December 8, 1921] 



NATURE 



4t>3 



expected considering the fluctuations in price 

 which have occurred during- the last few months. 

 The titles of one or two important works do not 

 appear, but inquiry elicits the information that 

 they are out of print, and thus do not come within 

 the scope of the book. What at first appears to 

 be an omission of the valuable Reports on the 

 Progress of Applied Chemistry, published by the 

 Society of Chemical Industry, is evidently due to 

 the decision that the books included should be 

 obtainable through booksellers in the usual way. 

 The reason for the inclusion of a work on " Sea- 

 water Distillation " under the heading of General 

 Chemistrj' is not quite easily explained, but it is 

 probably due to a mechanical error in sorting. 

 Such slight blemishes do not, however, detract 

 from the value of the book, and considering the 

 amount of tedious work which must have been 

 incurred in its compilation, it is a matter for con- 

 gratulation that so few occur. 



Booksellers and librarians would be well advised 

 to include a copy amongst their works of every- 

 day reference, as they will find that it will save 

 them a great deal of unnecessary labour. 



The volume is well printed, and the binding 

 should stand considerable wear and tear. An 

 unusual feature is that the end papers are wholly 

 reinforced with a fine gauze or "mull," in a 

 manner which should tend to strengthen the 

 binding very materially. 



The British Science Guild has produced a 

 notable volume, and it is much to be hoped that 

 its sale will justify the expressed desire to issue 

 an annual edition. F. W. Clifford. 



The Statecraft of Ancient Greece. 



The Works of Aristotle. Translated into English 

 under the editorship of W. D. Ross. \ ol. lo, 

 Politica, by B. Jowett; Oeconomica, by E. S. 

 Forster; Atheniensium Respublica, by Sir 

 Frederic G. Kenyon. (Unpaged.) (Oxford : 

 At the Clarendon Press, 192 1.) 155. net. 



THE new volume of the Oxford Aristotle will 

 probably appeal to a wider range of readers 

 than any of the others, because it deals with 

 statecraft, theories of government, economics, 

 and constitutions. The " Politics " is no doubt the 

 best known of Aristotle's works outside the body 

 of students who have had to read the treatises 

 for university courses. This is in large part due 

 to the splendid translation made by Jowett in 

 1885. It is this translation which is reprinted in 

 the present volume, revised and brought up to 

 date by Mr. W. D. Ross, the editor of the series. 

 With it is included Mr. E. S. Forster's transla- 

 NO. 2719, VOL. 108] 



tion of "Qiconomica," an Aristotelian work which 

 is not by Aristotle, but attributed by the trans- 

 lator to a disciple who lived earlier than the 

 second century b.c. The third work in the volume 

 is the treatise on the constitution of Athens, dis- 

 covered in a papyrus in 1891. The translation 

 is that originally made by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, 

 but now revised by him and in part reconstructed 

 from fragments since discovered. 



When we read Aristotle we have to keep re- 

 minding ourselves that we live in a different world, 

 for he seems to be discussing always our own 

 modern problems. It is difficult to realise that 

 questions so vital to us were commonplace in 

 the ancient world, and we are often tempted to 

 exclaim with the Hebrew preacher, "There is 

 nothing new under the sun." It must be rather 

 a shock to those who have heard of Thales of 

 Miletus as the first of the great hne of Ionian 

 natural philosophers to be told that he once en- 

 riched himself by cornering the olive presses. 

 Certainly the moral Aristotle draws is designed to 

 show that the philosopher despises wealth, for he 

 has the opportunity of acquiring great riches if 

 he chooses to use his wisdom for a worldly end. 

 The other story of the man of Sicily, presumablv 

 a banker, who used the money deposited with 

 him to buy up the iron-ore, and made a profit for 

 himself of more than 200 per cent., has a still 

 more curious moral. The man was expelled from 

 Syracuse as a dangerous person who might get 

 too rich, but he was. allowed to take his money 

 with him ! Aristotle's moral is that the State 

 would do well to take example from him. Even 

 " the Great Illusion " was exposed in the ancient 

 world, and produced, in one instance at least, 

 more effect than Mr. Norman Angell has pro- 

 duced in our generation. We are told that " Eubu- 

 lus, when Autophradates was going to besiege 

 Atarneus, told him to consider how long the 

 operation would take, and then reckon up the 

 cost which would be incurred in the time. ' For, ' 

 said he, ' I am willing for a smaller sum than 

 that to leave Atarneus at once. ' These words of 

 Eubulus made an impression on Autophradates, 

 and he desisted from the siege." 



H. W. C. 



Our Bookshelf. 



The Outline of Science: A Plain Storv Simply 



Told. Edited by Prof. J. Arthur Thomson. 



Pp. ii + 40. (London: G. Newnes, Ltd., n.d.) 



IS. 2d. net. 



From its title this work (which is to be completed 



in about tw^enty parts) claims no more than to 



give an outline of science. Astronomy occupies 



