io8 



NATURE 



[March 2;. if jit 



p. ()3, wiih a lt>,Mnd Id tin- ili» vi that it is the parent 

 form. Aj)j)arcntly Prof. Davenport is unaware that 

 the passenj«(>r pigeon belonj^s to a gfnus apart from 

 the one incUidinj* the bUie rock and domesticated 

 breeds. 



The author's want of knowledge is, perhaps, still 

 more conspicuous in the section on cattle and sheep 

 (pp. 219-30), where blunders occur in profusion. In 

 the legend to the figure of an Indian buffalo, on p. 

 218, we are told, for instance, that this is the only 

 kind of buffalo, but that the name is often applied to 

 the European (as well as to the American) bison. 

 The gayal is stated on p. 221 to be "an intermediate 

 between the domesticated and the wild cattle of the 

 Indian type"; but even that statement is outdone on 

 p. 223, where we are told that if the domesticated 

 cattle of Africa and Asia were to die out, there would 

 be no difficulty in replacing them from wild stocks ! 

 Where the author proposes to find a wild ox in Africa, 

 I do not know ; but he apparently does not realise 

 the difference between a buffalo and an ox. After 

 this it is not surprisinpf to find the revival of the 

 theory that white park cattle (which are stated to 

 occur "at Chillinj:jham in southern Scotland, and 

 Chartley and Cadzow in southern England ") repre- 

 sent the ancestral colour of the wild ox. Neither is 

 it startling to find it stated (p. 228) that the Armenian 

 wild sheep inhabits the islands of the Mediterranean, 

 that the Cyprian wild sheep has more than two horns 

 (p. 230). and that "the musk-ox stands between the 

 cattle and the sheep " (p. 229). 



With these and other blunders in a couple of sec- 

 tions, Prof. Davenport's volume can scarcely be recom- 

 mended as a trustworthy guide to youth in search of 

 information. r L_ 



POPULAR SCIENCE. 

 The Autobiography of an Electron; wherein the 



Scientific Ideas of the Present Time are explained 



in an Interesting and Novel Fashion. By C. R. 



Gibson. Pp. 216. (London: Seeley and Co., Ltd., 



191 1.) Price 3*. 6d. net. 

 A BOOK with so strange a title may well excite 

 ■^~^ our curiosity, for it is not unnatural to expect 

 in such an autobiography interesting speculations as 

 to the nature and functions of electrons going beyond 

 the limits of certain knowledge, and putting forward 

 ideas suggestive of possible future advances in scien- 

 tific thought. But though the electron is made to give 

 an account of its experiences in different natural 

 phenomena and experiments, it discreetly declines to 

 tell us anything beyond what we know to be facts or 

 what we are accustomed to regard as accepted phy- 

 sical theories. What, then, is the object of this story 

 of the electron— or, more correctly, this series of 

 stories about the experience of the electron in the 

 different experiments described in each chapter? To 

 use the author's own phrase, it is to present to his 

 readers "a book which they may read with the same 

 ease as an interesting novel." 



Now it must be admitted that this desire to present 

 to the scentifically untrained reader the established 

 facts and theories of modern science, in a simple and 

 NO. 2160, VOL. 86] 



pleasant form, is much to be comnnri(J<d ; lor tm 1 

 of interest taken by the general public in such matt 

 is certainly deplorable. The author is right in think- 

 ing that there are many who would take an intelligent 

 interest in scientific progress, but do not care to . 

 into details, and no doubt men of science are largeh 

 fault for not providing such readers with suit.ii 

 literature. But it is difficult to see what is gained 

 the somewhat childish device of making the electr 

 speak for itself, and describing the phenomena in the 

 first person rather than in the more usual third person ; 

 besides, the contents of each chapter is preceded by a 

 short synopsis called the " scribe's note," and the 

 subsequent text takes om- n-rv liith further than tt 

 note. 



Although the particular form of the book seems t.. 

 have no special advantage, the facts dealt with and 

 their explanations are set forth quite clearly, and with 

 accuracy, so far as is possible, in an elementar)' way ; 

 but there are disadvantages in the method of presenta- 

 tion which are worthy of mention. Whereas when 

 dealing with certain fundamental conceptions of elec- 

 tricity it may be useful to introduce the idea of 

 electrons, to do so seems to add nothing to the under- 

 standing of our methods of employing electricity for 

 telegraphy, lighting, traction, and so forth. Tb- 

 principles involved in such technical application ( 

 be described without any reference to the ultim 

 nature of electric currents, without any sacrifice 

 precision ; in fact, the consideration of the motion of 

 the electrons only serves to detract attention from the 

 more essential points. Again, the method of making 

 the electron tell its own story leads the author into 

 rather dogmatic statements on doubtful points. Thus 

 it is found necessary to take up a definite attitude with 

 regard to the nature of X-rays, which are described 

 as aether-pulses, whereas of late considerable doubt 

 has been thrown upon the validity of this conception of 

 the radiation. Taken as a whole, however, this little 

 book is quite a good and interesting popular account 

 of some of the more important ideas of modern 

 physics. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Cat's Cradles from many Lands. By Kathl' 

 Haddon. Pp. xvi + 95. (London : Longma: 

 Green and Co., 191 1.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 

 The problem of the origin and diffusion of game^ 

 now generally recognised to be of some ethnographit 

 importance, and Miss Haddon. in her careful account 

 of the mysteries of cat's cradle, has done something 

 to increase our knowledge. Like all pioneers in a 

 new field of inquiry, she has to lament the scantiness 

 of her material. Here and there persons interested 

 in the subject have picked up various forms of the 

 game among American Indians and Eskimo, the 

 people of Central and South Africa, in the Caroline 

 and Andaman Islands, in Oceania and Australia. 

 But large regions, like India, from which only a 

 couple of exatnples come, still remain practically un- 

 worked ; and until the search for the game is more 

 widely extended there will be no certain means of 

 deciding whether it originated in one or many centres, 

 and by what routes and agency it was diffused. 



It is not surprising, as Sliss Haddon remarks, that 

 some of the plainer forms should have a wider dis- 



