June 9, 1921] 



NATURE 



455 



Our Bookshelf. 



Report of the Proceedings of the Third Entomo- 

 logical Meeting held at Pusa on the 3rd to 

 i^th February, 1919. Edited by T. Bainbrigge 

 Fletcher. (In three volumes.) Vol. i., pp. 

 xii + 417 + 69 plates. Vol. ii,, pp. vi + 4i8-835+' 

 70-129 plates. Vol. iii., pp. vi + 836-1 137 + 

 130-182 plates. (Calcutta : Superintendent 

 Government Printing, India, 1920.) Rs. 17 

 8 annas (3 vols.). 

 This bulky report is a record of thirteen days' 

 deliberations given to the discussion of almost 

 •every aspect of entomology which is likely to 

 concern the Indian Empire. During the congress 

 ninety-two papers were read, and these are 

 printed in the three volumes before us, together 

 with a verbatim report of the discussions which 

 were the outcome of these papers. A good deal 

 of the information has already been published 

 elsewhere, but it is doubtless convenient to have 

 it gathered together and made available within 

 the compass of a single publication. It is grati- 

 fying to note that the meetings were attended 

 by forty-six professional entomologists and other 

 officials, a fact which indicates the importance 

 which this aspect of zoology has attained in the 

 East. It is also pleasing to find an instance 

 where a Government Department has been suffi- 

 ciently generous to allow the publication of so 

 detailed and profusely illustrated a series of 

 volumes during these times of financial stress. 



The greater number of the papers directly con- 

 cern the economic entomologist, and perhaps the 

 two most important are those entitled " Borers 

 in Sugar Cane, Rice, etc.," and "Stored Grain 

 Pests," which are written conjointly by Messrs. 

 T. B. Fletcher and C. C. Ghosh. The last-men- 

 tioned paper might well be read by all interested 

 in the reports of the Grain Pests Committee of the 

 Royal Society. A paper by Capt. F. de Mello on 

 "The Trichonymphid Parasites of Some Indian 

 Termites " is of general biological interest, and 

 the author brings to light several new forms of 

 these remarkable Protozoa. Major Fraser writes 

 on certain night-flying dragonflies — a habit 

 scarcely suspected among such insects. Mr. 

 A. W. Slater contributes a paper on the prepara- 

 tion and reproduction of scientific illustrations, 

 and Mr. C. F. C. Beeson details a method of 

 subject-indexing entomological literature. These 

 few examples fail to do any justice to the wealth 

 of information embodied in this report, but they 

 will perhaps serve to indicate the wide range of 

 subjects which came up for discussion. The 

 volumes are clearly printed and illustrated, 

 and reflect great credit upon all concerned in 

 their production. A. D. Imms. 



Instinct in Man : A Contribution to the Psychology 

 of Education. By Dr. J. Drever. Second edi- 

 tion. Pp. X -I- 293. (Cambridge : At the Uni- 

 versity Press, 192 1.) I05. 6d. net. 

 Dr. Drever's important book on "Instinct in 

 Man," which was reviewed in Nature of Jan- 

 NO. 2693, VOL. 107] 



uary 31, 1918, is enriched in this second edition 

 with an appendix which will be read with great 

 interest by all who have followed the controversy 

 over the nature of the human instincts and their 

 relation to the emotions. The chapter is entitled 

 "The Emotional Phase of Affective Experience." 



There are two divergent views concerning the 

 place the instincts occupy in the psychology of 

 man, though the facts are not in dispute. What 

 is in question is rather a principle of classification, 

 which at times may seem no more than a matter 

 of nomenclature. According to one view, the 

 human instincts are a kind of action-patterns, or 

 it may be chains of actions, automatically or even 

 mechanically set in motion, similar in nature to the 

 nest-building instincts of birds. In this view the 

 human instincts are few in number, most of them 

 probably vestiges, and all comparatively unimpor- 

 tant ; but the affective or emotional side of ex- 

 perience becomes important. This is not limited 

 to specific responses, but built up into " senti- 

 ments," which are affective systems and the 

 foundations of human character. 



The other view is that the whole basis of human 

 experience is instinctive, and that the instincts are 

 distinguishable and may be enumerated ; but they 

 are not partial and intermittent; rather they are 

 pervasive and comprehensive. Each instinct is 

 bound up with a specific emotion and only func- 

 tions in connection with it, and these primary 

 emotions, with their instincts, are practically con- 

 stitutive of human nature. 



Between these two views Dr. Drever does not 

 exactly steer a middle course — he is too original 

 to be content with that — but he does in his criti- 

 cism try to conserve what is valuable in each and 

 reject what is untenable. H. W^. C. 



Energetique Generale. By Dr. Felix Michaud. 

 Pp. vii-i-229. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars et Cie, 

 192 1.) 10 francs. 



" Energetics " deals with the relations between 

 the various forms of energy according to a uni- 

 form plan. Each form is assumed to be repre- 

 sentable as a product of two factors^ — an "ex- 

 tensity" or "capacity" (x), and an "intensity" 

 (X), related by the equation d\Jldx = X. In the 

 case of heat the extensity is the entropy, Q/T, and 

 the intensity the temperature, T. General laws are 

 then reached connecting U, X, and x. 



The problems considered in the present treatise 

 are most varied ; they include mechanics, elec- 

 tricity, heat, and chemistry. The applications of 

 the general principles are very clearly and ele- 

 gantly presented, and the treatment, which is 

 mathematical, is strictly logical. The question 

 arises as to whether thermodynamics, which is a 

 branch of "energetics," according to the ex- 

 ponents of the latter, is best considered in this 

 somewhat formal manner. Boltzmann and Planck 

 have emphasised the essential distinction between 

 heat and the other forms of energy, but the theory 

 of probabilities seems to have no place in the 

 scheme of "energetics." J. R. P. 



