236 



NATURE 



[August i8, 1923 



conscious processes. He takes Bergson and Freud 

 as his directors. He follows Bergson in distinguish- 

 ing two kinds of memory, but he names them re- 

 duplicative (Bergson 's pure memory, the integral record 

 of the past) and synthetic (Bergson 's habit-memory). 

 He also follows Bergson in the view that memory is an 

 essential factor of perception. His method, on the 

 other liand, closely follows the kind of analysis with 

 which fVeud has familiarised us in the " Traum- 

 deutung," but unlike Freud he lays no emphasis on 

 the sex motive, nor is he in any way obsessed with 

 the idea of symbolism. It is a sane and useful discussion 

 of the nature and origin of intelligence. 



The Principles of Geography, Physical and Human. 

 By Dr. E. G. Skeat (Mrs. Woods). Pp. 432. (Ox- 

 ford : Clarendon Press ; London : Oxford Uni- 

 versity Press, 1923.) 6s. 6d. net. 



Dr. Skeat has produced an attractive book, fresh in 

 outlook, inspiring and thoroughly readable. We miss 

 with gratitude the wearisome reiterations of the 

 ordinary run of text-books and find the author continu- 

 ally turning to original sources and taking new points 

 of view. Both matter and style commend the book 

 and give it a place by itself. The greater part treats 

 of the physiographical side of geography, but the 

 concluding section gives an excellent introduction to 

 human geography. There are many well-selected 

 diagrams, sketch-maps, and illustrations, and a copious 

 bibliography. The book is too advanced for most 

 school work, but should prove valuable to teachers of 

 geography. Its careful use could not fail to improve 

 the teaching of the subject. 



The Contact between Minds: a Metaphysical Hypo- 

 thesis. By C. Delisle Bums. Pp. x + 138. (Lon- 

 don : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1923.) 75. 6d. net. 

 Mr. Burns has produced a very clear argument. It 

 avoids the epistemological problem of intercourse, and 

 the psychological problem of the genesis of knowledge, 

 and narrows itself to the discussion of the nature of 

 our knowledge of other minds. The traditional view 

 that the existence of other minds is an inference is 

 rejected, and it is held that the knowledge of them is 

 " enjoyment " in the technical philosophical meaning 

 of the term. Mr. Burns conceives knowledge realistic- 

 ally as the contemplation of objects compresent with 

 the mind which knows itself in the contemplating. 

 Other minds are known, he thinks, not as objects 

 contemplated, but as our own mind contemplat- 

 ing. It is a thoughtful essay on a problem of deep 

 interest. 



Readable School Chemistry : a Book for Beginners. By 

 J. A. Cochrane. (Bell's Natural Science Series.) 

 Pp. x + 84-f-8 plates. (London : G. Bell and Sons, 

 Ltd., 1923.) 2s. 



Mr. CocHRAiSTE's book deals historically, and to a 

 certain extent popularly, with the ground usually 

 covered in a first year's course of chemistry. It 

 contains interesting biographical details of the great 

 founders of the science, and deals with their important 

 researches. These are supplemented by brief notes 

 on modern chemistry, and the book is well illustrated 



NO. 2807, VOL. 112] 



with portraits. Mr. Cochrane's book should be ver> 

 useful and interesting to beginners in chemistry, and 

 its very moderate price brings it within the reach oi 

 all students. On p. 30 the name should 1 I' 

 and on p. 64 " Warltire." 



An Introduction to Theoretical and Applied Colloid 

 Chemistry : " The World of Neglected Dimensions." 

 By Prof. Wo. Ostwald. Authorised Translation from 

 the Eighth German edition by Prof. M. H. Fischer. 

 Second and enlarged American edition. Pp. xiii-»- 

 266. (New York: J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London; 

 Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1922.) 125. 6d. net. 



The new American edition of Wo. Ostwald's book c^n 

 colloid chemistry is a translation from the eighth 

 German edition. The author's lecturing tour in 

 America appears to have taught him how to present the 

 difficult subject of colloids in its simplest and most 

 dramatic form. The great success of the book is a 

 tribute to the completeness of the education thus 

 received. 



A Text-book of Inorganic Chemistry. By G. S. Newth. 

 New and enlarged edition. Pp. xiii -1-772. (Lon- 

 don : Longmans, Green and Co., 1923.) 85. 



Newth's text-book has been found useful for so long 

 that it needs no description. The new edition has 

 been revised and brought up-to-date, and will be found 

 as clear and accurate as former editions. The sections 

 on modern advances are very readable, and this side 

 of the subject has not been overdone. In one or two 

 instances the revision has perhaps not been so complete 

 as it might have been : the long descriptions of the 

 Leblanc process and the chamber process seem out of 

 proportion in comparison with the ver>' short sections 

 on the ammonia-soda and contact processes. 



Electrical Horology. By H. R. Langmand and A. Ball. 

 (Lockwood's Technical Manuals.) Pp. xi-l-164. 

 (London : Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1923.) 75. 6d. 

 net. 



There are scarcely any books which give an accurate 

 account of the progress that has been made in recent 

 years in applying electric currents to horology. The 

 explanations given in this work are confined mainly 

 to the essential parts of the mechanism and the electrical 

 and mechanical principles which they illustrate. 

 Inventors of electric clocks who, as a rule, have only a 

 hazy knowledge of what has been done previously, 

 will find this book helpful. 



The Phase Rule and the Study of Heterogeneous Equi- 

 libria : an Introductory Study. By Prof. A. C. D. 

 Rivett. Pp. 204. (Oxford : Clarendon Press ; 

 London : Oxford University Press, 1923.) 10s. 6d. 

 net. 



Prof. Rivett's little book on the Phase Rule deals 

 mainly with theor}', the various types of equilibrium 

 being set out under the headings of one, two, three and 

 four-component systems. It is a useful t)-pe of book 

 for a worker who wishes to make use of the Phase Rule 

 in his own work, although less attractive to a general 

 reader than a book dealing mainly with examples. 



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