720 



NA TURE 



[Novi 



923 



The New Natural History: Being the Twenty-Fifth 

 Robert Boyle Lecture delivered before the Junior 

 Scientific Club of the University of Oxford on ()th June. 

 i92,v Hy Prof. J. Arthur Thomson, Pp. 19. 

 (Umdon : Oxford University Press, 1923.) is. net. 



In tliis refreshing and slimuhiting address Prof, J. 

 Arthur Thomson pleads for the retention of the term 

 natural history as a designation for the study of the 

 habits and surroundings of animals and their inter- 

 relations with one another — the new natural history — 

 and for its more honourable recognition as a well- 

 defmed and integral department of biological science. 



Out of the ashes of the old all-embracing science of 

 natural history, the author traces the growth of the 

 new science under the influence of various factors which 

 have moulded its development. Chief among these is 

 the recognition and appreciation of the great fact of 

 the inter-relations of living organisms in the web of 

 life and the external linkages between animals or 

 animals and plants — the central Darwinian idea of the 

 correlation of organisms. This has given direction and 

 stimulus to the study of natural history and forms one 

 of the guiding principles of the new science. No less 

 important is the new and more precise scientific out- 

 look on the question of animal behaviour, due to the 

 work of Lord Avebury, Romanes, and especially Lloyd 

 Morgan, who laid the firm foundations of an experi- 

 mental comparative psychology, and to Loeb, who has 

 done so much to develop the question on the physio- 

 logical side. From the somewhat chaotic mixture of 

 anthropomorphism and automatism there has emerged 

 a precise science that distinguishes instinctive from 

 intelligent behaviour and both from tropisms and 

 forced movements. 



A third factor which has given precision to the ob- 

 servations of the field naturalist and a new significance 

 to his facts is the idea of evolution. With this as a 

 working hypothesis the student of natural history 

 has been stimulated to discover how a particular 

 structure or function is fitted to a particular situation, 

 and the study of adaptations has developed into an 

 important and exact science. 



The vision of the new natural history as a study of 

 ** animal personalities at various levels, as creatures 

 with mental aspects, as agents that seek after well- 

 being and share in their own further evolution, as 

 threads in a quivering web of life " is indeed an in- 

 spiring one. Prof. Thomson justifies his plea, and the 

 recognition which he asks for cannot be long withheld. 



Alternating Current Electrical Engineering. By W. T. 

 Maccall. Pp. viii + 493. (London: University 

 Tutorial Press, Ltd., 1923.) 155. 



A FAIRLY complete resume of practical alternating 

 current theory is given in this work. In order to keep 

 the subject matter within the limits of one volume the 

 explanations have to be made very concise. It is 

 therefore more suitable as a class book than for reading 

 by the private student. It covers a ver)'^ wide field. 

 The theory is now beginning to crystallise, and so 

 numerical examples have been introduced which will 

 enable the student to test the thoroughness of his 

 knowledge. 



The book is on the whole well written. The author 



NO. 2820, VOL. I 12] 



sometimes gives results as if the>' obviously folio, 

 from the given premisses ; for example, in descril 

 how two induction motors are connected in cascade . 

 says that the supply maias are connected to the stator 

 of one motor and its rotor is used to suppiv jMtwrr to 

 the second stator. '* The result is that th< 

 speed of the combination is that of a i 

 number of poles is equal to the sum of the numb< 

 poles of the two motors." This is a liard sayi:.^, 

 and we hope few readers will accept it without 

 trying to make up some proof for themselves. If 

 the author made the distinction bett^'een " aver 

 power " and " instantaneous power " clearer 

 proofs of the two and three wattmeter metK 

 would be greatly improved. At the foot of pag< 

 a reference is made to the instantaneous value 

 the average power, A vector proof is given of the 

 three-voltmeter method of measuring power, and it i-; 

 stated that it should not be used unl( 

 are nearly sine shaped. The ordinar\ 

 shows at once that it b true, however distorted ■ 

 wave forms may be. The Behrend definition of • 

 leakage factor of an induction motor is given, and 

 of the methods described of determining its valu' 

 by Behn-Eschenburg's formula, which applies t 

 totally different definition of leakage factor. 



Popular Fallacies Explained and Corrected {mth C ,.; ..-^j 

 References to Authorities). By A. S. E. Ackermann. 

 Third edition. Pp. xvi + 984. (London: The Old 

 Westminster Press, 1923.) 12s. 6d. net. 



To ever)' one who has made a special study of anv 

 particular branch of human knowledge there must, at 

 some time or another, have come a feeling of surjn 

 at the large number of errors which exist in the popi: r 

 mind regarding his own, and therefore presumai i 

 every other, subject. The prenous editions of ti.;- 

 book have proved of immense value in helping to corn t 

 the many errors which still persist in spite of im- 

 progress of popular education and the many de\ i- • > 

 now used for the dissemination of accurate informati« 

 A ver)' real welcome is, therefore, assured for this, t 

 third edition, which has been so extended in sc : 

 that it has become almost a new work. The nuni' 

 of fallacies dealt with has been increased from 46c • 

 1350, and these cover practically ever>' branch 

 human activity. Indeed, so wide is the field cover 

 that a reviewer may be pardoned for pajing partici 

 attention to those sections by which he may expect 

 be best able to judge of the value of the whole. 

 gineering, general science, and astronomy receive t ! 

 full share of attention at the author's hands — as mi_ 

 indeed, be expected from one whose quahfication- 

 particularly in the first-named subject — and a 1 

 perusal of these sections has abundantly demonstr.; 

 the painstaking accuracy of the author's work. 

 Sir Richard Gregorj* points out in an apprecia: 

 introduction, a valuable feature of the book is 

 constructive work which it does in giving the truti. 

 any matter concerning which an error is exposed. In 

 conclusion it should be mentioned that the book i- 

 written in an eminently readable style, not unenliveiir: 

 with touches of genuine humour. It is, moreover, \\\\l 

 printed and may be cordially recommended as a uselul 

 addition to the Hbrarj' of general knowledge. 



