352 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



tain the full text of papers read, and not merely abstracts of them, while the less 

 carefully considered statements of verbal discussion are reported in full. Even 

 so, however, the wealth of subjects treated makes a volume of four hundred pages, 

 which is a useful index to persons, and to the subjects in which they have 

 specialised. 



Discussion of the possibilities of a Technical College abroad, for training in 

 Tropical Agriculture, occupied a notable part of the Congress's time, and a session 

 was also devoted to the organisation of Research. This latter produced some 

 pious aspirations, and the principal of Cirencester Agricultural College very 

 rightly challenged the view that the problems of the Tropics are so very different 

 in essentials from those of the temperate zones. In this, as in other parts of 

 the report, the reader is left with the impression that many of the very important 

 economic problems involved in tropical agriculture needs possibly less "science" 

 as it is understanded of the people — long names — and more genuine scientific 

 method in obtaining and dealing with honest facts, whether of cultivation or of 

 manufacture. The sessions dealing with rubber show that even a comparatively 

 new subject, not very deeply ingrained with precedent, can become very con- 

 fusing. The pro-academic note sounded by Mr. T. Petch in this connection is 

 refreshing. 



Sometimes one thinks that all research in such matters ought to be handed 

 over to universities. The proper study of governments is government, and the 

 design of their organisation is primarily for executive purposes. " Where the 

 password is MARCH, and not DEVELOPE, a body of men, to be a serviceable 

 instrument, must consent to act as one." The different function of the scientist, 

 whose economic raison d'etre is development, is recognised by Dr. Van Hall of 

 Java (p. 215), who distinguishes between the men doing investigation and those 

 who apply the results. He further enumerates eight sciences as indispensable, 

 which — allowing a qualified chief and one assistant to each — makes the scientific 

 staff of an Agricultural Department add up to thirty-two trained men as the 

 minimum. He is certainly right, but kw British possessions are so well equipped 

 as this with scientists to study and advise upon the development of their 

 agricultural resources. 



L. B. 



The World's Cotton Crops. By John A. Todd, B.L. [Pp. xiii + 460, with 32 

 page illustrations and 16 maps and diagrams.] (London : A. & C. Black 

 191 5. Price 10s. net.) 



The purpose of this volume is to give an account of the sources from which the 

 world's supply of raw cotton is derived, the account being presented in a form 

 which shall be of interest and utility both to the grower of this important crop 

 and to the user also, incidentally summarising the information which otherwise is 

 only obtainable in a very large number of publications, of very various degrees of 

 reliability, from all parts of the sub-tropical world. 



The project was an ambitious one, but it has been carried out thoroughly and 

 well, both by the author and the publishers. Those who are interested in the 

 cotton trade are well aware of the unreliability of most published information 

 concerning it ; there is scarcely one modern book dealing with cotton which 

 does not, for example, give the names of certain varieties as being now under 

 cultivation in Egypt, which actually have been extinct for several decades ; yet 

 Egypt is the most accessible and compact of all the cotton countries. The 

 present author has wisely submitted his proofs to experts on the subject of each 



