REVIEWS 663 



with others as is the case with rainfall. As Mr. Salter points out in his 

 introductory chapter, the study of rainfall should proceed hand-in-hand with 

 that of the wider subject of geophysics, of which it forms a fragment. Un- 

 fortunately, the splendid network of 5,000 rain-observing stations that, 

 together with Mr. Salter's staff at headquarters, constitute the British Rainfall 

 Organisation, cannot at present be backed up by a similar network of obser- 

 vatories fully equipped for a study of the physical state of the atmosphere 

 both near the ground and at great heights. It is for this reason only natural 

 that Mr. Salter's thorough treatment of the incidence of rainfall, thongh 

 yielding results of the greatest practical importance to engineers, farmers, 

 and some other sections of the community, is in the main simply a statistical 

 treatment and sometimes disappointing from the geophysical point of view. 

 The book begins with a brief — perhaps a too brief — chapter on the physical 

 processes underlying the formation of rain, and passes on to a detailed ex- 

 planation of the methods adopted in this country for measuring and mapping 

 the amount of rain that falls. Succeeding chapters deal with such subjects 

 as the diurnal, seasonal, and annual variations of rainfall and its regional 

 distribution. Of these the last, which treats of the relation of rainfall to 

 altitude above sea-level and local configuration of the ground, is of particular 

 interest and very instructive, but some of the earlier ones deserve mention 

 too, in particular those which discuss the proportion of rain which, in various 

 places and at different seasons, must be attributed respectively to orographical 

 and cyclonic influences, and to convectional showers of the thunderstorm 

 type. The final chapter deals with problems connected with evaporation and 

 percolation. 



E. V. N. 



PHYSICS 



Atomic Theories. By F. H. Loring. [Pp. ix-f2i8, with 66 figures.] 

 (London : Methuen & Co. Price 125. 6d. net.) 



The author states that his aim is to give the leading facts and theories which 

 relate to the Atom. 



The book is certainly a compilation of an abundance of facts concerning 

 atomic weights, isotopes, electrons, nuclei, X-ray and optical spectra and 

 radio-active phenomena. It furthermore contains outlines of the Rutherford- 

 Bohr model ; the Lewis-Langmuir model, the octet theory of valence and 

 the quantum theory. The writer feels that the treatment is rather disjointed 

 and doubts whether long quotations and descriptions from original papers 

 constitute a suitable substitute for an exposition in his own words by an 

 author who has absorbed his material from many sources and presents them 

 in some unified form of his own making. This is not to deny that the book 

 will prove useful to those who, through lack ol time, may find it impossible to 

 consult not merely the original papers, but even the separate books now 

 available on the matters dealt with in the various chapters of this work. 

 In short, the book, considered as a " textbook," has the advantages as well 

 as the disadvantages of that particular type of literature. 



J. R. 



Atomic Form, with special reference to the Configuration of the Carbon 

 Atom. By Edward E. Price. [Pp. viii -f- 140, with 64 figures 

 and an Appendix.] (London : Longmans, Green & Co. Price 5s. 

 net.) 



Though this book is small, the author has unconsciously contrived to make 

 it so humorous that we have no hesitation in recommending it, if only on 

 that account, as a refreshing diversion from the cares of modern physics 

 and chemistry. The hard-won facts of atomic physics and crystal-analysis 



