SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does fait nerrssarily preclude subsequent review.) A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry. By J. W. Mellor. 2 vols. (Longmans. 63s. net each.)—We must be content to draw attention to this very important book, which is to be completed in six or seven large volumes. Dr. Mellor, who is well known as the author of several successful chemical textbooks, intends to give in his new work "a complete description of all the compounds known in inorganic chemistry," so as to provide a thoroughly accurate work of reference for all chemists. The first volume deals mainly with general principles—such as the theory of solutions, crystallization, the kinetic theory of atoms and molecules, and electrolysis— and also treats fully of hydrogen and oxygen and their cone pounds. The second volume includes the halogens and alkalies, with the ammonium compounds. The author proposes to deal with the other elements mainly in the order of the periodic law, rather as a matter of expediency than became he attaches any special value to that method of arrangement. We can only add that Dr. Mellor's treatment of the subject, wherever we have tested it, is as lucid as it is exhaustive and that the book is exceptionally well printed and suitably illustrated. Chemistry is incessantly and rapidly advancing, but we imagine that this great work will be a standard reference book for years to come.
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