April 22, 1922] 



NATURE 



51 





(2) Volumes i and 2 of Prof. Fyson's work were 

 published in 1915, and were reviewed in Nature, vol. 96 

 (February 3, 1916), p. 615. These dealt with the flower- 

 ing plants found above an elevation of 6500 feet around 

 fthe hill-stations of Ootacamund, Kotagiri^ and Kodai- 

 al. The present volume is supplementary, and 

 includes the plants of the country around Coonoor 

 above an elevation of 5000 feet. 



The numerous outline drawings are an important 

 feature in this volume as well as in the preceding ; 

 they certainly add considerably to the usefulness of the 

 work, though, as they are full-page size, they have 

 rendered it rather bulky and expensive. Notwith- 

 standing that the text is in large, much leaded type it 



Is only 154 of the 599 pages in vol. 3 ; the other pages 



e used for the illustrations. These might have been 

 reduced in size and the text might have been in smaller, 

 less spaced type. By these means the matter in the 

 three volumes could have been compressed into one. 

 An admirable model might have been found in the late 

 Colonel Sir Henry Collett's " Flora Simlensis." In 

 Prof. Fyson's Flora we have another instance of the 

 use of a small initial letter for all specific names. 

 Whether this method of dealing with such names is 

 advisable or not seems to be a matter of opinion ; it has 

 recently received some attention in the Journal of 

 Botany (1921, pp. 159, 295-296). 



Some additions and emendations in the volume under 

 notice have been necessitated by the publication of 

 Mr. J. S. Gamble's " Flora of the Presidency of Madras," 

 of which the fourth part, carrying the work as far as the 

 beginning of the Ebenaceae, appeared last August — too 

 recent, therefore, for Prof. Fyson to have derived any 

 assistance from it. He has been able to use Mr. 

 Gamble's work only as far as the end of the Caprifoli- 

 aceae. It is probable, therefore, that the families from 

 the Rubiaceae to the end will need some revisional 

 treatment by Prof. Fyson, in order to bring his work 

 into agreement with one that will be recognised for a 

 long time to come as the authoritative Flora of Madras. 



Science of Industrial Psychology 



The PsycJwlogy of Industry. By Dr. J. Drever. Pp. 



xi-f-148. (London : Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 



Ss. net. 

 Industrial Fatigue and Efficiency. By Dr. H. M. 



Vernon. (Efficiency Books.) Pp. viii + 264. 



(London : G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1921.) 



125. 6d. net. 



TWO entirely different methods of approaching 

 the science of industrial psychology are repre- 

 sented by the two volumes under notice. Dr. Drever's 

 NO. 2738, VOL. 109] 



book is an attempt to cover the whole field of industrial 

 psychology, and to accomplish such a task in a book 

 of 148 pages must lay itself open to the charge of being 

 somewhat superficial. He devotes a short chapter to 

 each of the sub-divisions of the science, and quotes, in 

 a not too critical spirit, certain well-known experiments 

 which have been carried out. These examples are 

 mostly taken from the writings of American efficiency 

 engineers, and, interesting as they may be, they are 

 not sufficient to form the foundation of a whole science. 

 They must be submitted to a much more critical 

 examination than Dr. Drever gives them if they are 

 to form even part of the subject-matter of the science 

 at all. 



Dr. Vernon's book is of a very different type. Its 

 object is not to write an introduction to a science which 

 at present is so young that any such attempt must 

 concern itself mostly with saying what can be accom- 

 plished, rather than what has already been done. His 

 book is an attempt to deal with one aspect of the science 

 and concerns itself more with facts than theories, and 

 for this reason alone is far more scientific than Dr. 

 Drever's book. In his preface Dr. Vernon says, " I 

 have not attempted to discuss scientific management 

 for I have no first-hand knowledge of it, and, moreover, 

 the subject is so large a one that it needs independent 

 treatment. For similar reasons I have not attempted 

 to deal with Vocational Selection in industry." This 

 passage is really the keynote to the whole book, for 

 although the author quotes copiously from the works 

 of other writers in the same field, yet his main argument 

 depends on the first-hand information which he and 

 his colleagues have collected from the various factories 

 they have visited. Throughout the reader feels him- 

 self in touch with reality rather than in the some- 

 what theoretic atmosphere prevailing in Dr. Drevei 's 

 book. 



It is true that Dr. Drever's object is somewhat 

 different from that of Dr. Vernon, for he tells us that 

 the book was written primarily to awake interest in 

 the ordinary man, and so help to spread knowledge of 

 the service psychology can render to industry. Even 

 so it may be doubted whether it is wise to spread 

 knowledge in the way Dr. Drever has done. Those 

 who are working in this field of applied science have 

 two great practical difficulties with which to contend. 

 One is the ignorance or antipathy of the ordinary man 

 as to the possibility that physiology or psychology can 

 render any appreciable services to the problems of 

 industry, and the other is that he sometimes expects 

 great results with comparatively little effort on the 

 part of the scientific worker. Dr. Drever's book un- 

 doubtedly does much to remove the first difficulty, but 

 in so doing it does a great deal tol ncrease the second. 



