December 30, 1920] 



NATURE 



561 



Poynting-'s researches, important as they are, 

 form but a part of his life's work. He was a 

 very successful teacher, and as professor of 

 physics at Mason's College from its foundation 

 he created and developed the flourishing school 

 of physics at the University of Birmingham. He 

 took his full share of the large amount of business 

 and organisation required to carry on the work 

 of his university and the scientific societies with 

 which he was connected, and as a magistrate he 

 took part in the civic life of Birmingham. 

 Everyone who met him in these capacities found 

 him the most delightful and courteous of col- 

 leagues, while to many he was the beloved 

 and valued friend. J. J. Thomson. 



Scottish County Geographies. 



(i) BanW and District. By Allan Edward Mahood. 

 Edited by Dr. E. I. Spriggs. Pp. xvi + 388. 

 (Banff: The Banffshire JoMmal, Ltd., 1919.) 

 Price los. 6d. 



(2) Orkney and Shetland. By J. G. F. Moodie 

 Heddle and T. Mainland. Pp. xii + 167. (Cam- 

 bridge : At the University Press, 1920.) Price 

 4s. (yd. net. 



(3) Caithness and .Sutherland. By H. F. Campbell. 

 Pp. ix-t-i68. (Cambridge: At the University 

 Press, 1920.) Price 4*. dd. net. 



(4) Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire. By 

 William Learmonth. Pp. ix-hi49. (Cambridge': 

 .\t the University I'ress, 1920.) Price 4s. 6J. 

 net. 



(5) Dumbartonshire. By Dr. F. Mort. Pp. 

 viii-f-155. (Cambridge: At the University 

 Press, 1920.) Price 45. 6d. net. 



(i)r\R. MAHOOD'S "Banff" belongs to the 

 L^ best class of local guide-book. It is the 

 result of a careful study of the area by a number 

 of enthusiastic students ; the bulk of the material 

 has been collected by Dr. Mahood, of Duff House 

 Hospital. Chapters have been contributed by 

 various local authorities, and the whole has been 

 condensed and edited by Dr. E. I. Spriggs, and 

 its stores of information are rendered accessible 

 by an excellent index. The book is a compendium 

 of the geography, history, and antiquities of the 

 district, and should add greatly to the profitable 

 enjoyment of a stay there by any intelligent 

 visitor; and, as it gives' practical guidance K) the 

 special points of interest, it should stimulate the 

 study of the local archsolocry and natural history. 

 The walks around Banff arc classified accord- 

 ing to their length, and the programme of longer 

 excursions refers to the numerous antiquities and 

 to such features as the musical sands, the dunes 

 NO. 2670, VOL. 106] 



of Culbin, and the remarkable southerly deflection 

 of the plumb-line at Cowhythe, which would indi- 

 cate a position nearly a fifth of a mile in error. 

 Banff Museum is rich in local material, and the 

 chapter on it is a useful introduction to the local 

 archaeology and history. Banff was the home of 

 Thomas Edwards, the self-made naturalist with 

 the Smiles-made reputation, who, amongst other 

 contributions to science, demonstrated that the 

 shell beds on the 25-ft. raised beach at Boyndie 

 is a Neolithic kitchen-midden. 



The geology of the area includes much of in- 

 terest, and special attention has been recently 

 directed to it by Mackie's discovery of the plant- 

 bearing cherts of Rhynie, which have been proved 

 by the researches of Kidston and Lang to be the 

 oldest known land flora, and to contain, exquisitely 

 preserved, the plants of the period when land 

 was being first clothed with vegetation. The 

 discovery of this flora is the most epoch- 

 making in palseobotany in recent years. The 

 account of the geolog)- is well up to date ; it recog- 

 nises the Old Red Sandstone as a river-made de- 

 posit, but that view need not have been assigned 

 to America, as it had been previously ad- 

 vanced in this country. A remark on the work 

 of Prof. Jehu and D. Campbell on the Highland 

 Border Series may be misunderstood as implying 

 that some of the Highland schists have been thus 

 proved to be Lower Palaozoic, whereas that work 

 strongly strengthens the case for the pre-Palaeo- 

 zoic age of those schists. 



(2-5) The volumes of the Cambridge University 

 County Series suffer in contrast with that on Banff 

 by the absence of references, as even a short 

 bibliography would be of great assistance to the 

 students for whom these admirable manuals would 

 be of special service. Moreover, the one author 

 deals with all brwnches of the subject — history, 

 geography,^ archaeology, ethnology, geology, 

 natural history, and economics — and has to write 

 on some questions with which he is not fully 

 familiar. Consistency between the manuals and 

 complete accuracy are possible only by editorial 

 supervision. In this series the authors appear 

 to be given entire independence provided they 

 conform to the prescribed plan. 



A student who turns to these volumes to com- 

 pare the evidence on some question from different 

 parts of Scotland finds puzzling inconsistencies. 

 Thus the circular mcgalithic towers known as 

 brochs, the most remarkable of Scottish antiqui- 

 ties, are attributed in the account of those in 

 Caithness and Sutherland to the early Iron age, 

 and therefore to Ix" pre-Roman ; whereas the 

 volume on Orkney adopts the older and less prob- 

 able theory that ihrv were built as shelters against 



