35^ 



NATURE 



FMay 19, 192 1 



published), and Portugal as the other parts. Of the 

 fifty-eight parts projected, twenty-one were shown 

 as published when the present volume appeared ; 

 but these treat mostly of the smaller European 

 countries and of regions beyond Europe, while the 

 parts to be devoted to Germany, Austria, Hun- 

 gary, etc., not to speak of those relating to 

 France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, etc., were 

 still lacking. This suggests that the German 

 plans, in this as in other matters, have been 

 found easier than the German performance. 



For what we have received, however, let us 

 be thankful. In the present part we have a most 

 useful and authoritative summary of our geo- 

 logical knowledge of the homelands. The local 

 editor. Dr. J, W. Evans, has skilfully selected 

 his team, who have dealt individually with the 

 formations on which they have specialised, and 

 possess the fullest and latest information. There 

 is, of course, some unevenness of treatment, but 

 the general scheme is coherent throughout. The 

 classification, subdivision, and local variation of 

 each system in turn are broadly described without 

 much local detail, and illustrated by sketch-maps 

 and sections (mostly reproduced from previous 

 publications, but here conveniently assembled) 

 and by full correlation-tables. The names of the 

 authors of the chapters are sufficient guarantee 

 for the quality of the work. Prof. W. W. Watts 

 deals with the pre-Cambrian, Cambrian, and 

 Ordovician rocks of England ; Prof. J. W. 

 Gregory with the pre-Cambrian of Scotland, as 

 well as with the morphology ; Dr. A, Harker with 

 the igneous rocks, in a series of short articles 

 under the formational headings ; Dr. A. Morley 

 Davies with the morphology of England and 

 Wales, and with the Jurassic and Cretaceous 

 rocks ^of Britain, except portions of the Scottish 

 Jurassics which are described by Prof. P. G. H. 

 Boswell along with the Scottish Trias ; Prof. 

 O. T. Jones with the Silurian ; Dr. J. W. Evans 

 with the Devonian; Prof. P. F. Kendall with the 

 Carboniferous, Permian, and Quaternary de- 

 posits; Mr. L. Richardson with the Trias and 

 Rhcetic ; Mr. H. J. Osborne White with the Upper 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary ; Prof. G. A. J. Cole with 

 the whole of the Irish formations and with Irish 

 morphology; and Mr.' J. Parkinson with the 

 Channel Islands. Room is also found for a short 

 chapter on British earthquakes by Dr. C. Davison. 



It is inevitable that there will be many in- 

 dividual points in an embracing work of this kind 

 on which one reader or another will feel inclined to 

 challenge the authority; one might take excep- 

 tion, for example, to the inclusion of the Albian 

 in the Lower Cretaceous, after the unfamiliar 

 German practice, and to the unwarranted implica- 

 NO. 2690, VOL. 107] 



tion here and there that German usage is equi- 

 valent to "Continental usage." But we have na 

 space for criticism of detail, which would, indeed, 

 in most cases resolve itself merely into the state- 

 ment of difference of opinion upon minor points. 

 We commend the book to the attention of every 

 advanced student of British geology. 



G. W. L. 



Chemical Research in the Elementary 

 Laboratory. 



The Experimental Basis of Chemistry: Sugges- 

 tions for a Series of Experiments Illustrative 

 of the Fundamental Principles of Chemistry. 

 By Ida Freund. Edited by A. Hutchinson and 

 M. Beatrice Thomas. Pp. xvi-H4o8. (Cam- 

 bridge : At the University Press, 1920.) 305. net. 



MISS FREUND 'S " Study of Chemical Com- 

 position " has established for itself a posi- 

 tion in chemical literature which has many of the 

 elements of permanence, mainly because of the 

 abiding charm and freshness of the contact 

 which it gives with the great pioneers gf chemical 

 discovery. To repeat this successful adventure in 

 a laboratory manual of practical chemistry would 

 appear to be a much more formidable task ; but 

 the ten chapters on "The Experimental Basis of 

 Chemistry " which have been prepared for the 

 Press by Mr. Hutchinson and Miss Thomas 

 demonstrate the value, even in an elementary 

 laboratory, of an intimate knowledge of and love 

 for chemical literature. 



The earlier portions of the book are of a mis- 

 sionary character. The gospel preached is that 

 knowledge comes only by labour, and that the 

 hasty and inexact work of a beginner is too 

 insecure a foundation on which to base the laws 

 of chemistry. The latter must be derived from 

 the painstaking and exact work of the great 

 masters of the science. In particular a protest 

 is made against those aspects of the "heuristic'" 

 method of teaching in which the student is ex- 

 pected to discover in class laws and facts which 

 would demand months and years of work if the 

 discovery were only genuine. Even to prove the 

 correctness of these laws and facts is usually 

 beyond the ability of the worker, and all that is 

 really possible is to work out (in the words of 

 the sub-title) "a series of experiments illustrative 

 of the fundamental principles of chemistry." 



The experiments selected for this purpose in- 

 clude a considerable number which are new in 

 form or method ; but a more important feature of 

 the book is the discussion of the limits of error as 

 revealed by a comparison of the results of indi- 



