September r, 1923] 



NA TURE 



,21 



integrates ever\'thing it comes into contact with except 

 refracton, and it is conveyed in capillary tubes of the 

 latter^ a metre thick in the wall, in minute quantities 

 from the laboratory to the furnaces. The authors are 

 clever enough to get the best out of both possible 

 worlds, and succeed, not only in showing us the effects 

 of Paris being converted into an inferno through 

 anarchists blowing up the refracton tubes, but also 

 at the same time to bring the venture to a brilliantly 

 successful conclusion with the hero and heroine happily 

 off for the honeymoon. 



" White Lightning " is a most curious production. 

 Each of its ninety-two chapters is named after one of 

 the elements in the order of the Periodic Table, and, 

 in most of the chapters, the author succeeds in bringing 

 in some interesting allusion to modem discoveries in 

 chemistry and physics, if not always specially connected 

 with the titular deity of the chapter. The style is 

 irritatingly disconnected and inconsequent, but it 

 manages to convey some idea of the fascination and 

 glamour of discovery and the enthusiasms of which 

 it is born. Emanating from America, it is no surprise 

 to find that this author's denouement is to endow, 

 through the generosity of his pubUc-spirited characters, 

 the hero and the heroine with a research laboratory to 

 be devoted to the study of the liberation of atomic 

 energy. F. S. 



The Great Flint Implements of Cromer, Norfolk. By J. 

 Reid Moir. (Printed and published on behalf of the 

 author for private circulation.) Pp. 39. (Ipswich : 

 W. E. Harrison, 1923.) 

 The title of this book is scarcely adequate, for the work 

 treats of many periods, from that of the " eoHths " to 

 neolithic times. Many of Mr. Moir's views were at first 

 regarded with profound scepticism, but are being 

 accepted by an ever-increasing number of competent 

 judges at home and abroad. In the work before us they 

 are briefly summarised, but the account is too con- 

 densed to do justice to the author's discoveries. We 

 hope that in the not distant future he will write a 

 detailed work on the pre-history of East Anglia, and 

 that it will be illustrated by Mr. E. T. Lingwood, the 

 excellence of whose illustrations in the work before us 

 is noteworthy. 



Three important questions arise with regard to the 

 Cromer flints here described : (i) Are they derived 

 from Pliocene beds ? (2) Are they artefacts ? (3) If they 

 are, to which cultural period do they belong ? The 

 evidence bearing upon the first two questions is only 

 summarised in the work before us, though more fully 

 stated in papers to which reference is made. After 

 reading that evidence, and after a visit to the spot under 

 the author's guidance, the reviewer is of opinion that 

 Mr. Moir is correct in his contention that the flints were 

 once embedded in a Pliocene pebble-deposit, and that 

 many of them are undoubted artefacts. Stress is laid 

 upon the last point, as the specimens figured here will 

 probably be regarded with suspicion by sceptics, and 

 many others which are not figured are more con- 

 vincing. 



The reference to the early Chellean period is regarded 

 only as a probability by the author, but perusal of this 

 and other of his writings leads one to consider that he 

 has made out a good case in favour of this probability. 



NO. 2809, VOL. 112] 



The Happy Traveller : a Book for Poor Men. By the 

 Rev. Frank Tatchell. Pp. xii + 271. (London: 

 Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1923.) 75. 6d. net. 



The author of this distinctly original book is a Sussex 

 vicar, and we can picture him setting out for Hierusalem 

 from the Middeherst of the twelfth century, in robust 

 amity with all whom he might meet upon the way. 

 Once outside the door of home (p. vii), he is never 

 conscious of an obstacle. Like the young Jesuit 

 Thomas Stevens, whose letter is preserved by Hakluyt, 

 he is going to see his first shark, his first flying-fish 

 (p. 140), and to learn, by personal encounter, the 

 essential glory of the earth. Even between the poplars 

 of a route nationale Mr. Tatchell goes on foot. He 

 is forced to embark on liners for the greater seas ; but 

 he has travelled as a steerage passenger and as a steward, 

 and we learn that " the ' deck ' passages on Japanese 

 boats are especially good." 



The lists of common phrases in foreign languages 

 might well have been omitted. We cannot judge the 

 Burmese and the six words of Papuan, and they may 

 be " happier " than the French. Yet we should be 

 sorry to lose the conversation between the vicar- 

 designate and the Fijian damsel on pp. 225-6. The 

 notes on local customs are always helpful, and are 

 backed by a truly catholic philosophy. Touches like the 

 following add a sparkle to the printed page. " If you 

 want to preserve your illusions, do not visit Palestine " 

 (p. iv). " Should you be attacked by a mob in the 

 East, hurt one of the crowd and hurt him quickly " 

 (p. 23). " If you are in the steerage, take also some 

 fruit and jam and a bottle of rum, which nowhere 

 tastes so well as at sea " (p. 139). R. L. Stevenson 

 would have enjoyed this passage, and he would have 

 endorsed the maxim on p. 7 : " The beaten track is 

 the best track, but devote most of your time to the 

 by-ways." G. A. J. C. 



The Coconut Palm : the Science and Practice of Coconut 

 Cultivation. By H. C. Sampson. Pp. xv -t- 262 -I- 40 

 plates. (London : J. Bale, Sons, and Danielsson, 

 Ltd., 1923.) 315. 6d. net. 



This book is a welcome departure from the usual type 

 of manual that deals in generalities about the plant 

 concerned, with a fuller account of the methods of 

 cultivation. Its author is to be congratulated upon 

 having broken new ground, and it is by such study as 

 is described in this volume that we may hope to arrive 

 in time at a really scientific method of cultivating and 

 treating the palm. Detailed scientific observations are 

 given, for example, upon the numbers, the direction 

 of growth, and the behaviour of the roots, a subject 

 upon which we have usually had only vague generalities 

 to go upon. Many other subjects are treated in the 

 same way, e.g. the flowering, the relative proportions 

 of flowers that set fruit, and so on. 



The second part of the book deals with plantation 

 management, and gives a very good, clear, and well- 

 reasoned account of the methods in use, and the 

 reasons for them — an account which will repay study 

 even by the experienced coconut planter. In Part III. 

 the products of the coconut palm are dealt with, and 

 the methods of 'preparation employed in South India, 

 the coconut products of which command the highest 



