July 28, 1923] 



NA TURE 



1 29 



the first time would be enhanced if less prominence 

 , re given to formal definition and more to simple 

 \planation^ but there is no doubt about the usefulness 

 J I this book to the student who wishes expeditiously 

 10 revise and amplify previous work. It is concise, 

 well indexed, and contains a large number of exercises. 

 Some of the latter might profitably be revised. The 

 statement in Exercise 5 on p. 13 that in a certain 

 fertihser " 43I per cent, is phosphoric acid (phos- 

 phorus) " will doubtless annoy the chemist. In the 

 same exercise the student is asked to calculate how 

 much acid phosphate containing 16 per cent, phos- 

 phoric acid is required, when mixed with cotton seed 

 •meal and kainit, to provide a mixture containing 43! 

 ■per cent, phosphoric acid. A practicable answer to 

 this question might be the salvation of agriculture. 



Unfortunately the use of American data and money 

 units detracts from the value of the book to students 

 L'lsewhere. N. M. C. 



^-(i) A Canadian School Geography. By Prof. G. A. 

 Cornish. Pp. xiv + 450. n.p. (2) The Canadian 

 School Atlas. Prepared at the Edinburgh Geo- 

 graphical Institute under the Editorship of Prof. 

 G. A. Cornish. Pp. v + 65 maps + 16. n.p. 

 (Toronto : J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1922.) 



(i) The best features of this work are the maps, illustra- 

 tions, and practical exercises. For the rest the book 

 is planned on somewhat orthodox lines. Too much is 

 attempted in the space available, so that in places the 

 book gives little more than a catalogue of uncorrected 

 facts. It is certainly most informative, especially with 

 regard to Canada, to which a large part of the book is 

 devoted, but on the whole the geographical outlook 

 is wanting. 



(2) The atlas was prepared in the first instance to be 

 used with this text-book, but may easily make a wider 

 appeal as a general reference atlas for use in Canada. 

 It contains forty-eight pages of finely executed maps 

 by Bartholomew and a full index. Fourteen pages are 

 devoted to maps of Canada, of which the most popu- 

 lated parts are shown on scales of i : 2,500,000. The 

 rest of the world is shown on small-scale maps,, but 

 there is a coloured orographical map of every continent. 

 One improvement would be the addition of a larger 

 scale map of India, but the atlas as a whole deserves 

 high praise. 



Nyasa, the Great Water : being a Description of the Lake 

 and the Life of the People. By the Ven. William 

 Percival Johnson. Pp. vii -f- 204. (London : Oxford 

 University Press, 1922.) 'js. 6d. net. 



In this volume, the Archdeacon of Nyasa has placed 

 on record his knowledge of the lake and its people, 

 among whom he has served for many years as a member 

 of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. In the 

 preface, the Bishop of Oxford, with pardonable en- 

 thusiasm, says that it is unique and " a book which 

 no student of ' backward ' races can afford to leave 

 unread." Its readers, perhaps, will not be prepared 

 to go so far ; but it is certainly a valuable and intimate 

 study of the life and mentality, the customs, occupations, 

 and beliefs of the Angoni, Wa Yao and Nyasa or Nyanza 

 who live on the shores of the great lake Nyasa. The 

 salient feature of the book is its keen insight into the 



NO. 2804, VOL. I 12] 



native mind — a result which is achieved most markedly 

 by means of the chapter of " village stories," in which 

 the author has reported, in the words of the natives 

 themselves, incidents of courage and helpfulness in 

 the face of known and concrete danger. These he 

 contrasts with the fear, leading tG cruelty, arising out 

 of the impalpable and unknown, which lies at the root 

 of much of their religious ritual and belief. 



Into the East : Notes on Burma and Malaya. By R. 

 Curie. Pp. xxxi + 224. (London : Macmillan and 

 Co. Ltd., 1923.) 105. net. 



" Cities (like persons)," says the author of this work, 

 " have their idiosyncrasies that, slowly revealing 

 themselves, layer upon layer, absorb you at last into 

 their atmosphere," and goes on to ask what it is that 

 the new-comer feels about Rangoon, in this particular 

 instance, that to an inhabitant is second nature. 

 Wherever his travels in the East have taken him, his 

 purpose has been to seize the essentially differentiating 

 quality in each place. He speaks of his book as a 

 record of things seen and of things thought ; but in the 

 mind of the reader the latter will loom larger than the 

 former, and in the retrospect, whether the author's 

 words describe Colombo, Rangoon, Mandalay, the 

 mining town of Kuala Lumpur, or the investiture of 

 the Sultan of Perak with the K.C.M.G., it is their 

 quality as an intensely personal record of impressions 

 rather than as a statement of fact that will remain. In 

 the end the author confesses himself baffled by the 

 East, and its inscrutability and aloofness is perhaps the 

 most vivid of the impressions he conveys to his readers. 

 Mr. Joseph Conrad contributes a preface in which he 

 discourses in characteristically alluring manner of 

 .ravellers and of their works. 



Abrege de geographic physique. Par Prof. E. de 

 Martonne. Pp. v + 355. (Paris: Armand Colin, 

 1922.) 15 francs. 



Students of geography will be glad to have this out- 

 line summary of M. de Martonne's well-known " Traite 

 de geographic physique." The general plan is the 

 same as in the larger work, but a new chapter has been 

 added giving a sketch of the relations of human and 

 physical geography. In order to make the treatment 

 throughout the book as concrete as possible, the author 

 has chosen under each heading the most striking aspects 

 of the subject, wisely making no attempt to cover all 

 the ground in a limited number of pages. The third 

 section, " le relief du sol," is particularly lucid, and is 

 illustrated by most instructive photographs and block 

 diagrams. The bibliographical references to each 

 section are well chosen, but why is there no index ? 



The Practical Electrician's Pocket Book for J923. 

 Twenty-fifth Annual Issue. Edited by H. T. Crewe. 

 Pp. xci + 571 +Diary. (London: S. Rentell and 

 Co., Ltd., 1923.) 35. net. 



A CHAPTER on " wireless " broadcasting has been added 

 to this useful little book. Apparently some experi- 

 menters have difficulty in getting a good " earth," but 

 the suggestion that they should get an old bath, solder 

 the earth wire to it and then bury it, is in our opinion 

 quite unnecessary. 



