Samuel Smiles Research Articles

The Relation between Chemical Constitution and some Physical Properties . By Samuel Smiles, D.Sc., New York, Longmans, Green and Co. 1910.

<i>The Relation between Chemical Constitution and some Physical Properties</i> . By Samuel Smiles, D.Sc., New York, Longmans, Green and Co. 1910.

The Relation between Chemical Constitution and some Physical Properties . By Samuel Smiles, D.Sc., New York, Longmans, Green and Co. 1910.

<i>The Relation between Chemical Constitution and some Physical Properties</i> . By Samuel Smiles, D.Sc., New York, Longmans, Green and Co. 1910.

(1) The Elements Speculations as to their Nature and Origin (2) The Relations between Chemical Constitution and Some Physical Properties (Text-Books of Physical Science (3) Physical Chemistry Its Bearing on Biology and Medicine

THE discovery of radio-activity has, by the introduction of a new idea, reawakened interest in many outstanding problems of physical science. Prominent among these is the fascinating question of the nature and origin of the elements. Chemists with the periodic table of Mendeleeff before them, in spite of the warnings of its author, have been unable to resist the idea that some close genetic relation exists between the different elements of the nine groups of which the table consists, certainly along the vertical lines and probably also along the horizontal series. As to the nature of this relationship, nothing very definite was known or even imagined beyond the fact that it was accompanied by increase in atomic mass, and the probability that it was the result of condensation of some primal matter or protyle, under the influence of changing conditions, of which temperature was possibly one of the chief factors. (1) The Elements. Speculations as to their Nature and Origin. Sir William A. Tilden. Pp. xi + 139. (London and New York: Harper and Brothers, 1910.) Price 2s. 6d. net. (2) The Relations between Chemical Constitution and Some Physical Properties. (Text-Books of Physical Science) Sir William Ramsay Prof. Samuel Smiles. Pp. xiv + 583. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1910.) Price 14s. (3) Physical Chemistry. Its Bearing on Biology and Medicine. Prof. James C. Philip. Pp. vii + 312. (London: Edward Arnold, 1910.) Price 7s. 6d. net.

Robert Dick, Baker of Thurso, Geologist and Botanist

BLEAK and bare, flat and featureless, the county of Caithness lies apart at the far end of Scotland, separated on one side from the rest of the country by rugged mountains and girdled on the other sides by boisterous seas—an unlovely region of brown moor and black morass, partially redeemed to agriculture along the sea-board, but so swept by storm and salt-spray that trees will not grow, save in a few sheltered spots where they have been carefully screened. The solitary mountain group of Morven and the Scarabins, visible from every quarter, lies at the far southern limit of the county, where it seems rather to be part of the uplands of Sutherland, to which indeed in structure it belongs. One redeeming feature, however, can be claimed for Caithness. It is one which compensates, or even more than compensates for the genera! monotony. The coast-line is almost everywhere formed by a range of mural precipices, rising here and there to heights of 200 and even 300 feet above the waves. Huge massive quadrangular sea-stacks tower out of the water in advance of the main cliff. The sea, moreover, runs inland in innumerable deep dark clefts or “gyoes,” and is ever booming in the far recesses of caves that have been worn out of the solid rock by the chafing tides. Robert Dick, Baker of Thurso, Geologist and Botanist. By Samuel Smiles. (London: John Murray, 1878.)