Catalogue des manuscrits alchimiques latins. I. Manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de Parisantérieurs au XVIIe siècle by James CorbettReview by: George SartonIsis, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jul., 1940), pp. 211-212Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/226092 .

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REVIEWS 2Ir

interesting to note that Baron SCHELLING established a telegraph svstem which saw continuous operation between two Russian cities for a few years and that but for his untimely death, the system would have perhaps attracted more attention and seen more use. But these early efforts remain on the record as curiosities and as such they were viewed by their contemporaries who were much interested in the spread of the semaphore system. There were many experimenters with telegraph systems in the early nineteenth century, among them GAUSS and WEBER, but it remained for MORSE, using methods perfected by JOSEPH HENRY, to make the telegraph practical.

Mr. ARCHER, after tracing the development of the telegraph, continues with the story of the Atlantic Cable and the invention and development of the telephone to bring us up to the work of HERTZ, MAXWELL, EDISON and MARCONI. Here the story becomes extremely complicated, but through the intricate maze of overlapping invention, commercial intrigue, and international complication, Mr. ARCHER leads us with a sure and steady hand. The book is well documented, with numerous illustrations and generous quotation. The sole criticism to be made is that in the second half of the book, Mr. ARCHER seems not to have decided whether he was writing a history of science or a history of industry. This part contains less and less of the scientific aspect of radio and the very end of the book is a history of commercial broadcasting. This is extremely interesting, but from the point of view of the historian of science, of little value. Thus, the book is to be recommended largely for the first half (roughly up to the period after the World War), and, for that period, it fills a very real need and fills it very well.

I BERNARD COHEN.

James Corbett.-Catalogue des manuscrits alchimiques latins. Publie sous la direction de J. BIDEZ, FR. CUMoNT, A. DELATTE, Sir FRDERIC KENYON et V. DE FALco. I. MUanuscrits des bibliotheques publiques de Paris antbieurs au XVII siecle. 367 p. Bruxelles, Secretariat Administratif de l'U. A. I., Palais des academies, I939.

Nous devons deja a l'Union acadimique internationale une serie de catalogues de MSS. extremement precieux pour l'historien des sciences. Tout d'abord le Catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum, commence en I 898 sous la direction de FRANZ CUMONT (Isis 6, 2o6; I5, 295) et dont le dernier fascicule relatif aux MSS. astrologiques conserves dans les bibliotheques russes (tome XII, I936) fut edite par M. A. F. SANGIN

(Isis 26, 483-84). Le Catalogue des jMSS. akhimiques grecs fut commence en 1924 sous la direction de J. BIDEZ, F. CUMONT, J. L. HEIBERG et 0. LAGERCRANTZ (Isis 7, 507-iI), et le dernier fascicule resu par moi

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2I2 ISIS, xXXII, I

est le huitieme (1932, ISiS I9, 44o). Enfin le Catalogue des iMISS. akchimiques latins et vernaculaires fut commence par DOROTHEA- WALEY SINGER en 1928. Sa part du travail relative a la Grande Bretagne et i l'Irlande fut publiee en trois volumes de 1928 'a I93I (ISiS 12, I68-69; I5, 299; i8, 398); la part relative aux Etats Unis et au Canada preparee par W. J. WILSON a paru r6cemment (Osiris VI, 1939). Enfin nous avons sous les yeux, la part relative aux bibliotheques de Paris, preparee par le Professeur CORBETT de I'Universite de Notre Dame, Indiana.

Cet ouvrage contient la description minutieuse de 97 MSS., et leur analyse. I1 contient des appendices interessants.

I. Liste d'ouvrages alchimiques attribues 'a RAYMOND LULLE et autres d'apres un ms. du XVe siecle. II. Mention d'une vente de livres d'alchimie en 1486 et liste. III. Corrections au Liber sacerdotum edite par MARCELLIN BERTHELOT: La chimie au moyen age (vol. I, I87-228, 1893) et recettes inedites. Le catalogue se termine par une table des incipit et un index.

La continuation lente mais su're de cette grande entreprise en depit des malheurs et des cruautes de notre temps me rejouit le ceur.

GEORGE SARTON.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson-Unsolved mysteries of the Arctic. xvi+ 38I pp. New York: The MACMILLAN Company, 1939 ($3.50).

The fascination, for manv people, of the detective story lies not at all in the eccentric mannerisms of the typical sleuth of fiction, but rather in the purely intellectual pleasure of seeing a problem presented, cbserving the methodical accumulation of significant evidence, and following each step in the logical analvsis of this evidence until the mystery is finally solved. For those who delight in mental diversions of this sort, Dr. STmANSSON'S new book will far surpass the current " Crime Club " offerings. The mysteries he deals with are not the crcaticns of a writer's fancv, but genuine problems which have puzzled students of Arctic historv. His method is not that of the sensational journalist or writer of popular fiction, but the sober method of the trained scientific thinker, and therefore the solutions he proposes strike the thoughtful reader as thoroughly convincing.

The five chapters in this book cover nearly the entire span of man's known exploration of the Arctic regions. The first deals with the disappearance of the Greenland colonv in the fifteenth centurv; the last with the fate of the missing Soviet flyers who dropped from sight in August, I93, shortly after their plane had passed over the North Pole on a flight from Moscow to America. Other chapters deal with the lost FRANKLIN Expedition (i845-48); with the fate of THOMAS SIMPSON,

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