but there is not enough action to hold the attention of the average reader. The author sketches the development of the Chemical Warfare Service, as well as the gradual growth in importance of chemical weapons. He discusses in considerable detail the specific chemicals which were employed, including their properties and methods of use, and the construction of projectiles and fuses. It is stated in the preface that the casualties from gas equaled 2 5 per cent of the total, while those from bullets and high explosives were 25 per cent. Presumably, this 2 . 5 per cent refers to battle deaths caused by gas, since the percentage of total casualties due to gas was approximately 30 per cent, Some chemical statements must not be taken too literally. The author says on page 3 that “Absorbent substances like charcoal, soda lime, sodium phenate * * * * absorb or neutralize such gases as chlorine, phosgene, * * * *, and when used in gas masks, protect against finely divided toxic solids such as diphenylchlorarsine.” Of course, the action of charcoal and of the chemicals mentioned is fundamentally different, and neither protects against finely divided solids or smokes. There was a period of several weeks during the early summer of 1918 when this fact caused the loss of much sleep on the part of gas officers in France, since various sources of information had indicated that the Germans were planning to use smoke generators for producing clouds of diphenylcyanarsine and other similar chemicals, against which our mask would not give protection. Great numbers of cellulose filter jackets were made in England and sent to all the advance gas depots where they would be available for immediate use if needed. In stating that 45,000 gas shell were shipped over-seas, the author gives the impression that these shell were of some actual assistance in winning the war. It must be confessed that none were ever fired. This is not said as a criticism of the Chemical Warfare Service in this country, but because it illustrates so well the necessity for preparedness. Preparedness in chemical warfare means, first of all, production capacity either for the actual chemical to be used in war, or for a chemical sufficiently closely related so that the plant producing it could quickly be converted into one for producing the war chemical. In addition to this, there must be an extremely active nucleus of the Chemical Warfare Service, which is keeping up to date and developing new offensive weapons and defensive materials. No mention is made of the importance of Chemical Warfare Service “Intelligence.” The intelligence service which was in direct contact with the front line and that which consisted in the exchange of information between the allies were both extremely important. The former consisted of information obtained by questioning prisoners, aeroplane observation, from listening posts, and other means of following the movements of enemy gas troops, and of detecting, in advance, the location of enemy gas mines. Such intelligence was made the basis for immediate action, offensive or defensive, by the gas officers on the spot. Under the heading “tactics,” considerable repetition occurs, as the author goes into the question of tactics for the chemicals themselves, and later covers the same field for these chemicals as used by both artillery and special gas troops. If the tactical situation requires that a certain concentration of some chemical be placed on a definite spot, every available means should be used for producing the desired concentration. Moreover, the rules given under the heading of tactics should be regarded only as general hints. The only guide to the successful use of any gas is an exact knowledge of the properties of the chemical and of the tactical situation
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The reviewer feels that the book suffers from too little contact with the front, which, after all, is the final and only real test of the importance of gas warfare. The description of an incident .occurring a t Hulluch in December 1917 is equal in value to a complete lecture on the tactics of gas warfare. The English wished to make a raid on an opposite sector of German trench to get prisoners and information. On several nights closely preceding that of the raid, gas projectors containing phosgene and chloropicrin were discharged upon this sector of trench. On the night of the raid, a few minutes before the men were to go over the top, three English projector emplacements were discharged. Two of them, on points adjacent to the objective of the attack, contained poison gas. The third, fired upon the direct objective, threw a foul smelling mixture of bone oil which was perfectly harmless, and to which the Englishmen making the raid had been exposed in advance to make them familiar with the .odor, and to teach them that it was not dangerous. The raiding party found the Germans cowering in their dugouts, wearing their gas masks. An accurate description of several offensive or defensive actions in which chemicals played an important part, accompanied by suitable maps and diagrams, would not only add to the interest, but would suggest to the reader the value of imagination and initiative in directing the use of gas. B. C. Goss ~~(Official and Tentative Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Arxicultural Chemists. ComDiled bv the Cornmittee on ReLision of Methods (R.8. Doolittle, Chairman, A* B’ Hartwe’’, G’ w’ Patten’ A’ F’ Seeker and w. A. Withers) with an introduction by Harvey w. WileY* Honorary President of the Association. Revised to NOvember 1, 1919. Cloth, 6 x 9 in., xii 418 pp. Published by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Wasliington, D. C., September 1920. Price, $5.00. The long-awaited revision of the Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists has a t last been received in the form of a compact,well-arranged and well-printed, strongly bound volume of more than 400 pages. The Committee and its Chairman are to be congratulated on the consummation of an immense amount of painstaking, time-consuming, and self-sacrificing labor done in the interests of the chemical profession generally and without hope of personal reward. The work has been in general very well done. Naturally, and because of the fact that the different divisions of the work have been delegated to committees of different personnel, the methods are to some extent of varying value, but this fault is in part overcome and in the main eliminated by the method of cooperative work, conservatism in adopting or changing methods, and careful revision and editing by the final committee. It would be ,presumptuous for an individual, even one who uses them con.tinuously, to criticize any special methods in a, review. Many of them are still imperfect and this fact would be readily admitted by the officials of the A. 0. A. C. All are in a state of evolution, undergoing slow and continuous modification year by year as improvements are accumulated or new means of attack discovered. Suggestions by individuals outside the organization of the A. 0. A. C. are always welcomed by the referees, and voluntary collaborators in the actual work of developing and applying the methods are constantly being added by the different committees. The proper point of appeal lies in the individual .committees of the association. One may doubt that all the methods published are used either by the members of the Association or by works chemists for routine work. It is a fault of all compilations of methods of analysis that, from fear of introducing methods which may be criticized on the score that they are more or less unscientific .or have too large a personal factor, many simple and direct
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methods in daily use in the average works laboratory are omitted. Some such methods actually yield more concordant and accurate results than so-called official methods, and are much easier and quicker. It would seem a wise plan to incorporate such methods so far as possible in footnotes or in a special appendix. This is a de luxe edition, as shown not only by the price but by the fact that the individual copies are numbered. Most of us remember when the “Official Methods” were published in paper covers as Bulletin 107 by the Bureau of Chemistry, and could be had for the asking from the Department of Agriculture or by sending 20 cents to the Superintendent of Documents, or as a last resort by an appeal to one’s congressman. The methods are so generally useful to students, and the present price so high from the student’s standpoint, that it may be worth the attention of the Association to consider issuing a cheaper paper edition for the use of students. Every aid to the chemical student is insurance for the chemical future of the country. That the Revised Methods have been eagerly received is indicated by the fact that the first printing is exhausted and a second is in process. W. D. RICHARDSON American Lubricants. By I,. B. LOCKHART.2nd Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. 341 pp. 15 illustrations. Chemical Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., 1920. Price, $4.00. The purpose of this book, as stated in the preface, is: To aid the user and buyer of lubricants in a more intelligent selection of oils and greases. The point of view throughout is efforthas rather than that of the refiner. that of the been made to include such facts and fieures in regard t o lubricants as will best serve t o bridge the i a p between the refiner * * * * * * * and the consumer. * * * * * * In a book of this character it is of the utmost importance that the refiner, the seller, the buyer, and the user of lubricating oils sDeak the same language. - The first two chapters deal with petroleum and refining. Petroleum is found as a colorless t o black liquid, but the author makes the broad statement that it is a dark brown liquid. A somewhat misleading description is given of a vertical tower condenser: “In this condenser the heavy oils condense first near the bottom, and the light oils condense last near the top.” The author must have not known that nearly 40 per cent of the lubricating oil made in the United States is from refineries located in the western half of the country, for he states that “very little lubricating oil is made west of the Mississippi River.” Recommendations covering the character of oils to be used when lubricating internal combustion engines, automobiles, electrical machinery, cylinders and steam engines, steam railways, textile mills, and miscellaneous machines are contained in Chapters V t o XI. Physical methods for testing lubricating oils are described in Chapters XI1 and XIII. The methods are mainly those which have been published by the American Society for Testing Materials. A few chemical methods are briefly outlined in Chapter XIV. Greases and animal and vegetable oils are similarly treated in the next four chapters. Nearly half of the book (134 pages) is devoted to specifications which cannot do much more than confuse the “user and buyer,” and the “same language” is not always in evidence throughout a heterogeneous collection of specifications. On page 49, under cylinder oil, the author remarks, “The flash point should be approximately 400” F . or higher,” but on page 201 specifications are quoted ranging from 450’ to 540” F. A specification for a Saybolt viscosity a t 70 O F. is mentioned on page 227. This is not among the standard temperatures mentioned (page 106) when describing the Saybolt viscosimeter. Without doubt, buyers and consumers who have no information on lubricating oils will find this volume interesting. Anyone desiring specifications should welcome the collection brought together in a convenient form. C. K. FRANCIS
May, 1921
T H E J O U R N A L O F IN D U S T RI A L A N D E S G I -VE E RI N G C H E M I S T R Y
Unification des Noms des Colorants les Plus Usuels. P. SISLEY.196 pages. Union des Producteurs et des Consommateurs pour le Developpement de 1’Industrie des Matieres Colorantes en France, 53 Rue de Chateaudun, Paris, 1920. A commission, of which the author is chairman, was appointed by Professor Behal, director of the Bureau of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products, for the purpose of unification of the nomenclature of dyes. Although the work did not receive official approval, the author was urged t o publish the same. The commission early recognized the impossibility of a complete work, for very few dye firms are willing to identify the name of their products with constitution, and fewer still will betray the nature of their mixtures. Adopting the sensible course, the different names applied t o 260 of the more common and older dyes are classified under respective constitution and dye application purposes. Other difficulties than those mentioned above may be seen from the fact that for the 1200 t o 1500 definite chemical type dyes there are 14,000 different names or marks. The author suggests the need of an international commission to compile a complete volume. It is doubtful if this would solve the problem for the reasons stated above. I n conclusion it should be pointed out that the work resembles the Schultz “Farbstoff-Tabellen,” but is less complete and omits all literature and patent references. His classification follows the method of dye application, zliiz., acid, direct, basic, chrome, mordant, lakes, sulfur, etc. C. G. D E R ~ C K
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Papers on Paint and Varnish. By HENRYA. GARDNER. 500 pages. Sold by P. H. Butler, 1845 B St., N. W., Washington, D. C., 1920. Price, $10.00 net, postpaid. This volume, published by the author, is a distinct contribution to the paint and varnish industry of America by one who for the past ten years has been making extensive studies in a field where fifteen years ago, there was but little real scientific information available and very little of that available was being utilized by the leading paint manufacturers of this country. At that time the “rule of thumb” largely prevailed, the paint foreman carried in his head all the practical experience and sometimes failed to deliver the goods, and misleading criticisms took the place of sound advertising. Since North Dakota enacted its paint labeling law and the right to enforce the same was affirmed by the highest courts, much progress has been made in the science of paint making as well as of p a k t using. Mr. Gardner has done his full share in the field of research, and in the present volume there have been collected data valuable alike t o the paint and varnish manufacturer; also to the master painter and decorator, and to the home users of all paints and varnishes as protective and decorative coatings. The studies of drying and semidrying oils include soy-bean, marine, and animal oils, fish oils, tung oil, linseed oil, and many new foreign oils, as well as the various methods for treating oils as practiced in the industries, and certain chemical and physical constants for oils. Some new data lor exposure tests for paints and varnishes are presented; also an interesting study pertaining t o the resistance of various protective coatings or films against the absorption of water. One of the most interesting and complete chapters deals with‘ ‘Tunga Resins,” or, more properly, “Ester Gums,” for manufacture and use. Oil absorption by pigments and fineness of pigments are well considered. A chapter on the preservative function of paints and varnishes contains well-illustrated photographic material. The author well says : “The serviceability of any paint should be judged by the surface which it leaves for repainting after a period of some four to five years, as well as by the durability of the repainting job.” Wellpainted buildings, the author maintains, are an indication of thrift and a big asset when one has to go to the banks for loans.
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It further indicates education and refinement therein, although not necessarily wholly acquired from books. Some good suggestions are presented in the chapter on paints for the home. One of the highly interesting and specialized sections has t o do. with the development in the paint industry that came as the result of the great war and its many lessons forced upon the American people, including the development of the standard paint specifications of the War Department. My criticism would be lack of definite conclusions and lessons. to be drawn from the incomplete data, and necessary brevity in treating in a suggestive manner so many subjects in a limited E. F. LADD space. Rapid Methods for the Chemical Analysis of Special Steels,. Steel Making Alloys, Their Ores, and Graphites. By CHARLES MORRISJOHNSON, PH.M. 3rd edition. xi 552 pp. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1920. The first edition of this work was issued in 1908, and the third edition shows not only an increase in size but a large range in the subjects treated. Mr. Johnson, in his preface, calls attention to thirty-two changes and additions, including methods for the determination of elements recently added by metallurgists t o modify or improve alloy steels. The introduction of alloy steels presented a double problem to the chemist. H e had t o devise methods for the determination of the elements newly alloyed with the iron and to study and solve the question of the interference of some of these elements with the methods used for the determination of the ordinary elements found in plain steels. For instance, i t was found that the presence of even very small amounts of vanadium prevented the precipitation of small amounts of phosphorus b y the ordinary molybdate method. This was overcome by Brearly and Ibbotson by reducing the vanadium to the vanadyl state, and by Johnson by precipitating the phosphorus from a very strong nitric acid solution with a slightly ammoniacal solution of molybdic acid at the boiling temperature. Johnson applies this method to the determination of phosphorus in ferrovanadium, first getting rid of the greater part of the vanadium by repeated crystallizations of the vanadic acid from the concentrated nitric acid solution. The determination of sulfur by the evolution method in most alloy steels and ferro-alloys is impracticable, but Johnson devised the method of heating the material t o 950’ C. in a stream of hydrogen saturated with hydrochloric acid gas, which liberates the sulfur as hydrogen sulfide. The test analyses cited are very satisfactory. It is impossible in a review of this kind to discuss all the methods, but i t might be well to call attention to certain details which may be of assistance to the student. In the author’s method for precipitating phosphorus as phosphomolybdate in boiling solutions all the arsenic is precipitated with the phosphorus, while if the temperature of the solution is about 40’ C. all the arsenic remains in solution. Usually the amount of arsenic in steel is negligible, but occasionally the normal phosphorus may be materially overstated by this method In almost all cases where the material is fused with sodium peroxide, a platinum crucible lined with sodium carbonate i s to be preferred to an iron or porcelain crucible. The method for the determination of arsenic in steel is not satisfactory. The distillation method is accurate and preferable in every way. Many of the methods described are original with the author or modified by him, and his descriptions bear evidence of his use of them, but if he has tried the method given for the determinaation of boron in steel his courage should be highly commended. It is a pity that a book such as this, containing so much that is excellent,should be marred by an unfortunate style, by ungrammatical expressions, and by colloquial phrases out of place ANDREWA. BLAIR in a scientific treatise.
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