November io, 1921] 



NATURE 



Z7>1 



told. Schwartes's book, "Die Technik im Welt- 

 kriege," throws some light on the subject from 

 the German side, and we have references to it 

 in such works as Ludendorff's "War Memories." 

 The report of the Hartley mission to the German 

 chemical factories in the occupied zone, and Gen. 

 Hartley's report to the British Association, taught 

 us much and revealed the intimate association of 

 the all-powerful I.G. with the German War De- 

 partment. Major Lefebure, in the work under 

 review, has undoubtedly made the most consider- 

 able contribution to the history of chemical war- 

 fare which has yet appeared. He has described 

 its rise, the nature of the various lethal substances 

 employed, the modes of protection, the efforts of 

 the Allies to retaliate, the successive attempts to 

 secure the initiative, and chemical warfare organ- 

 isation in Germany, in this country, and in 

 America. He has said comparatively little respect- 

 ing France, but its storv has been admirably told 

 by Prof. Moureu in his "La Chimie et la Guerre," 

 already noticed in these columns. 



The weakest point of Major Lefebure 's book is 

 its constructive policy. He proposes to counter 

 the German menace by breaking down the German 

 monopoly in the manufacture of synthetic dye- 

 stuffs. This, he says, can be done only by what 

 he calls " a redistribution of organic chemical 

 forces. This, indeed, is the one solid chemical 

 disarmament measure which can and must be 

 brought about." But how? By interfering with 

 "the play of ordinary economic laws." Who is 

 to interfere? The League of Nations. Surely 

 this is not even a counsel of perfection. Nobody, 

 however powerful, can long resist the play of 

 ordinary economic laws. As somebody has ob- 

 served, the result would be that the economic laws 

 would come back at you like a punch-ball. 



T. E. Thorpe. 



Alfred Newton, Ornithologist. 

 Li/e 0/ Alfred Newton, Professor of Comparative 

 Anatomy, Cambridge University, 1866-1907. 

 By A. F. R. WoUaston. With a preface by 

 Sir Archibald Geikie. Pp. xv-f-332. (London: 

 John Murray, 1921.) 185. net. 



DURING the fourteen years that have elapsed 

 since the death of Prof. Newton many o'f 

 the older members of his circle who had eagerly 

 anticipated the perusal of this volume have passed 

 away, but every British ornithologist will welcome 

 an account of one who for half a century was the 

 leading exponent of the science in this country — 

 one, too, whose remarkable influence in all matters 

 relating to the study of bird-life can be fully 

 realised and appreciated only by those who had the 

 NO. 2715, VOL. 108] 



good fortune to participate in his friendship. As 

 Prof. Newton kept voluminous journals and seldom 

 destroyed a letter, the work, as Sir Archibald 

 Geikie points out in his preface, has been given 

 largely the character of an autobiography. With 

 this wealth of material at his disposal, it is greatly 

 - to be regretted that the author has found it 

 necessary, owing to the increased costs of publica- 

 tion, to reduce the volume by nearly half its bulk, 

 and we feel certain that a bolder policy in this 

 respect would have entailed no loss. Mr. 

 Wollaston, however, has made a careful selection 

 of his material, and has succeeded in producing a 

 vivid picture of the varied activities and interests 

 of a life of such fullness as is vouchsafed to but 

 few, drawn from the professor's own letters and 

 journals, and from the correspondence and recol- 

 lections of those who were intimately associated 

 with him. 



Students of the history of zoology in this 

 country will find much new information in the 

 chapters dealing with the foundation, in Newton's 

 rooms at Cambridge in 1858, of the British Orni- 

 thologists' Union and its journal. The Ibis, and 

 with the part played by Newton in the early pro- 

 mulgation of the doctrines of Darwin and Wallace. 



Much may be learned from the glimpses that 

 are given us of Newton's methods of work and 

 of the extraordinary pains he took to ensure that 

 perfect accuracy, even in the smallest details, 

 which characterises everything that he published, 

 and renders it as perfect as human effort could 

 make it at the time. His greatest work, the " Dic- 

 tionary of Birds," displays research and scholar- 

 ship unparalleled in ornithological literature, and 

 must ever remain one of the classics of the science. 

 Newton's desire for completeness prevented the 

 publication of works on the great auk or gare- 

 fowl, and the history of the great bustard in 

 Britain, for which he had been collecting material 

 for many years. It is to be hoped that the atten- 

 tion now directed to this vast store of material may 

 lead to its speedy editing and publication. 



Space will only permit of a reference to the 

 character-sketch contributed by Dr. F. H. H. 

 Guillemard. Here we see the professor in his 

 study in the Old Lodge at Magdalene — "the nest 

 in which The Ibis was fledged " — where every 

 Sunday evening he was at home to any member 

 of the university wTio was interested in zoology. 

 It was here, rather than in the lecture room, that 

 his influence on zoological thought at Cambridge 

 was exerted. To quote the apt remark of Sir A. 

 Shiplev, "Newton's Sunday evenings saved 

 zoology as the science of living animals in Cam- 

 bridge." W. E. C. 



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