April i, 1922] 



NA TURE 



403 



tThe Imperial Institute. 

 r T is astonishing that, at a time when the Imperial 

 L Institute is looking forward to further develop- 

 ents in its work, a proposal should be put forward 

 volving the dismantling of more than half of the 

 cently extended and improved collections in the 

 iblic Exhibition Galleries of the Institute — without 

 lestion the finest illustration of economic geography 

 the world — in order to make room for the war 

 relics known as the Imperial War Museum at present 

 housed in the Crystal Palace. The Times of March 7 

 . ontains leading and special articles on the subject in 

 \ hich a clear case is made for the abandonment of the 

 iroposal. Attention is directed to the resolution of 

 jiiotest recently passed by the Executive Council of the 

 Institute. While appreciating the desire for economy 

 in housing the War Museum, the council considers that 

 this object should be achieved by some other method 

 than by a plan which would be seriously detrimental to 

 the development of the educational and commercial 

 work for which the Imperial Institute was erected and 

 endowed. Resolutions of protest have also been received 

 by the council from a number of important' bodies, 

 including the Association of British Chambers of Com- 

 'nerce ; the Chambers of Commerce of Liverpool, 

 ! anchester, Glasgow, and Bristol; the Royal Institute 

 uf British Architects ; the Timber Trade Federation ; 

 the Institute of Builders ; and the Silk Association. 



For a quarter of a century the Imperial Institute 

 with very slender means has been carrying on work 

 of great service to the Empire, a fact far too little known 

 and appreciated. The reward of such endeavour 

 should be the provision of better facilities for develop- 

 ment, and it is precisely in this respect that the pro- 

 posals now put forward on behalf of the War Museum 

 would be so detrimental in their effects. The Imperial 

 Institute is becoming the recognised headquarters of 

 organised effort in this country for the development of 

 knowledge of the natural resources of the overseas 

 countries of the Empire, and it is to be hoped that 

 the Government will see that nothing of the character of 

 the proposals justly condemned by the Times shall 

 prevent the achievement of so desirable a purpose. 



A Treatise on Petroleum. 



Petroleum. By Sir Boverton Redwood. Fourth 

 edition, reset throughout. In three Volumes : 

 Vol. I, pp. XXX -1-364 + pi. 16. Vol. 2, pp. iv + 

 365-740 + pi. 17-31. Vol. 3, pp. iv + 741-1353- 

 (London : C. Griffin & Co., Ltd., 1922.) £5, 55. net. 



IN a review of the first edition of this work, pub- 

 lished in Nature in December 1896 (vol. 55, p. 

 169), it was asserted that " to write, or to compile a 

 comprehensive text-book on petroleum, demands an 

 NO. 2735, VOL. 109] 



acquaintance with dissimilar subjects and varying 

 walks of life, very rarely centred in one individual. 

 The present work is and will ever remain remarkable as 

 the production of a man whose scientific attainments, 

 and whose relation to the petroleum industries, were 

 such that he, probably better than any other living 

 man, was fitted to undertake the task." 



During the quarter of a century that has since 

 elapsed the " dissimilar " sciences that form the 

 foundation of petroleum technology have both widened 

 and deepened ; chemical research has extended our 

 knowledge of the constitution of the hydrocarbons that 

 form mineral oil ; the newly developed branch of 

 colloidal chemistry, in its bearing on the properties 

 of argillaceous substances, has affected the methods of 

 refining and thrown new light on the problems of 

 crude-oil migration underground ; the discovery of 

 new occurrences and, especially, the compilation of 

 data obtained from established fields have put a new 

 complexion on the questions of oil geology ; improve- 

 ments in mechanical engineering have modified the 

 methods of exploitation and transport ; whilst the 

 remarkable development in the use of internal combus- 

 tion engines, inspired by stern necessity during the 

 war, has been accompanied by an extension of the 

 theoretical and practical aspects of oil as a source of 

 power. In complexity and volume each of these 

 phases of the natural history of oil and the technique 

 of its uses is to-day comparable to the whole range of 

 petroleum technology as it was when Sir Boverton 

 Redwood first attempted the task of summarising the 

 disconnected and apparently unrelated data of the 

 petroleum industry. 



To keep in touch with these developments was 

 perhaps possible to the author if to no one else ; to 

 keep abreast of them he frankly recognised as im- 

 possible, and thus we find in this new edition of a 

 work which " is and will ever remain remarkable " 

 the results of the friendly co-operation of more than 

 two dozen speciaHsts. The contributory work of these 

 friends is evidence of their belief in the value of this 

 treatise as a work of reference, and is at the same time 

 a sign of the magnetic personality of the author and 

 the affectionate respect with which he was regarded 

 among all classes of workers in the oil world. But the 

 thorough revision of some parts in this way serves to 

 bring into relief others which remain as they were 

 issued with the third edition in 1913. The book in this 

 respect bears the marks of the war, during which the 

 author's unremitting devotion to honorary public 

 service left him insufficient time for his accustomed 

 methodical compilation of new facts and for the 

 judicial examination of new theories. To specialists 

 in the accessory sciences and to local workers in 

 distant fields, who will necessarily subject appropriate 



