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NEW BOOKS
not of course in the matter of detail. For those who may require it, two sources of further information are provided, namely, references to the authors cited, which indicate a special regard for the work of British and American workers, and references to more extensive reviews in different languages. P. FILDES. James Clerk klaxwell. 146 pp. New York: The Macmillan Co. Price: $2.50. This is a commemoration volume containing essays by J . J. Thomson, Planck, Einstein, Larmor, Jeans, Garnett, Fleming, Lodge, Glaxebrook, and Lamb. It is apparent that those who through direct personal acquaintance or who through closely allied intellectual achievement could speak authoritatively were called upon t o participate directly in the centenary of Maxwell’s birth and it is inevitable that those whose intellectual interests lie in the bids of physics, chemistry, and mathematics will greatly appreciate the evaluations given i n these essays. The laity however will appreciate the volume only in part because of the profoundly technical character of Maxwell’s work. The volume has an additional interest in that i t gives the reader the reactions of master minds a t a time when new concepts are in the foreground. HENRYA. ERIKSON. Gmelin’s Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie. 8 Auflage. Herausgegeben von der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. System Number 35 : Aluminium. Teil B, Lieferung 1 : Die Verbindungen des Aluminiums. 25.5 x 17.5 cm.; ix 308 pp. Berlin: Verlag Chemie, 1933. Price: 48 marks. Subscription price: 42 marks. The present volume deals with the oxides, oxide hydrates, nitride, halogenides, sulfate, and several less important compounds. The technical processes are fully dealt with, including aluminum chloride for oil cracking, and recent literature and patents are very fully covered. The recent papers of Weiser and Milligan, and of Edwards and Tosterud, in This Journal came too late for inclusion in the literature on the oxide hydrates, but the book by Edwards, Frary, and Jeffries on the aluminum industry is frequently cited and the technical information is complete and up-todate. The volume is an indispensable addition to the literature of chemistry. J. R. PARTINGTON.
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L’Univers en Expansion, By HENRI MINEUR. Actualites Scientifiques et Industrielles, No. 63. Publies sous la direction de M. L. de Broglie.
Paris: Hermann
& Cie, 1933.
The present volume is No. 63 in the series of monographs on scientific subjects, chiefly those in theoretical physics, published under the direction of de Broglie. I t gives one of the very few up-to-date discussions of the subject, which is not merely intended for the layman or the general public, but treats the entire problem concisely, “from the ground up,” using directly the equations of Einstein, de Sitter, Lemaftre, and others, and discusses the properties of the various types of space resulting from each. It.closes with a rBsum6 of Eddington’s calculations of the COSmological constant A. It is clearly written, and gives an admirable summary of this question brulante of the present, and may be heartily recommended to any one interested in the problem. W. J. LUYTEN. J
