January ii, 19 12] 



NATURE 



347 



of control brings a greater responsiblity on the pilot, 

 and in case of the engine stopping the machine has 

 no means of gliding safely to earth." Mr. Porter 

 deserves great credit for the clear and concise way 

 he has analysed the most important experiments with 

 lifting-screws, and his book, which at present stands 

 as the only English work on the subject, should find 

 a place in every student's library. 



Secrets of the Hills, and Ho-w Ronald Read Them. 

 By Sterling Craig. Pp. 320. (London : George 

 G. Harrap and Co., n.d.) Price 35. bd. net. 



Very early in the nineteenth century, the Rev. Isaac 

 Taylor showed how a certain James and his father, 

 Mr. Thompson, visited a series of British mines and 

 compared them sagaciously with those of other lands. 

 The little book, called "The Mine," in which the 

 didactic Thompson and the preternaturally patient 

 James were made to record their impressions, ran 

 ^through three editions by 183 1. At that date the 

 ^Wicklow nugget of 22 ounces was the largest mass 

 lof native gold on record, while the mineral zircon 

 [was regarded as beyond the reach of an ambitious 

 Icollector. Mr. Craig now comes forward with a 

 [similar book, published bravely in the twentieth- 

 century manner in a very excellent type, and beauti- 

 fully illustrated by photographs in place of the roman- 

 tic old copper plates. Of course, when we were boys 

 \Vf loved Taylor's "Train of Mules bearing Copper 

 Oil" in Cornwall, and the tufted Indians "Diamond 

 j.washing at Golconda " ; and our successors may 

 I'equally dehght in the realistic pictures of " Holing 

 til'- Coal " (p. 202) and of the fossil bones at Pikermi 

 [) 306), which are so well provided by Mr. Craig. 

 Craig's boy, Ronald, goes to stay with a well- 

 ined doctor in the Leadhills, and receives even 

 Tiore instruction, in return for his judicious questions, 

 ^han did the late lamented James. 



Dr. Thomson — the name is, of course, a pure 

 coincidence — keeps himself well abreast of geological 

 iterature, though we may not agree with him about 

 he entirely mythical crystallised sea-sand so neatly 

 ured on p. 30. His lucid but lengthy manner of 

 lourse has proved contagious in the district, and is 

 essfully imitated by Jim, a working miner, and 

 Mr. Holloway, of Dollar. But boy readers, to 

 ,om all this is new, will probably not regard such 

 inds as tiresome. It is quite incorrect to think that 

 ng minds have no thirst for information, and even 

 adventurous will enjoy the graphic account of 

 maid's work in a lead-mine underground. Mountain- 

 niilding and river-erosion are described with the aid 

 ,if sections, and the line-drawings in the book are for 

 he most part as effective as the photographs. There 

 re a few misprints, as " Unita " for " Uinta," and 

 '"Cornish" for "Coruisk," and some rather definite 

 tatements on matters that are a good deal in dispute. 

 Jut the 320 pages contain a large range of informa- 

 ion, and it is interesting to find that the Thomp- 

 onian (or Thomsonian) manner is still so much in 

 avour. G. A. J. C. 



Laboratory Text-hook of Embryology. By Prof. 



C. S. Minot. Second edition, revised. Pp. xii + 



402. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1911.) Price 

 16s. net. 



I.ABORATORV toxt-books are apt to be limited in their 

 (Se, due, no doubt, to the fact that the teaching in 

 vo different laboratories is never identical. Their 

 ;8e will be the more extensive as the illustrations and 

 jixt are made general in application. 

 ! The illustrations in this work are well executed, 

 nd in the new edition their number has been in- 



NO. 2202, VOL. 88] 



creased from 218 to 262. They are mainly taken from 

 special sections and figures, but the sections and 

 figures have been well selected as typical. Their value 

 is much enhanced by the fact that they are faithfully 

 drawn, and give, as much as is possible in black and 

 white, the appearance of sections as seen under the 

 microscope; too diagrammatic a section is apt to mis- 

 lead a student. The reconstructions illustrated are 

 valuable aids in giving a student a general idea of the 

 anatomy of the embryo; they also help by showing 

 where the sections illustrated are cut. 



Besides additions to the illustrations. Prof. Minot 

 has in this second edition entirely recast several 

 chapters so as to make the study of development 

 chronological throughout. The text is chiefly descrip- 

 tive of the sections and figures, but short comparisons 

 are drawn between the various stages. The intro- 

 ductory chapter deals with too much in too short a 

 space to be of any real use. Heredity, for instance, 

 when treated in a page leads one to believe that 

 Darwin's theory of "Pangenesis" is the only theory 

 worthy of consideration. Again, Prof. Minot's classi- 

 fication of glands, when proposed so shortly, is liable 

 to confuse. 



As in the old edition, the pig is the basis of study, 

 since in America pig embryos above the length of 

 6 mm. can readily be obtained from abattoirs. For 

 the early stages the rabbit is used. Human embry- 

 ology is treated at some length, well-known figures 

 being used for the purposes of illustration. The 

 chicken is only allowed forty-four pages out of a total 

 of 402, so that the work treats almost entirely of 

 mammalian anatomy. 



The practical directions at the end of the book 

 supply the details of formulae and give methods for 

 staining and reconstruction. 



Photograms of the Year 1911-1912. Edited by H. 

 Snowden Ward. Pp. 154. (London : George 

 Routledge and Sons, Ltd. ; Dawbarn and Ward, 

 Ltd. ; New York : Tennant and Ward ; Mel- 

 bourne : Kodak (Australasia), Ltd. ; Toronto : The 

 Musson Book Co., Ltd., n.d.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 

 This annual deals chiefly with descriptions and criti- 

 cisms of the "pictorial" photographs exhibited in the 

 various exhibitions, and brief summaries of the state 

 of pictorial photography in other countries. Mr. 

 Robert Demachy speaks for France, and concludes 

 that there is sounder work going on there. South 

 African progress is recorded by Mr. George E. Whit- 

 ing, and he deplores the ending of the Journal of Photo- 

 graphy published there, but rejoices at the formation 

 of two new societies. The work in Germany is taken 

 in hand by Mr. F. Matthies-Masuren, while Mr. 

 Walter Burke's remarks are devoted to Australia. 

 The main portion of the book is, however, from the 

 pen of the editor, who, as was announced in Nature 

 of December 14, died early in that month in New 

 York. Mr. Snowden Ward's contribution consists in 

 the main in describing the special features of the very 

 large collection of the works exhibited at various 

 places during the past year, and this will be found 

 very useful to those who take up this, the pictorial, 

 side of photography. 



The book, as usual, is profusely illustrated, and the 

 fact that many of the pictures have not been seen in 

 this country before adds a special feature to them. 

 There is no doubt that pains have not been spared 

 to reproduce well the pictures contained in the volume, 

 but there are <9ome, notably that entitled "When all 

 the snowy hill and the bare trees are still," which 

 seemed scarcely worth the trouble taken. Many 

 readers will find in the book much that is both amus- 

 *ng and useful. 



