NA TURE 



[July 7, 1923 



documentary evidence. It may easily be felt that 

 judicious compression of the abundant material, so 

 far from diminishing, would have positively enhanced 

 the value of the work. Moreover, while a full treat- 

 ment of those technical matters, which have a general 

 character and yet find a particular application in this 

 special subject, would have been out of place, short 

 explanations based on first principles could sometimes 

 have been interpolated with material advantage to the 

 general reader. But it is as an historical work of 

 reference that the volume now completed must be 

 judged, and as such it will bring the author of the- 

 " Atlas Stellarum Variabilium " the renewed gratitude 

 of all those who are interested in this branch of 

 astronomy. H. C. P. 



The Study of Fossils. 



Animals of the Past : an Account of Some of the Creatures 

 of the Ancient World. By F. A. Lucas. Sixth and 

 revised edition. (Handbook Series, No. 4.) Pp. 

 xii + 207. (New York: American Museum of 

 Natural History, 1922.) n.p. 



IN 1901, when Dr. Lucas was a curator of the United 

 States National Museum, he published a most 

 useful popular book on the study of fossils, with special 

 reference to the remarkable extinct vertebrate animals 

 found in North America. A decade later, when he 

 became director of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, he reprinted his work as one of 

 the handbooks of that museum, where it has had a 

 large sale. He now has issued a much-revised edition, 

 with numerous new illustrations from fossils actually 

 in the American Museum. 



Dr. Lucas's little treatise is neither a museum guide 

 nor a text-book, but consists of a series of gossipy 

 chapters, each on a special subject, admirably designed 

 to rouse an interest in the study of fossils. He explains 

 their nature, describes how they are collected and 

 made available for science, and leaves the reader in 

 a frame of mind to appreciate more systematic and 

 technical works on the subject. At the end of each 

 chapter, indeed, he refers to some of the more important 

 literature, besides mentioning the chief American 

 museums in which illustrative specimens can be seen. 



Among the new matter may be specially mentiored 

 a discussion of Mr. Beebe's theory of the origin of 

 flight in birds, a chapter on flying reptiles with some 

 good illustrations from Seeley's " Dragons of the 

 Air," an account of Tyrannosaurus and the giant 

 Eocene bird Diatryma, additional figures of dinosaurs, 

 and a photograph of the restoration of the American 

 mastodon in the State Museum at Albany. There 

 is also a photograph of an engraved bone found in a 

 cave near Pineville, Missouri, in 1921, which seems 

 NO. 2801, VOL. I 12] 



to show the rude outline of an elephant, either mam- 

 moth or mastodon. 



Dr. Lucas writes, of course, primarily for American 

 readers, and it is natural that he should place American 

 discoveries in the front rank ; but he is wrong in 

 stating that " the largest single bone of a Dinosaur " 

 is the thigh bone of Brachiosaurus at Chicago — it is 

 three inches shorter than the humerus of the African 

 Gigantosaurus at Berlin. The rivalrv' between the 

 American palseontologists and their colleagues in the 

 Old World is one of friendly emulation, which has led 

 to great discoveries in more than one hemisphere. 



A. S. W. 



Our Bookshelf. 



Methods and Experiments in Mental Tests. By C. A. 

 Richardson. Pp. 94. (London, Calcutta, and 

 Sydney: G.G.HarrapandCo.,Ltd.,i922.) 35.6</.net. 



It is difficult to perceive for what type of audience 

 Mr. Richardson's book is intended. If it is meant for 

 readers who have no knowledge of any of the literature 

 on the subject, then it is surely out of place to introduce 

 the subject by a rather perfunctory discussion of the 

 criticisms made against the use of tests. If, on the 

 other hand, it is meant for readers already conversant 

 with some of the work done, then much of the dis- 

 cussion is useless. The same remark applies to the 

 statistical account. 



The details of the experimental testing of groups of 

 children are very interesting, but would have been 

 more suitable for an article in a psychological journal 

 than for a book. 



The Organisation and Administration of Physical Educa- 

 tion. By Prof. Jesse Feiring Williams. Pp. xiii + 

 325. (New York : The Macmillan Company ; 

 London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1922.) 95. net. 



Dr. Williams urges the necessity for physical educa- 

 tion to be placed on a scientific foundation, and gives 

 such a basis with a wealth of detail which is rarely 

 associated with the subject. Indeed, it is carried to an 

 extent which, in Great Britain, is unnecessary'. The 

 chapter on health and efficiency is the least scientific ; 

 little reliance can be placed on tests involving such 

 factors as height and weight charts, and the ratio of the 

 girth of the arm to that of the chest. The general 

 purpose of the book is good, and it should provide a 

 stimulus to interest in physical education. 



Character and the Unconscious : A Critical Exposition 



of the Psychology of Freud and of Jung. By J. H. 



van der Hoop. Authorised Translation by Elizabeth 



Trevelyan. (International Library of Psychology, 



Philosophy, and Scientific Method.) Pp. viii4-223. 



(London : Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd. ; New York : 



Harcourt, Brace and Co., Inc., 1923.) 105. 6d. net. 



This is a general and rather superficial account of the 



theories of Freud and Jung. The author tells us it is 



tjie result of nine years' intensive study of the practice 



and theory of psycho-analysis, which seems to mean 



that he has been a practitioner during that periods 



The translation is well done. 



