468 



NA TURE 



[September 29, 1923 



are used in railway work, anH the l^nchester machines 

 for the testing of worm gear r sections deal with 



lubricants, friction tests on >, vibration tests, 



and static and dynamic balance. 



The part of the volume devoted to tests on structural 

 elements contains methods of testing concrete slabs 

 and beams, plain and reinforced, and also columns of 

 various types. Much of the work which has been 

 done on this subject has been carried out in America, 

 and we note that the authors have dealt justly with it 

 in the space at their disposal. Tests on cutting tools, 

 aircraft models, and other miscellaneous tests conclude 

 the volume. As was the case in the first volume, a 

 good deal of the apparatus described is installed at 

 the National Physical Laboratory-, but the authors 

 have not forgotten that research cannot be confined to 

 one place, nor to one investigator or group of investiga- 

 tors. The complete treatise will be welcomed by all 

 who are engaged in the testing of engineering materials 

 and appliances. 



(i) Oil Poioer. By S. H. North. (Pitman's Common 

 Commodities and Industries.) Pp. ix + 122. 3.?. 

 net. 



(2) Internal-Combustion Engines. By J. Okill. (Pit- 

 man's Common Commodities and Industries.) Pp. 

 xi + 126. 35. net. 



(3) The Diesel Engine. By A. Orton. (Pitman's 

 Technical Primers.) Pp. x + iii. 25.6df.net. 



(London : Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1923.) 



The general reader who desires information regarding 

 oil fuel and the practical methods of using it will find 

 much of interest in these three little books. The 

 greater part of (i) is occupied with descriptions of oil 

 burners as used in furnaces. This system is employed 

 to a large extent in marine and locomotive boilers. 

 The question of oil storage at various ports is of vital 

 importance for the supply of oil-fired vessels, and is 

 dealt with towards the end of the volume. The first 

 thirty-two pages in (2) are devoted to the gas engine, 

 and the greater part of the remainder deals with oil 

 engines of different types. The book is up-to-date in 

 the matter of the engines selected for description, and 

 there are sections on aero-engines, tractor engines and 

 turbines. The Diesel engine is of sufficient commercial 

 importance now to warrant a separate volume, and this 

 is provided in (3). Here we find descriptions of the 

 arrangements and methods of working of both four- 

 stroke and two-stroke Diesel engines, and a short 

 discussion of the power developed and the efficiency. 

 The student of heat engines will of course require a 

 great deal more than is contained in these books. They 

 are, however, very suitable for those readers who wish 

 to be informed as to what has been accomplished in 

 this important branch of engineering. 



British Museum {Natural History). British Antarctic 

 (Terra Nova) Expedition, igio. Natural History' 

 Report. Botany, Part 3 : Lichens. By 0. V. Darbi- 

 shire. Pp. 29-76 + 2 plates. (London : British 

 Museum (Natural History), 1923). 75. 



Dr. Darbishire's account of the lichens is the third 

 of the reports to be issued on the botany of Captain 

 Scott's Antarctic expedition of 1910. Reports on the 



NO. 2813, VOL. I 12] 



seaweeds (by Mr. and Mrs. Gepp and Mme. Lemoin< 

 and on the freshwater Alga (by Dr. Fritch) 



published in 191 7. 



Seventeen species were collected, eight of 

 proved to be new, and are described and figured 1 

 present publication. With the exception of one a 

 Lecidea, the new species belong to the genus Buellia. ™- 

 The lichens were all found on rocks, mainly granite arv 

 gneiss, at Cape Adare and Evans Cove in South Victor: 

 Land. When describing the lichens brought l)ack \> 

 the Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901-3) in 1912, D' 

 Darbishire gave a summar)- of the species known ;i 

 that time from the Antarctic area ; their numlier wa 

 107 ; this has now been increased to 208, mainly b\ 

 the material brought back by the second 1- • 

 Antarctic Expedition of 1908-10, which was rt] 

 on by the late Abbe Hue. The value of the p 

 brochure is enhanced by the inclusion of a con ^ 

 list of the species recorded from the Antarctic area, ih. 

 is, from localities to the south of the 6c° S. parall< 1 • 

 which are added keys to the genera and y^ 

 Twenty-three per cent, of the species are also foui... 

 the Arctic regions, and the author notes a strikii 

 similarity of the Arctic and Antarctic lichen flora ^ 

 regard to the proportion among the knowTi species > 

 the chief lichen forms. 



The Preparation of Plantation Rubber. By S. Murgi 

 With a Preface and a Chapter on Vulcanisati< 

 by Dr. H. P. Stevens. Pp. xvi+331. (Londoi. ' 

 Bombay and Sydney : Constable and Co., Ltd 

 1922.) 215. net. 



Both editions of Mr. Morgan's useful book on planta- 

 tion rubber are now out of print, and in preparing 

 third edition the opportunity has been taken to revi- 

 completely the original work, and to incorporate in tl 

 new volume the results of the expyerimental research . 

 practically all branches of the business of preparii 

 rubber for the market which has been carried out 1 

 Mr. Morgan in the course of his work as Scientit 

 Officer to the Rubber Growers' Association in M 

 In doing so, the book has been virtually re-\M 

 and it now forms a complete and authoritative guide \ 

 the modern practice of a rubber plantation, from tl 

 planting of the tree to the packing of the rubber f' 

 export. The subject has been usefully rounded off 1 

 the addition of a series of three chapters on the vulcair 

 sation of rubber, including an account of the methcila 

 of testing the material for industrial use. This section 

 of the book has been specially written by Dr. Steven- 

 consulting chemist to the Rubber Growers'Associatii 

 in London, and is based on the researches on vulcani^. 

 tion carried out by him for the Association over 

 period of about ten years. Altogether the volume 

 an admirable handbook, and with periodical revisit: 

 should remain the standard work on the subject. 



Die Stereoshopie im Dienste der Photometric und Pyr, 

 metric. Von Carl Pulfrich. Pp. iv-f-94. (Berhn 

 Julius Springer, 1923.) ^s. ^d. 



The physiological optical effect on which the phot' 

 metrical method made use of in the instrument 

 described in Prof. Pulf rich's book is based wa 

 described in Nature of May 12, p. 648, and May i' 

 p. 691. In one of Prof. Pulfrich's instruments a pair 



