^^%p 



March i6, 1922] 



NATURE 



337 



ypes of bridges evolved in the campaign are passed 

 under review. One of the most remarkable types, 

 om the point of view of lightness and ease of erection, 

 the Inglis bridge of identical bays of weldless steel 

 bes. 



The chapter on temporary bridges is a really stirring 



cunt of typical bridging operations during the final 



vance of August to November, 1918. A succession 



waterways had to be forced before each serious 



agement. In one case a field company erected a 



tie bridge of 80-ft. span within 500 yds, of the 



,emy line, completing it four hours before the attack 



launched. No fewer than 539 heavy bridges were 



cted between August and November, 1918. 



(3) The supply of stores necessarily developed not 

 y in quantity, but also in variety, for " it came 

 ut that the R.E. were early regarded as the universal 

 viders of everything that was not authorised equip- 

 ment." By March 1919, more than 1,800,000 tons 

 of R.E. stores of the most diverse nature had been sent 

 over to the Western front. Road metal, camouflage, 

 electric-light installations, and propaganda balloons, 

 all figured in the lists. Constantly increasing experi- 

 mental work on new devices was also carried out, and 

 the statement of the results achieved is of considerable 

 interest. 



(4) This study of the nervous system of the Army 

 in the recent war is the story of a service constantly 

 "struggling with ever fresh developments and re- 

 sponsibilities : sometimes failing, more often succeed- 

 ing, and always improving and learning." The need 

 for continual adjustment of ideas and nimbleness of 

 thought on the part of those directing the policy of 

 signals has not ended with the war. Just as " the 

 discovery of the magneto telephone by the General 

 Staff was probably responsible for a revolution in staff 

 methods as great as any that has ever occurred in the 

 history of war," so may the developments of wireless 

 telegraphy and telephony bring many new problems 

 for the signal officer of the future. While recognising 

 fully the strangle-hold that code and cipher exercised 



n the use of wireless during the greater part of the 

 war, Major Priestley points out how, as shelling and 

 bombing became more intense, wireless forced its way 

 more and more into use and recognition. It is clearly 

 his view that the signals of the future will be mainly 

 wireless supported by line telegraphy and visual 

 work. 



Few remarks throw more light on the extent to 

 wliich signals grew in complexity during the war and 

 technical qualifications came to be required by front- 

 line troops than the statement that at the end of the 

 war, the battalion and battery signaller was expected 

 to have more qualifications than those possessed by 

 NO. 2733, VOL. 109] 



the line telegraphists of the Royal Engineers at the 

 commencement of the war. 



For its system of hastily improvising a large army 

 this country paid the penalty that must needs accom- 

 pany such a process. Had we been better organised 

 to make full use of man-power and brain-power on a 

 national emergency, Moseley could scarcely have been 

 allowed to go to his gallant death at Gallipoli. He 

 could have been so much more profitably employed in 

 his corps either in developing wireless or in examining 

 and combating the overhearing of telephone signals. 

 Our slowness in the recognition of enemy overhearing, 

 with all the unnecessary loss of life that it involved, is 

 a natural sequel to our general unpreparedness for the 

 great emergency of 19 14. 



Granted that we were not always first in the field 

 in the early days of the war, we can, however, recognise 

 fairly that lost time was well made up before the end. 

 The close of the war found the Signal Service " efficient 

 in its day and generation, as the personnel of the highly 

 trained units of the original Expeditionary Force had 

 been in theirs." 



Our Bookshelf. 



Nut Grotving. By R. T. Morris. Pp. x + 236. (New 

 York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 135. net. 

 There is little of the dry manual about this useful 

 volume. The author has a " message " to give to a 

 world seeking new foodstuffs, and though he occupies 

 forty pages in introducing the subject, his preliminary 

 remarks are to the point and well worth reading by 

 those interested. Briefly, the book is a practical 

 guide to the commercial cultivation of trees bearing 

 edible nuts, and is addressed to growers in America, 

 where in recent years much attention has been given 

 to this industry. The nuts dealt with include hickories, 

 walnuts, hazels, chestnuts, pine nuts, and almonds. 

 Reference is made to the devastation caused in the 

 forests of American chestnut {Castanea dentata) by 

 the fungus Endothia parasitica, which threatens to 

 destroy the species unless resistant stocks can • be 

 discovered and successfully propagated. The author 

 claims to have produced hybrids between this tree 

 and the chinkapin {Castanea pumila) which are highly 

 resistant to the fungus, and bear nuts of good size 

 and quality. An important section on propagation 

 deals with the practical aspects of nut cultivation, 

 and has been written mainly with the object of describ- 

 ing a special system of grafting, which is clearly 

 illustrated in a series of excellent plates. 



A Handbook on Cotton and Tobacco Cultivation in 

 Nyasaland : A Guide to Prospective Settlers. By 

 J. S. J. McCall. Pp. 85. (Zomba, Nyasaland : 

 The Government Printer, 1920.) 



It is greatly to be regretted that the late Mr. McCall 

 did not long survive his promotion from the post of 



