April 15, 1922] 



NATURE 



475 



I 



)wn, to and fro, right and left. Suddenly the man 

 the street finds himself floundering in a morass of 

 jptical ignorance. 



How much good it would have done him if it had 

 een impressed upon him early enough that geometry 

 is a matter of experiment and of experience," that 

 shows what would be true if certain other things 

 ere true/' if he had realised that Euclid was a guide 

 the interpretation of ordinary space experience, 

 id not a royal promulgator of irrevocable decrees ! 

 [e would have been spared some of the journalistic 

 msationalism of the past two years, and have been 

 jtter equipped to think clearly and without prejudice. 

 Of course the fourth dimension of relativity is not 

 le same as that suggested by the older conception 

 >f four-dimensions, although it is still a common 

 cperience to hear somebody complain that it is 

 "nonsense to suggest that time is -y/ - i times a length." 

 Nevertheless this book of essays will be read with 

 interest. The book was worth pubhshing if only for 

 the clear and excellent introduction by Prof. Manning. 

 Some of the essays are distinctly good, although they 

 all suffer the inevitable consequence of having a lot of 

 information- crammed into a small space. Several are 

 impartial, others seem to look with favour on the 

 possibility of a fourth dimension, while a few speak of it 

 with scant respect. There is very much repetition, 

 as is bound to be the case in such a publication, and 

 a considerable amount of the sort of speculation that 

 finds indications of the fourth dimension in spiritualistic 

 phenomena, that makes the fourth dimension a con- 

 stituent of life-force, that sees the fourth dimension 

 suggested in Ephesians iii. 18, and that thinks it 

 possible that many of the small objects each of us 

 loses disappear by rolling out of three-dimensional 

 space into the fourth dimension ! S. Brodetsky. 



Our Bookshelf. 



Imperial Institute : Monographs on Mineral Resources 



with Special Reference to the British Empire : 



Petroleum. Prepared jointly with H.M. Petroleum 



Department with the co-operation of Dr. H. B. 



Cronshaw. Pp. x-f-iio. (London: John Murray, 



1921.) 55. net. 



A NEW " red " book dealing with petroleum has 



appeared recently as a small volume uniform with the 



well-known monographs of the Imperial Institute. It 



is a type of publication that was much needed, since it 



embodies in summary form the main geographical, 



geological and economic features of the world's oil-fields. 



At the present time this information is very scattered, 



more particularly in connection with British resources, 



so that a scientific discussion of the subject, at once 



lucid and easily accessible, forms a welcome addition 



to official technical literature. 



The volume is divided into three sections, the first 



reviewing briefly the more theoretical phases of oil 

 technology, such as the origin, migration, and accumula- 

 tion of petroleum, the second dealing with British, 

 Colonial, and mandatory resources, and the third with 

 foreign resources. Several statistical tables concern- 

 ing production of oil in various countries are included, 

 the information under this heading being brought up 

 to 1920 in most cases ; the results of distillation of 

 typical crude oils are given, together with* certain 

 physical characteristics. A small map of the world 

 showing the principal oil-bearing localities and a short 

 bibliography are appended. 



A somewhat unfortunate attempt has been made to 

 tabulate the characteristics of the oil regions of the 

 United States, a task requiring no little care and a great 

 deal more space than has been allocated to it ; one 

 would scarcely describe the prevalent structure of the 

 Appalachian region as anticlinal, while the omissions 

 in the same connection under the headings of Lima- 

 Indiana and the Rocky Mountains are difficult to 

 understand. With this exception, the text is remark- 

 ably good in every way. H. B. Milner. 



Peoples of All Nations. Edited by J. A. Hammeiton. 

 No. I. Pp. xxiv-Mi2. (London: The Amalga- 

 mated Press, Ltd., 1922.) is. ^d. net. 

 This is the first instalment of a popular work to be 

 issued in fortnightly parts which, when complete, will 

 give an account of all the nations of the world in 

 alphabetical order. It is a remarkable piece of 

 journalistic enterprise. The whole work promises to 

 be of great interest and of some considerable educational 

 value as a work of reference for the class of reader for 

 whom it is intended. In the present number Sir 

 Arthur Keith contributes a foreword on the " Dawn 

 of National Life," which deals with racial origins and 

 the development of culture. The nations described 

 are Abyssinia, Afghanistan, written partly by Sir 

 Thomas Holdich, Albania, in part by Miss Durham, 

 and Algeria. Each article is divided into three parts, 

 of which the first deals with geography and ethnology, 

 the second is historical, each of these being by a 

 recognised authority, and the third gives statistical 

 and other data. In view of the limited amount of 

 space available, the articles are extremely well done 

 and give the salient facts in readable and attractive 

 form. The chief feature of the publication, however, 

 is the illustrations, which are remarkable both in 

 number and quality. 



Tables, Factors and Formulas for Computing Respiratory 

 Exchange and Biological Transformations of Energy. 

 By T. M. Carpenter. (Publication No. 303.) (Wash- 

 ington : Carnegie Institution.) 2 dollars. 

 Publication No. 303 of the Carnegie Institution 

 contains not only a number of tables for the expression 

 of the results of gas analyses but also those of Benedict 

 and his colleagues and of Aub and Du Bois for the 

 estimation of basal metabolism. Some of these tables 

 are inaccessible and all are scattered through a variety 

 of journals and monographs, so it is a great convenience 

 to the investigator to have the whole series in a single 

 handy volume. This work will take its place beside 

 " Chambers," " Barlow," and " Tables for Statisticians 

 and Biometricians," on the shelves of most workers. 



NO. 2737, VOL. 109] 



