December 29, 1910] 



NATURE 



269 



book, has been largely superseded by the more rapid 

 and trustworthy process ot Drown. The gravimetric 

 methods described for manganese and phosphorus 

 are cumbersome. In the case of the former, the 

 importance of neutralising the acid solution of ferric 

 ' and manganese chlorides at a boiling temperature 

 is wrongly insisted upon, and the washing of the 

 voluminous basic ferric acetate precipitate should have 

 been avoided. 



Manganese furnishes one of the cases in which 

 alternative volumetric methods are described, the first 

 of which is undoubtedly more accurate than the 

 gravimevric method as carried out by the author. An 

 alternative process, preferably volumetric, for the de- 

 termination of phosphorus, would have materially 

 increased the value of the book. The other elements, 

 and particularly the most important one (carbon), are 

 dealt with in a very satisfactory manner. F. I. 



the Potter's Craft. A Practical Guide for the Studio 

 and Workshop. By F. Binns. Pp. 171. (London : 

 Constable and Co., Ltd., 19 10.) Price 6s. net. 



The preface leads to great expectations, for the author 

 says : — " This book is the outcome of an experience 

 extending over a period of thirty-six years. Twenty 

 years ago it would have been impossible for the science 

 of ceramics was not then born." The book itself is, 

 however, very disappointing, and cannot be con- 

 sidered as a serious contribution to ceramic science. 

 It is written apparently for the amateur potter; it 

 certainly would not be of use to anyone else, and there 

 is nothing in it that was not known twenty years 

 and more ago. 



Much of the book is taken up with photographs and 

 descriptions of two well-known processes, viz., 

 "mould-making" and "throwing." These could be 

 much better learnt and understood by a visit to a 

 pottery ; certainly no one will ever learn to be a crafts- 

 man by studying' the book. When one knows the time 

 it takes for a professional potter to learn to throw 

 even simple small pieces to a given size, it seems 

 j almost ludicrous to write as the author does of an 

 ! amateur making vases two or three feet high by doing 

 i the work in sections. The chapter on glazes and 

 j glazing can lead to nothing but disappointment. 

 i It is hard to believe that the author has had 

 great practical experience when we see him trving 

 1 to deal with "the defects of glazes" in about two 

 I pages. For example, practical men know what a 

 difficult problem " the pinholing of glazes " is, and 

 j how many and varied are the causes which produce 

 jit. Mr. IBinns devotes two lines to it !—" Pinholes 

 I appear in the glaze when cool. Too rapid cooling is 

 i the cause." It is difficult to write with patience of 

 I this kind of treatment, particularlv when we remem- 

 } ber the preface. 



Heroes of the Elizabethan Age. Stirring Records of 

 1 the Intrepid Bravery and Boundless Resource of the 

 Men of Queen Elizabeth's Reign. By E. Gilliat. 

 (London : Seeley and Co., Ltd., 191 1.) Price 5s. 

 The stout-hearted men who sailed the seas in the days 

 I of England's awakening were indeed heroes. Their 

 I charts were made with the degrees of longitude at 

 \ different latitudes of equal length ; they were in- 

 j accurate even as regards the shores of 'the English 

 j Channel, for it is one of the claims to renown of John 

 i Davis that he surveyed the Channel coasts in addition 

 1 to those of the Arctic, of Magellan Straits, and of the 

 Scilly Isles. They dared to cross the Atlantic in ten- 

 ton vessels, for the Squirrel, in which Sir Humphrey 

 Gilbert was lost, was of this size; thev took fiv'e 

 I rnonths on the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 ' "^ chances were that disease alone would kill off a 

 NO. 2148, VOL. 85] 



large proportion of the crew of every vessel which 

 went on a protracted voyage. 



Englishmen fitted out expedition after expedition ; 

 many times for no return, sometimes for a return of 

 hundreds per cent, on their outlay, for the capture 

 of one rich carrack might suffice to pay the cost of 

 a large expedition. In this atmosphere Hawkins 

 began the slave trade. Sir Richard Grenville fought his 

 good fight off the .Azores, and Howard and his cap- 

 tains harassed the .\rmada and made its efforts fruit- 

 less. In this spirit Sidney died at Zutphen. These 

 heroic efforts form part of the great struggle for Pro- 

 testantism which lies at the background of the life- 

 story of the thirteen heroes as depicted in this splendid 

 gift-book by a sometime master at Harrow School. 

 Well illustrated and produced, this book will delight 

 the heart of most boys and many girls, even those of 

 somewhat mature age. B. C. W. 



International Language and Science. Considerations 

 on the Introduction of an International Language 

 into Science. Bv Profs. L. Couturat, O. Jespersen, 

 R. Lorenz, W. Ostwald, and L. Pfaundler. Trans- 

 lated bv Prof. F. G. Donnan. Pp. ix + 87. (Lon- 

 don : Constable and Co., Ltd., 1910.) Price 2s, 

 net. 

 Internaciona Matematikal Lexiko en Ido, Germana 

 Angla, Franca e Italiana. by Dr. Louis Couturat. 

 Pp. 36. (Jena : Gustav Fischer, 1910.) Price 1.50 

 marks. 

 The first of these books is an English edition of a 

 work the German edition of which was reviewed in 

 Nature for August 19, 1909. The translator is Prof. 

 F. G. Donnan, of Liverpool University. The "Inter- 

 naciona Matematikal Lexiko," by Dr. Louis Couturat, 

 contains all the technical terms commonly used in 

 mathematics. The language of the International 

 Commission constitutes in many respects a great ad- 

 vance on its predecessors. If there is one feature that 

 possibly calls for improvement, it is that the new 

 language is not based on Latin as much as it might 

 be, in view of the fact that Latin is taught in schools 

 in even' civilised country. By adopting the Latin 

 vocabulary free from all unnecessary grammatical 

 technicalities, the need of a new language could have 

 largely been obviated. It is true that a large propor- 

 tion of the words are taken from Latin, but there are 

 exceptions, such as " lasta " for ultimate, " sam- 

 centra, sam-foka," and so forth, for concentric and 

 confocal, " ringo " for annulus, and "helpanta" for 

 auxiliary. 



The Presentation of Reality. By Dr. Helen 

 Wodehouse. Pp. x+163. (Cambridge: University 

 Press, 1910.) Price 3s. net. 



In this little book Dr. Wodehouse (who is lecturer in 

 philosophy in the Universitj- of Birmingham) attempts 

 a description of knowledge from the point of view of 

 a philosophical psychology. She avoids metaphysics 

 as far as possible, but maintains that in all cognitive 

 experience we come into immediate contact with ob- 

 jective realit\-, of the existence of which we have in 

 experience an irrefutable witness, and that on all levels 

 of cognition, sensuous or intellectual, this happens in 

 the same way, namely, by the presentation of an object 

 to a subject. 



The author's metaphysical inclinations seem to be 

 towards the school of Reid, while among recent writers 

 her affinities are with Dr. James Ward. Dr. G. F. 

 Stout, and Dr. A. Meinong. Bradley on the one hand, 

 and James on the other, come in for acute criticism. 

 Dr. Wodehouse believing strongly — as against the 

 great pragmatist — that reality does not wait for our 

 thinking to make it, though the discovery- of realitv 

 does ; that some discoveries can be made, and that it 



