February 8, 191 2] 



NATURE 



479 



removing the thermometer from the calorimeter during 

 the introduction of a hot body, though the calorimeter 

 is weighed to o'l gram. The use of a thermometer 

 as a stirrer is scarcely to be commended, except it 

 be from the manufacturer's point of view. 



(2) This is a well-arranged and concise presentation 

 of the facts of physical science and of the accepted 

 principles underlying them. It deals first with 

 mechanics, hydrostatics, molecular phenomena, and 

 sound ; then with heat, magnetism, current electricity, 

 and electrostatics ; it gives an account of radio-activity 

 and the electron theory; and finally treats of light 

 and radiation in general. In each of these branches 

 there are few subjects or experimental methods to 

 which some reference is not made, and it is surpris- 

 ing to find so much inforpiation in a book of the size. 

 I It would not be fair to (lescribe it as a mere compila- 

 tion of facts, as it gives accounts of current theories 

 and usually the " reason why " for any statement. 

 But these are necessarily so concise and brief that 

 beginners, and many who could scarcely be termed 

 beginners, though they might learn the facts, would 

 scarcely appreciate the reasoning or form an adequate 

 conception of the theories and the relation of facts 

 to them. Anyone with considerable previous know- 

 ledge of the subject who is looking for an account 

 of the present state of physical science will find it 

 here given in a sound, clear way ; and the book should 

 be of value to honour students, if read as an intro- 

 duction to those in which theories are more fully 

 dealt with. The authors frequently point out the 

 necessity for this, but the difificulties connected with 

 theories or their incompleteness are not sufficientlv 

 presented. There is so much apparent plain-sailing 

 that it is to be feared that too many will think that 

 the book contains enough for them. However, the 

 authors' warnings may, and lecturers should be able 

 to, prevent students making this mistake. 



The book is intended to be read along with the 

 " Manual of Physical Measurements," by the same 

 authors, to which students are referred for details 

 regarding experiments. 



Numerous references to original papers are given. 



OVR BOOK SHELF.. 



Elements of Agriculture : a Text-book prepared under 

 the Authority of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England, by the late Dr. W. Freani. Eighth edition. 

 Edited by Prof. J. R. Ainsworth-Davis. Pp. xiv + 

 692. (London: John Murray, 191 1.) Price $s. net. 

 While British agriculture is, by common consent, 

 at least as highly developed as any system that can 

 be found in any other country, it has by no means 

 a copious modern literature. Among the compara- 

 tively small number of text-books on the subject one 

 by Dr. Fream has for many years stood pre-eminent, 

 and has, indeed, become a traditional part of our 

 agricultural education. The book might have defects, 

 and it was undeniably out of date in many places, 

 but it had served for generations of students, and 

 must therefore have merit. And further, as time 

 went on, no competitors arose, so th.nt it has remained 

 in possession of the field. 



To revise even a small .ii;i it ulinral text-book is 

 I not a task to be lightly undertaken. The professor 

 I of agriculture is very unreasonably expected to be an 



NO. 2206, VOL. 88] 



authority on botany, chemistry, geology, physiology, 

 and "other sciences underlying the production of crops 

 and live stock and the cultivation of the soil." But 

 to so experienced an editor as Principal Ainsworth- 

 Davis these difficulties are not serious, and the revi- 

 sion of the separate chapters appears, so far as one 

 man can judge, to have been satisfactorily accom- 

 plished. It would have added to the interest of the 

 book, and enabled the discriminating teacher to 

 evaluate the different sections, if an indication could 

 have been given showing who was the reviser in each 

 case. 



It is, however, a very difficult matter to piece new 

 material into old and make the whole into a coherent 

 story. Thus in the chapter on " Soil " p. 15 tells the 

 old tale and p. 17 the new. "Clay," on p. 15, is used 

 in the rather indefinite sense in which Schiibler used 

 it in 1838, which meaning it retained until Warington 

 in 1900 introduced the newer and more definite concep- 

 tion from America. "Clay" on p. 17 is something 

 altogether different; the word is here used in the 

 modern sense of material the particles of which are 

 below a certain arbitrary size; hence the numbers 

 on p. 15 are wholly inconsistent with the use of the 

 word on p. 17. A sandy loam, for instance, does not 

 contain more than about 10 per cent, of what is 

 now called clay, although on the old view it might 

 contain 40 per cent. Probably no soil contains more 

 than 45 per cent, of clay in the modern sense, and 

 yet in the old days (and on p. 15) certain soils were 

 said to contain 95 per cent. Difiiculties of this kind, 

 however, are almost inevitahlc with words that have 

 changed their meaning, or, still worse, as in the 

 present case, taken on an additional meaning. 



A remarkable feature of the book is its cheapness. 

 The book runs to 700 pages, is well illustrated, printed 

 on good paper, and nicely bound, and yet only costs 

 5.V. It is therefore within the reach of the agricultural 

 student (who is not naturally a bv)ok buyer), and 

 may reasonably look for a long lease of life. Principal 

 Davis has certainly made it once more the best 

 British text-book on agriculture. E. J. R. 



Annual Report of Recent Advances in Pharmaceutical 

 Chemistry and Therapeutics. Vol. xxiv., pp. 419. 

 (Darmstadt and London: E. Merck, 191 1.) Price 

 IS. 6d. 

 This work is a very complete summary of researches 

 carried out during the year 19 10 in therapeutics, and, 

 to a less degree, in the chemistry of drugs. KuU and 

 interesting accounts of the cacodylates and of kephir 

 from their introduction into therapeutics occupy a 

 considerable part of the volume. From the references 

 to arsacetin and atoxyl the latter appears to have 

 certain advantages over the former, especially in cases 

 of trypanosomiasis. Messerschmidt's benzidine test 

 for blood is discussed in detail, and seems to have 

 value as a negative rather than as a positive test. 

 Light is thrown upon tli> mod- of action of chrys- 

 arobin in skin diseases lt\ I una and Goldsetz's 

 observation of its oxidation on the skin to oxychrys- 

 arobin and chrysaloxin. The introduction into the 

 German pharniacopcDia of the formaldehyde sulphuric 

 acid test for chloroform is commendrd, although 

 admittedlv the nature of the impurities exclud(>d by 

 it are not known. In view of the fatal effects that 

 are from time to time reported of the use of chloro- 

 form as an anaesthetic, it is essential that stringent 

 tests to ensure its purity should be adopted. The 

 report should prove especially valuable to medical 

 practitioners and to pharmacists, as it contains in 

 readily available form abstracts from journals, many 

 not easily accessible, relating to the constitution and 

 action more particularly of modern synthetic remedies. 



Hknkv G. Greenish. 



