494. 



NATtrM 



[May 5, L92.1 



is also a glossary which, like much of the work, 

 nfceds revision — e.^, "palisade tissue" is defined 

 as the "water-conducting region of plant stems," 

 and "chloroplasts " as "chlorophyll cells." \Vith 

 one, of his dicta we heartily agree : "Since ecology 

 and physiology are really complementary, neither 

 can be adequately studied without the other." :The' 

 volume includes a number of illustrations from 

 photographs, many of which are exceedingly good 

 and very well reproduced. 



An H istorical Catalogue of Science. 



Bibliotheca Chemico-mathematica. Compiled and 

 annotated by H. Z, and H. C. S. Vol. i. 

 Pp. xii + 428 + plates. Vol. ii. Pp. 535 + plates. 

 (London: Henry Sotheran and Co., 1921.) 

 3Z. 35. net. 



THE mental stimulus to be gained by the study 

 of the historical development of science is 

 of much greater value than is sometimes sup- 

 posed. He who follows, from the first vague 

 beginnings, the efforts of many workers in various 

 lands, leading at length to some great discovery, 

 whether of practical or of theoretical significance, 

 will be apt to ask himself the question : " Could 

 not I also do something to help forward human 

 knowledge? " 



In this sale catalogue of more than 17,000 books 

 on mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, 

 engineering, meteorology, and allied subjects 

 there is ample opportunity for anyone to pick out 

 books relating to his own special department. The 

 search is rendered easy by a subject index. 



The volumes comprise two catalogues arranged 

 according to authors' names, together with a sup- 

 plement, and give the date of publication and 

 present price of each book. The whole work is due 

 to Heinrich Zeitlinger, of Linz, and it is said to 

 contain nearly all the standard works on the sub- 

 jects catalogued, and most of the earlier works of 

 historical importance. 



The most striking features of the catalogue are 

 the fascinating illustrations. They are prepared 

 by a photographic process, and give excellent 

 facsimile representations of title-pages, wood- 

 cuts, diagrams, and letterpress taken from more 

 than one hundred books celebrated either for their 

 quaintness or for having announced new dis- 

 coveries of far-reaching importance. Thus there 

 is a reproduction, on a reduced scale, of Galileo's 

 famous proposition that a body starting from rest 

 under uniform acceleration moves distances pro- 

 portional to the square of the time. This is 

 photographed from the first edition of his "Dis- 

 corsi e Dimostrazioni Matematichi," published at 

 NO. 2688, VOL. 107] 



Leyden in 1638. Another facsimile is taken Iron? 

 Huygens's "Trait6 de la Lumifere,." , published in 

 1 690, in , which he deduced the equality of the 

 angles of incidence and reflection from, the wave 

 theory of light. There are also beautiful repro- 

 ductions from Kepjer's "Dioptrice," published. in 

 161 1. The selected pages discuss the refraction 

 of light and the formation of images by convex 

 lenses. 



Some pages from ., "De Beghinselen. der 

 Weeghconst," by Simon Stevinus, of Bruges, 

 published in 1586, contain propositions on the 

 inclined plane (triangle of forces), levers, and laVs 

 of floating bodies. .A.mong other curious illustra- 

 tions, we find an early velocipede from a book by 

 Ovenden, dated 1774, and an early railway train, 

 in which stage coaches, complete with driver^ 

 guard with coach-horn, and luggage on the roof, 

 are being drawn by a quaint locomotive with a 

 single rope. 



Another illustration shows a very early electric 

 telegraph devised in 1816 by Sir Francis Ronalds. 

 The invention was offered to the Admiralty, but 

 Sir Francis was officially answered that, now the 

 French War was over, telegraphs of any kind were 

 totally unnecessary, and that no other method of 

 signalling than the semaphore then in use would 

 be adopted. 



From " Mathematicall Magick," by Bishop 

 Wilkins (1648), are given some illustrations 

 of perpetual motion. As it is obvious that the 

 machines could not work, we wonder whether the 

 Bishop, who was the first secretary to the Royal 

 Society, ever tried the experiments ! 



These few examples will show that the illustra- 

 tions are mainly selected to show great discoveries 

 in their early stages. 



Maps and Map-reading. 



(i) Topographic Maps and Sketch Mapping. By 

 Prof. J. K. Finch. Pp. xi -1-175. (New York: 

 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd., 1920.) 135. 6d. net. 



(2) Ordnance Survey Maps: Their Meaning and 

 Use. With Descriptions of Typical i-in. 

 Sheets. By Dr. Marion I. Newbigin. Second 

 edition. Pp. 128. (Edinburgh : W. and A. K. 

 Johnston, Ltd. ; London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1920.)- 2s. net. 



(3) Notes on Geological Map-reading. By A. 

 Harker. Pp. 64. (Cambridge : W. Heffer and 

 Sons, Ltd., 1920.) 3s. 6d. net. 



(i) A S the author states in his preface, this 

 jCx. book was the outcome of the demand for 

 instruction in map-reading and field sketching 5 



