276 



NATURE 



April 27. 191 1 



find in Cormnnv nfiwad.ivs. !f ■: 

 wliicli \\(JiiKl rii';ii(| till- a-ilr 

 s|),ic( " li.i^ I ' iplurcd all lli 



i)t ic.utiin:' rtlvr vnhiinf 



lip 



•' • t^r =;rhool 

 \ sical 



)( furtli- 



rcnttir Chetni 



\riiv. 



; Milliucii and 



/)/>y/ \( III I 



I .S\'\/i;Mi|//. (mi' :' ) ,1 '<l \ ■■ ' .i . . . 

 \\rl,|,. Pp. V-' I.uIuluH 



(\.., I.I 



nf fiv^ dm! 



. Wdil.l. A 



li lalmcnl nt lli^ 



"T^IilS l)o,.lc iM. I. .111111 "i n srrir' 



-L Willi lln- :;r(i;;r;i|)llV- (ij ill'- Ni- 



i;i tllr [i|i\i.UK \Mllimcs, ill 



^iilijcci i-- I'll I'liji-.il and niiv<icTH liiK-., .ind 

 ihc IxHiIc will 111- lotind 111 r..iit.iiii liir kiiul 

 1)1 iiif<Minalii)ii Ihal ranilid.iN- i n .pai in- lor tairh 

 .■id\.ini '-li ( \aniinalioii- ii 'i'li.^' ■"''" ""''^ ''"'- 



pi (ic(l to actiiiin-." In-; i llv .'.-iih-,- of 



nhnlcniilv in lln- inaliiirnt an' --iiildiu: mple, 



the rain of Califoinia is aiiriUuted to liir iKnili-onsf 

 trades, witliout nicnlion of its characteristic wiiit.r 

 ma\iinuiTi, and in di'-nUard of Ruclian's maps on 

 wind directions. 



The space devoted to Argentina is the sunt as 

 tliat uiven to Peru, and but one-quarter of that given 

 ida. In view of the information which is 

 ...t^^^.Ule in the " Statesman's Year Book," tlie "Atlas 

 of the World's Commerce," and the puliIicaiioiK of 

 the United States Government, the treatna nt of 

 minerals in Mexico, the reference to cotton ports .and 

 to the trade of the United States ports on the Pacific, 

 as w^ell as the arbitrary division between the " wheat " 

 and "maize" belts by lat. 42° N. are curious, and, 

 on the whole, misleading. Mexico is first as to the 

 production of silver, and produces copper, but not 

 iron and tin to any extent. 



Much is made of "Sea-island" cotton, but the 

 total production of that variety is, roughly, i /200th 

 of the United States cotton crop, and stress is laid 

 upon Mobile, Wilmington, Charleston, and Pensacola 

 as cotton ports when really about three-quarters of 

 the cotton exports go from Galveston, New Orleans, 

 Savannah, and New York. On the Pacific coast Port- 

 land is suggested as of more importance than the 

 ports on Puget Sound, when its trade is roughly only 

 about one-third of that of the more northern ports. 

 There seems hardly any excuse for the limitation of 

 the "wheat" belt by latitude, especially as Wisconsin 

 is named in large type, and the fact that in relation 

 to area of land in the respective territories Pennsyl- 

 vania is inore important than Michigan is ignored. 



On the whole the book contains many isolated facts, 

 but surely modern ideas in geography demand a 

 statement of facts in relation to each other; e.g. 

 climate is discussed in an introductory chapter, and 

 on the "wheat" belt the author writes: — "The win- 

 ters in this region are very cold ; the summers are 

 warm, but not warm enough to ripen maize " ; yet 

 S. Dakota, Minnesota, W^isconsin, and Michigan pro- 

 duce annually over 200 million bushels of maize on 

 the average. It appears that the defects are due to 

 indiscriminate use of statements made in other text- 

 books. B. C. W. 

 NO. 2165, VOL. 86] 



■ledicaS 



I'p. vJiJ + 128. 

 , lyio.) Price 



orL;,aiiii 1 ni n 11-; 1 ■ iv ix-coini! 

 tial for ili<- pK.jxr study of pi 

 <;rii-ni(-., Imi, 011 ihf other n:ii, 

 lMi|iiiiiiiv hi.ud ihai the currica, 

 .student is b(ruiiiiiig s<riouslv o\ ■ 

 science work is encroaching tocj : 

 fcssional sliidi<'<. 

 TIh' new s\ii.il,iiv i.f ihc s.cond medical examina 



vvIHge of 



' n- 

 al 

 i» 

 al 



• iiiu iiiat 



more pro- 



)f 111.- 1. 



],. 



] 1 1 ; 1 



pa 



ih 



1 1011, p.ir( 1., 

 , .1 compioiiii- 

 ;in .ilieinpi i 

 w itli sped 

 (iliarniacol. , 

 s( Hind eli-iiii iii.ii \ 

 siil)jeet Id illu-lial- 

 of substances ot ii 

 The book nndi r 

 of III,- ■, 

 tli:il \- 



defects inherent m 

 purpose. The fir^t tialf of i 

 and thoughtful account of in< 



mdon liiiversity is the result of 



II ill- >i I ,\ o points of view, and 



' n .irh organic chj-mistrv 



ajiplicitions in phy-' 



i!i'1<l;\, .md while gi\ 1 , 



he principles of the 



s possible by mrnns 



e aminol ecor 



he practical s\ 



II, and we may say at once 



thoutih it sufTFers from the 



\\ork for so special a 



' ontains a lucid 



neral methods of 



organic chemistry, illustrative methods of preparation, 

 and the various quantitative exercises mentioned in 

 the syllabus. Ihi second half is devoted to qualita- 

 tive tests for a number of substances of physiological 

 imjiortance ; and the practical recipes for preparing 

 these suli-t;iiu-es, many of which are expensive and 

 diOicult li> olit.iin in the market, will be found ex 

 ceedini^^lv useful, particularly by those teachers who 

 m.i\ M •' be specially familiar with biochemical 

 methods. A sufficient account of the theoretical prin- 

 ciple und<-r]vini; the v.uious exercises and tests is 

 given, and, wliere [los^ihlf*, the bearing of the subject 

 on the future work of the student is emphasised, so 

 that he may realise that chemistrv is not to be re- 

 garded merelv as ,ui (Examination subject, but rather 

 as a vaU'.ahle adiunct to his knowledge for the fuller 

 appreciation of his clinical and other studies. The 

 book will, we think, be useful both to students and 

 teachers. 



Die Kaltc : ilir Wcsru, Hire Erzeia^utit^ titid ]\-r-.i-rrt- 

 ung. By Dr. II. Alt. Pp. v-f-i24. (Leipzig: 

 B. G. Teubncr, iqio.) Price 1.J5 marks. 

 This little book is ba.sed upon a series of six lectures 

 delivered in Miinchen during 1907 by the author. Dr. 

 .Mt has endeavoured to popularise the subjects of the 

 production of cold and the physics of low tempera- 

 tures so as to render them both interesting and useful 

 to the beginner. No special knowledge of this par- 

 ticular branch of physics is assumed; a general in- 

 telligence and interest in natural phenomena is all that 

 is expected of the reader. With this in view the 

 author devotes the first two chapters to matter which 

 finds a place in almost any elementary treatise on 

 heat. In the first cha])ter the properties and laws of 

 gases are discussed, and in the second, those of 

 vapours, both being ohviouslv necess.irv preliminaries 

 to the appreciation of the remaining sfctions of the 

 book. 



The production of cold hv means of the reversed 

 heat-engine, togerlier with descriptions of the various 

 types of refrigerator, form the subject of the next 

 chapter; the remaining three are concerned with the 

 question of the liquefaction of gases. The different 

 processes bv which liquefaction has been secured are 

 described in chronological order, starting with the 

 earlier regenerative pr(X'ess and leading up to the 



