276 



NATURE 



[October 28, 1920 



respect to Hritish and foreign patent law and prac- 

 tice. The foreign section is very comprehensive 

 - — Bechuanaland and Eritrea, both of which have, 

 we believe, issued Patent Ordinances, are the only 

 countries we miss — though it would have been 

 convenient if information had been given of the 

 method of making an application in some of the 

 smaller States that have no separate Patent Office. 

 A very useful feature is the information given 

 indicating the countries in which inventions relat- 

 ing to particular subjects should be patented. This 

 might well be amplified in a later edition, espe- 

 cially with reference to the smaller States. Mr. 

 Thompson does not refer to Luxembourg's with- 

 drawal from the German Customs Union in 

 December, 1918, but this is important, since, in 

 consequence, patents granted there will presum- 

 ably no longer be dependent on the corresponding 

 patents taken out in Germany. Rumania, too, 

 should have been included amongst those adhering 

 to the International Convention. The British law 

 is very well presented, though we have noticed a 

 few errors in the statutory time limits allowed for 

 accepting and sealing specifications. The state- 

 ment on p. 14 that unless a complete specification 

 is accepted within the statutory period it becomes 

 public property is obviously an oversight, as such 

 a specification is not published and remains secret. 

 The book, however, is generally accurate, and 

 should prove a very valuable and trustworthy 

 guide to would-be patentees. 



The Statesman's Year Book. Statistical and His- 

 torical Annual of the States of the World for 

 1920. Edited by Sir J. Scott Keltic and Dr. 

 M. Epstein. Fifty-seventh annual publication. 

 Pp. xliv+ 1494. (London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1920.) Price 20s. net. 



The authors of this ever-welcome annual have 

 conquered many difficulties in their survey of the 

 world as it appeared in May, 1920. The maps 

 indicate the new boundaries of South-eastern 

 Europe and the Near East, and the new divisions 

 of the former German colonies Togo, Kamerun, 

 and German East Africa. In the text, however, 

 the partitions of these ex-German territories has 

 not been worked out. The difficulties of com- 

 pilation are illustrated by the treatment of Czecho- 

 slovakia and Yugo-Slavia. In the first case an 

 attempt has been made to bring together the 

 statistics relative to the former Austrian and the 

 former Hungarian lands, while in the second in- 

 stance full details are given for Serbia only. 



Mining statistics for Gerrnany chiefly refer to 

 1913; there is no estimate of the probable vield 

 of the new Germany. Hungary is incorrectly 

 stated to have a common boundary with Germany ; 

 statistics for Croatia and Slavonia are included 

 under Hungary, although a paragraph, which 

 might be missed, correctly says that this area 

 forms part of Yugo-Slavia. The list of Hun- 

 garian towns is apt to be misleading, since .^rad 

 and Temesvar have been omitted, as they are 

 correctly included among the Rumanian towns, 

 NO. 2661, VOL. 106] 



while Kolozsvar (Cluj), Nagyszeben (Sibiu), and 

 Brasso (Brasov) appear in both lists. In the case 

 of Spitsbergen it is not clearly stated that the 

 non-Norwegian e.states in Spitsbergen are not in- 

 cluded under the sovereignty of Norway, but are 

 extra-territorial. 



These points indicate the necessarily tentative 

 character of much of this new information. The 

 bulk of the volume maintains the high standard 

 of previous issues. 



The Extra Pharmacopoeia of Martindale and 

 IVestcott. Revised by Dr. W. Harrison 

 Martindale and Dr. W. Wynn Westcott. 

 Seventeenth edition. (In two volumes.) Vol. i., 

 pp. xxxix-fiii5. (London: H. K. Lewis and 

 Co., Ltd., 1920.) Price 27s. net. 



Official pharmacopoeias are necessarily restricted 

 in their scope, and there are many drugs and other 

 articles used in medicine w'hich for good reasons 

 find no place in them. Hence there is a recog- 

 nised need for such supplementary books as the 

 "Extra Pharmacopceia," \vhich deal more freely 

 than the official works do with medicinal prepara- 

 tions, appliances, new methods, and so forth. The 

 fact that Martindale and Westcott 's work has 

 reached a seventeenth edition is sufficient indica- 

 tion that it meets a want. The single volume of 

 the earlier editions developed into two volumes 

 some years ago, and the most important of these 

 (vol. i.) has become somewhat more bulky than of 

 yore ; but it can still be slipped into an overcoat 

 pocket, in spite of its 11 54 pages. 



A great deal of new matter has been included 

 in this vol. i., the requisite space having been 

 provided in part by transferring the sections on 

 iontophoresis, radium, thorium, and radiology to 

 ythe second volume (not yet published). Among 

 the sections which have been revised special men- 

 tion may be made of those on vaccines, antitoxins, 

 colloidal metals, and organotherapy ; whilst many 

 useful notes, particularly on the treatment of 

 wounds, have been added to the therapeutic index 

 of diseases. Both the medical practitioner and the 

 pharmacist will find the volume replete with in- 

 formation. 



White Lead: its Use in Paint. By Dr. A. H. 

 Sabin. Pp. ix-f 133. (New York: J. Wiley 

 and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, 

 Ltd., 1920.) Price 'ys. 6d. net. 



The information conveyed in this book is usually 

 of a superficial character. Thus, although pro- 

 cesses of manufacture are described, no details 

 are given, and in the descriptions of the applica- 

 tion of white lead in paints nothing very new 

 comes to light. The author tells us that "it is 

 not probable that one-thousandth of one per cent, 

 of white lead used in paint is ever discoloured by 

 sulphur, so it is not worth talking about." Un- 

 fortunately, however, he gives no alternative ex- 

 planation of a well-known phenomenon. .\ similar 

 off-hand style runs throughout the book, and can- 

 not fail to diminish its value. 



