i64 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



is not simplified by the use of words like " methuselan stability," " vibra- 

 tile vitalism," " recreants " for such forms as barnacles and so on. Apart 

 from this, however, the book is very interesting to read and quite sugges- 

 tive. It also contains a great deal of useful information. The illustrations, 

 some of the stereoscopic, deserve special commendation. 



C. H. O'D. 

 ANTHROPOLOGY 



The New Stone Age in Northern Europe. By John M. Tyler. [Pp. xviii 

 -|- 310, with 23 illustrations.] (London : G. Bell & Sons, 1921. Price 

 15s. net.) 

 Professor Tyler has produced in this volume a popular and interestingly 

 written account of the European Neolithic Period, with special reference to 

 the relics of that period found in Scandinavia. There are twelve chapters 

 in the book, of which the first is introductory and deals with the origin and 

 earlier history of man. Other chapters deal with such subjects as pit-dwell- 

 ings, lake-dwellings, megaliths. Neolithic chronology, migrations, and 

 Neolithic religion. The work is comprehensive and no important aspect of 

 European Neolithic life is ignored. There is a good deal of unfounded specu- 

 lation, in the introduction, regarding human origins, but much of the book 

 is good. The descriptions of the Magelmose settlement and of the geographical 

 changes in the Baltic region, for instance, are good, and make most attractive 

 reading. The most serious blemish in the book is the author's treatment of 

 chronology. He gets tied up in the glacial, interglacial, and post-glacial 

 phases, and puts forward mutually inconsistent theories in different parts 

 of the book, apparently without fully realising the discrepancies. The reader 

 who really wishes to master this subject will not get anything out of the 

 author's incoherent descriptions. In Chapter I he gives a brief but consistent 

 account of the so-called " French " chronology, placing the Mousterian 

 mainly in the Wurmian phase and the Magdalenian in the Biihl phase. 

 In Chapter II he appears to adopt the " German " {i.e. Penck's) chronology, 

 which places all the archaeological ages further back. And then again in 

 Chapter VIII, which is specially devoted to chronology, he brings the end of 

 the Magdalenian right down to the Gschnitz phase, which is certainly wrong 

 and is inconsistent with what he has said in earlier chapters. It is un- 

 fortunate that the author was not more careful in the treatment of this part 

 of his subject, as it is essential to a proper study of late prehistoric times ; 

 and his shortcomings in this respect largely spoil what should have been a 

 good and informing book. A. G. T. 



IffilSCELLANEOnS 



Elementary Chemical Microscopy. By E. M. Chamot, B.S., Ph.D. Second 



edition, partly rewritten and enlarged. [Pp. xv -f 477, with 160 



diagrams.] (New York : John Wiley & Sons ; London : Chapman & 



Hall. Price 25s. net.) 



Six years have elapsed since the publication of the first edition of this bock 



and during that time considerable advance has been made in the use of the 



microscope as a necessary adjunct of the chemical laboratory. 



The book is intended to serve as an introduction to the microscope and 

 its accessories as tools for the chemist to work with, and even though practi- 

 cal applications are referred to, the author states that he has made no efi'ort 

 and has no desire to have the book take the form of a manual of indusliial 

 microscopy. 



The early part of the work is devoted to microscope objectives and oculars ; 

 the selection of these for particular purposes is dealt with and sufficient of 

 the elementary theory of microscopic optics is indicated to enable a worker 

 to get the best out of his instrument. The only point to be regretted in this 

 section is, that apparently the author regards penetration and flatness of 



