5^^ 



NATURE 



[June 23, 1921 



agent. It brought its own Nemesis by ultimately 

 destroying the German moral. 



The story of the organisation of the chemical 

 and medical services of the war, as regards 

 France, is the main theme of Prof. Moureu's 

 book. He explains in detail how the whole pro- 

 cedure was gradually systematised. Nothing is 

 more remarkable than the rapidity with \vhich the 

 chemical and medical strength of the nation was 

 enlisted and co-ordinated. France is pre-eminently 

 a logical nation, and her mental habitudes served 

 her admirably, and, indeed, saved her in the crisis 

 which had well-nigh overwhelmed her. 



As regards her chemists, practically every name 

 of note in the French chemical world is to be 

 found in the lists furnished by Prof. Moureu. From 

 first to last 268 French chemists were employed 

 in the chemical services of the war. Thirteen of 

 the laboraforics in Paris were wholly concerned 

 with the study of counter-aggessives alone. But 

 the work of reprisals extended far beyond counter- 

 aggressives. The services of the chemists were 

 concerned with metallurgy, the production of 

 alloys, the manufacture of explosives, aeronautics, 

 camouflage, supply, sanitation, alimentation, 

 medicaments^ photographic chemicals, radio-active 

 substances, and a host of minor matters, such as 

 the recovery of solvents, optical glass, potash, 

 platinum, etc. France, like this country, had 

 gradually allowed Germany to obtain control of 

 the manufacture of many articles as essential in 

 war as in peace. Their production by the Allies 

 had to be suddenly improvised. In some cases 

 little or nothing was known concerning the details 

 of their manufacture, and study and experiment 

 were needed before their preparation on the large 

 scale could be attempted. 



But when the German onslaught had spent itself 

 at the Marne France gained a breathing time, 

 and she rapidly made up her leeway. Her suc- 

 cess will permanently benefit her industry. She 

 has consolidated the manufacture of certain 

 articles for which, like us, she was formerly wholly 

 dependent on Germany, and is now in a position 

 to export them — a consummation which she owes, 

 in great measure, to the patriotism and self- 

 sacrifice of her chemists. 



Prof. Moureu has conferred a benefit on his 

 country by the compilation of this admirable work. 

 The lessons it conveys are of profound importance 

 to the national well-being. So far we have had 

 nothing exactly like it in this country. But 

 England has a no less thrilling story to tell. And 

 It should be told quickly, lest we forget. Prof. 

 Moureu's book affords an example of how to 

 tell it. T. E. Thorpe. 



NO. 2695, VOL. 107] 



Sport and Administration in Central Africa. 



The Backbone of Africa: A Record of Travel 

 during the Great War, with Some Suggestions 

 for Administrative Reform. By Sir Alfred 

 Sharpe, Pp. 232. (London : H. F. and G. 

 Witherby, 192 1.) 165. net. 



SIR ALFRED SHARPE first entered East 

 Africa for the purpose of big-game shooting 

 in about 1886. He was on long leave just then 

 from a magistracy in Fiji. In 1887 he joined 

 Lugard at the north end of Lake Nyasa, Lugard 

 being engaged in a desperate fight with the Arab 

 slave-traders established to the north-west of the 

 Nyasa lake. In 1888 Sharpe was wounded in this 

 bitter struggle, and in 1889 he returned and 

 became a British Vice-Consul in that region. In 

 1891 he was made a Consul under the present 

 writer's Commissionership, and served with him 

 in what was then called " British Central Africa '* 

 until Johnston's transference to Tunis in 1897. 

 .Afterwards Sharpe became Governor of Nyasa- 

 land, and remained in that position until his retire- 

 ment after the Coronation of King George m 

 191 1'. He was given a prominent part in the 

 Coronation procession. 



In 1912, unable to abate his interest in Africa^ 

 Sir Alfred Sharpe returned there as a private 

 traveller and an adviser of highly placed trading 

 companies. In this capacity, and still more as just 

 one athirst for the solving of African secrets in 

 fauna, flora, geography, and ethnology, he pene- 

 trated and repenetrated the eastern half of Africa 

 from the southernmost parts of Portuguese East 

 Africa to the Sudan and Egypt in the years 

 between 1912 and 1917. He had hoped to serve 

 strenuously in our wars with Germany during much 

 of that period, but just because he so singularly 

 knew East Africa, South-east Africa, Uganda, and 

 Tanganyika, any British commission was with- 

 held from him by Lord Kitchener ; and his war 

 service, for which he was recently rewarded, 

 was with the Belgian armies. Since 1918 he has 

 been making a special study of Liberia and con- 

 tiguous regions in West Africa. 



The book here reviewed is of great interest 

 because it is so truthful. Sir Alfred Sharpe has 

 no object to serve other than that of telling the 

 truth about Africa, whether it suits one's theories 

 or not. Whilst the material of the present work 

 was being put together he was already lecturing 

 to the Royal Geographical Society on Liberia, in 

 the most forested part of West Africa. 



For the naturalist, the best parts of the book 

 under review are the statements about elephants 

 (Sir Alfred, though never an offender against big- 



