REVIEWS 507 



much that disappoints in the work, Mr. Kewley has undoubtedly been success- 

 ful (if we do not interpret the title too literally), because he passes rapidly over 

 those aspects of the industry with which he perhaps feels himself less qualified 

 to deal, and concentrates on those branches of the subject, the study of which 

 he has made so essentially his own. As a masterly summary of modern 

 refinery principles and practice, we have yet to see a better book : as a 

 comprehensive survey of the whole industry, it is somewhat disappointing. 



The book is divided into nine parts. Part I is introductory and includes 

 sections on the history, chemistry, geology, theories of origin of petroleum 

 (the author is rightly non-committal in this latter connection), together with 

 a glossary which suffers from being unduly brief. Part II is devoted to natural 

 gas. Part III to the occurrence, production (drilling methods), storage, and 

 transport of petroleum. Part IV embodies the essentials of the oil-shale 

 industry ; its descriptive sections are weak, but the chemical aspects, more 

 especially the laboratory examination and retorting of oil-shales, are lucidly 

 discussed. We are glad to note the author's advocation of the " drain- 

 pipe " retort rather than the " pot " still for laboratory shale-testing : the latter, 

 favoured in some laboratories, invites the serious disadvantage of ununiform 

 heating, with consequent internal " cracking " and inaccurate evaluation. 

 Part V describes the solid bitumens. Part VI being devoted to ozokerite (it 

 is curiously spelt without the final " e " in several places) and montan wax. 

 Parts VII and VIII, by far the best in the book, discuss the working-up of 

 crude oils and the characters and applications of their products. A short 

 part (IX) on oil-testing concludes the text. 



With the above reservations, we have no hesitation in recommending this 

 book to all those interested in or directly connected with a great industry. 



H. B. MiLNER. 



Science in the Service of Man : Electricity. By Sydney G. Starling, B.Sc, 

 F.Inst. P. [Pp. viii -|- 245, with 127 illustrations.] (London : Long- 

 mans, Green & Co., 1922. Price 105. bd. net.) 



The object of this book is to give a non-mathematical account that will appeal 

 to the general reader of the present stage of electrical knowledge. The 

 author, starting from the simplest electric and magnetic phenomena, deals in 

 turn with their many industrial applications, and the book, though it does 

 not claim to describe the latest forms of particular instruments, is yet full 

 enough of detailed information to answer the questions which most interest 

 the lay reader. A specially popular chapter will be that deaUng with electro- 

 magnetic theory and wireless telegraphy. 



The last two chapters deal with X-rays, the conduction of electricity 

 through gases and radioactivity, and it seems a pity that more space could 

 not have been devoted to these modern developments, whose romantic story 

 cannot fail to appeal to the popular imagination. The disproportion is, how- 

 ever, so often in the opposite direction that the author's arrangement does a 

 service in emphasising that the discovery of the electron was not the beginning 

 of wisdom, or of the application of electrical resources to the service of the 

 community. 



G. A. S. 



The Teaching of General Science. By W. L. Eikenberry. [Pp. xiii -h 169.] 

 (Chicago : The University of Chicago Press.) 



Apart from the chapters that deal with the practice of science teaching in the 

 American schools, this book is a valuable contribution to the study of the 

 pedagogics of science teaching and might be read with profit by aU teachers of 

 science. The earlier chapters, dealing with the methods of teaching science 

 in the American schools, the character and average content of their textbooks. 



