494 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



A Textbook ol Oceanography. By J. T. Jenkins, D.Sc, Ph.D. [Pp. x + 206, 

 with 42 illustrations. (London: Constable & Co., 1921. Price 15s, 

 net.) 



In spite of our maritime supremacy, there is no modern textbook on Oceano- 

 graphy in English, as distinct from navigational manuals, since Maury's 

 Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology, published in 1861, which is 

 hopelessly out of date, and therefore misleading for beginners. Dr. Jenkins's 

 book is one which will add much interest and valuable aid to the studies of 

 intending naval and mercantile marine officers; it will also be most useful 

 to submarine telegraph engineering students. 



The book is divided into five chapters, and there are useful appendices of 

 conversion tables, and an amplified bibliography, such as is seldom found in 

 any book, and it is a most valuable addition. 



Detailed descriptions of the elaborate apparatus required for Oceano- 

 graphical research, the methods of analyses of sea-water, and the pros and 

 cons of the drift-bottle methods of investigation, some very interesting 

 records of these latter experiments being cited ; for instance, one such bottle 

 drifted 10,700 sea-miles, and some set free off Cape Horn were found on the 

 south coast of Australia and the west coast of New Zealand, suggesting the 

 possibility of a current right round the southern oceans. The drift of dere- 

 lict vessels also affords an interesting side-light on ocean currents ; the famous 

 case of a timber-laden schooner which drifted about for nearly three years, 

 and covered a distance of not less than 8,000 sea-miles, is given. 



The description of the conformation of the floor of the abyssal depths 

 and the nature and composition of the various oozes covering them, and the 

 paucity of the species of fauna inhabiting these great deeps, is also commented 

 upon. In view of the interest being taken in the forthcoming attempt to 

 ascend Mount Everest, which is 29,000 feet high, the book states, what may 

 not be generally known, that a sounding taken off the Ladrone Islands was 

 31,620 feet. 



Those interested in Arctic and Antarctic exploration will gather much new 

 data on their favourite subject, for this book sets out to touch upon every- 

 thing anent the " Seven Seas," and beyond. 



The bathymetrical distribution of fish, abyssal as well as those of economic 

 importance, the controlling factor, the plankton, governing it, and the thermal 

 and other conditions contributing thereto — in other words, the metabolism 

 of the sea — is expertly described, as would be expected of the author of 

 The Sea Fisheries (reviewed in these columns January 192 1. Pp. 502-4). 



A mathematical dissertation on the tides is given, and the erroneous 

 theories of early observers exploded. The description of the so-called 

 " Gulf Stream " should be attractive and useful to the general reader. 



Numerous references are given for the elucidation of points not strictly 

 oceanographical . 



The book is fully illustrated, there is an index, and the format is quite 

 up to the usual standard of excellence of the publisher. A. W. 



The Birds of California. By William Leon Dawson, Director of the Museum 

 of Comparative Oology ; Author of The Birds of Ohio and (with 

 Mr. Bowles) of The Birds of Washington. Parts I and II profusely 

 illustrated with photographs, photogravures, drawings, and paintings, 

 the last chiefly by Major Allan Brooks, D.S.O, Three editions in 

 parts. (The Birds of California Publishing Company, Santa Barbara 

 and Los Angeles, 1921. Price $5, $2 and $1 per part respectively.) 



The original intention of the publishers of this work was to put it on the 

 market in three volumes, appearing simultaneously. This plan, however, 

 was discarded in favour of the one now adopted of issuing the work in parts, 

 the first two of which have been published. 



