December 23, 1920] 



NATURE 



529 



scheme of all these pamphlets is identical; they 

 commence with a general description of the 

 mineral discussed, its composition, uses, and chief 

 sources of supply. The world's output of the 

 mineral is then given, and this is followed by a 

 detailed description of the occurrences in the 

 United Kingdom and the rest of the British 

 Empire, together with statistics of production, 

 followed by similar information concerning foreign 

 producers. References to technical literature on 

 the subject are given in an appendix, and in some 

 cases there is an additional note on some important 

 application of the mineral ; for instance, the 

 pamphlet on magnesite contains a note on the pro- 

 duction of magnesium chloride and its use in the 

 manufacture of Sorel cement. It should be added 

 that the statistics and information relate in each 

 case to the "war period," 1913-1919. These pub- 

 lications thus form a continuation of those formerly 

 issued by the Home Office, and known as part iv. 

 of the Report of the Chief Inspector of Mines. It 

 would probably have been more convenient for 

 most users of these pamphlets if the statistics had 

 been taken rather further back, and given, say, for 

 the last ten years, and if decennial tables were 

 included in all future annual issues. There is 

 some information as to costs and prices, though 

 not surticient for those interested in the industries, 

 but no doubt in future years these figures will be 

 given in more detail ; it is also stated that in future 

 issues data concerning labour, safety, etc., will 

 be included. 



The work of compilation has been well and care- 

 fully done, ujKjn the whole ; it would be easy to 

 jjoint out small errors and omissions, but these are 

 inevitable in the first issue of a publication of this 

 ixind, which involves a vast amount of minute and 

 painstaking research amongst a large number of 

 'lifferent sources of information, which are often 

 f very unequal value so far as trustworthiness is 

 'oncerncd. Perhaps the least satisfactory feature 

 IS the fact that a number of different standards of 

 weight are employed ; it is true that a footnote 

 points out that metric, long and short tons are 

 employed, and the equivalent of each of these is 

 given, but this is not quite enough; it should not 

 be necessary for anyone using these pamphlets to 

 make a calculation before he can compare the 

 statistics that he finds on adjoining pages; prob- 

 ably the best plan is to give in every case the 

 tonnages as reported in the original source of 

 information, and in a parallel column these weights 

 in metric tons, which latter are being largely 

 employed by scientific statisticians. 



(2) Simultaneously with the issue of these pub- 

 lications by the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, 

 the Imperial Institute has issued another volume 

 NO. 2669, VOL. 106] 



of its series of monographs on mineral resources, 

 the present one being on tungsten ores, written 

 by Messrs. R. H. Rastall and W. H. Wilcockson. 

 In its general scheme this pamphlet is identical 

 with those produced by the Imperial Mineral 

 Resources Bureau, and its execution is quite satis- 

 factory, though perhaps the economic aspect of 

 the subject receives even less attention here than 

 in the other series of publications. The question 

 that evidently obtrudes itself, however, is whether 

 there is anything at all gained by this duplication 

 of effort. The issue seems to be unusually simple ; 

 the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau has been 

 organised, and is maintained out of public funds 

 for doing just the very work that the Imperial 

 Institute is taking up. If the bureau does not do 

 its work completely and efficiently, it should be 

 called upon to mend its ways; but if it does do the 

 work entrusted to it satisfactorily, it is surely to 

 the public interest that the Imperial Institute 

 should employ the funds entrusted to it in some 

 more useful manner than in duplicating this work, 

 and it cannot be suggested that there are not 

 plenty of other important Imperial problems 

 needing investigation. 



H. Louis. 



New World Zoology. 



Zoology: A Text-book for Colleges and Uni- 

 versities. By Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell. (New 

 World Science Series.) Pp. xi-(-558. (Yonkers- 

 on-Hudson, New York : World Book Co., 

 1920.) Price 3 dollars. 



TEXT-BOOKS of zoology are legion, and they 

 are by no means all bad. Some of them, 

 indeed, like "Marshall and Hurst," are almost 

 perfect specimens of their kind. Yet we can 

 understand the growth of the list, for every ex- 

 perienced professor of the science has his optim- 

 istic moments when he thinks that his particular 

 way of teaching the subject is worthy of presenta- 

 tion to an audience wider than that in his class- 

 room. But the unfortunate fact seems to be that 

 few writers of text-books have managed to fulfil 

 their intention. In many cases the individuality 

 ends with the preface, the whole book sinking to 

 conventional competence on familiar lines. 



Hut this is not true of Prof. Cockerell's 

 "ZoSlogy," for it has an individuality. "The 

 biology or zoology for the average individual who 

 has no thought of specializing in the department 

 should not be too morphological, too rich in de- 

 tailed facts of structure and classification. Ex> 

 pcrience shows that such minutia are not remem- 

 bered, and do not necessarily leave as a residue 

 any broad and useful conceptions." So the author 



