January 5, 1922] 



NATURE 



Our Bookshelf. 



Guide Pratique dc Sylviculture. Par Dr. F. Fank- 

 hauser. Troisi^mc edition frangaise par M. 

 Petitmermet. Pp. 348. (Lausanne, Geneve, et 

 Paris: Payot et Cie, 1921.) 

 Dr. Fankhauser's elementary text-book on 

 torestry is used in Switzerland for the instruction 

 of agricultural students and working foresters ; 

 that it has great merits is evidenced by its ap- 

 pearance in five German and three French edi- 

 tions. The work is remarkable for its clear style, 

 excellent illustrations, and admirable choice of 

 subject-matter. The introduction, concerned with 

 the utility of forests, explains their importance in 

 creating industries, in regulating water supply, in 

 preventing erosion of the soil, etc., in a country 

 like Switzerland, where there is so much of what 

 the author calls "absolute forest soil," or land 

 that cannot be put under any other form of culti- 

 vation. The forests of Switzerland cover, in fact, 

 2,300,000 acres, about 23 per cent, of the total 

 area of the country, and are credited with a pro- 

 duction of about 42 cubic feet of timber per acre 

 annually. 



The first part of the book— forest botany — after 

 ome elementary notes on morphology and physio- 

 logy, deals separately with each forest tree, giving 

 its botanical characters, distribution, reproduction, 

 growth, sylvicultural features, enemies, diseases, 

 wood, and other products. Only one foreign conifer 

 is included, Pinus strobus, and it is evident that 

 exotic trees, like Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and 

 Japanese larch, so much favoured in England for 

 planting at present, are not valued in Switzerland 

 as yet. The next part of the book, concerned 

 with the art of sylviculture, is an excellent sum- 

 mary of the different kinds of forests and how 

 they are created, rpaintained, and cared for. Much 

 iitention is paid to practical subjects, like choice, 

 ollection, testing, and sowing of seeds of forest 

 trees, nursery treatment, artificial plantations, 

 natural regeneration, and thinnings. 



Other chapters deal with utilisation, a subject 

 which includes felling and transport of timber, and 

 the properties and uses of wood, and with the 

 protection of forests from wind, frost, fire, 

 drought, insects, fungi etc. The conclusion of 

 the work is devoted to the simple engineering and 

 building problems that are handled daily by 

 foresters in Switzerland. 



the Principles of Immunology. By Prof. H. T. 

 Karsner and Dr. E. E. Ecker. Pp. xvii -1-309 

 + 2 plates. (London: J. B. Lippincott Com- 

 pany, 192 1.) 215, net. 

 1 HE researches of Pasteur on immunisation 

 against fowl cholera, swine erysipelas, anthrax, 

 and rabies, and the discovery by Behring and 

 Kitasato of the antitoxic properties of the blood 

 •rum. constituted the beginnings of the science 

 '1 immunology, which since 1890 has grown to 

 incredible dimensions and in every direction has 

 insinuated itself into the domains of practical 

 NO. 2723, VOL. 109] 



diagnosis and therapeutics. It is no longer within 

 the capacity of one or even two individuals to deal 

 authoritatively with the subject, although this was 

 attempted, and with a fair measure of success, a 

 year or two ago by such a master as Jules Bordet. 

 Naturally many text-books exist on immunity, and 

 the present work of Karsner and Ecker must be 

 ranked as one of the more successful among these. 

 The authors have handled a goodly part of the 

 periodical literature, and have applied to their 

 reading and study a critical acumen which is con- 

 spicuous by its absence in most books of this class. 

 Their knowledge is of a most modern kind, and 

 they have thrown over allegiance to the Ehrlich 

 " side chain " hypothesis which dominated im- 

 munology for so many years. Naturally in a 

 work of its size Karsner and Ecker's book is 

 highly condensed, and is, in fact, restricted to 

 fundamental principles. They state that it is 

 primarily designed for medical students and busy 

 practitioners. As a text-book for students work- 

 ing for the higher examinations it can be cordially 

 recommended, and it may possibly be read with 

 profit by the more intellectual types of practi- 

 tioners who have previously prepared themselves 

 for the intricacies of the subject by the perusal of 

 some more elementary work on the subject. 



We notice a number of misprints, especially in 

 the names of several of the authorities cited, and 

 it may be said that some of the few illustrations 

 are crude. Otherwise it may be recommended as 

 an accurate guide to those who wish to study the 

 subject with profit in the periodical literature of 

 the day. W. B. 



When Buffalo Ran. By G. B. Grinnell. Pp. 114 

 -1-8 plates. (New Haven: Yale University 

 Press ; London : Humphrey Milford, Oxford 

 University Press, 1920.) 105. 6d. net. 

 The supposed autobiography of a Red Indian boy 

 of some seventy years ago, when the veteran 

 author was himself a small boy. The tribe is not 

 mentioned, doubtless with intention ; but 

 Mr. Grinnell probably had in his mind the 

 Cheyenne, which he knows so well. Anyhow, 

 the book is not for ethnologists, but for boys, and 

 the one on whom we have tried it pronounces it 

 "topping." Written in the simplest English, 

 without affectation, the story brings out all the 

 noblest features of the tribal life that has passed 

 away. There is abundance of sympathy, but no 

 sentimentality. 



High Tension Switchgear. By H. E, Poole. 



(Pitman's Technical Primers.) Pp. ix-f-ii8. 



(London : Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 



1921.) 2S. 6d. net. 

 In this brief introduction to a large subject, the 

 author contents himself with a summary of the 

 principal features of present practice in the design 

 of oil-break switches for the voltages in common 

 use in this country. A few notes on isolating 

 links, surge arresters, high-tension fuses, and 

 testing pressures have also been inserted. 



