lO 



NA TURE 



[June 3, 1922 



practical hints. The book, which is attractive in 

 appearance, is the work of an experienced teacher 

 and can be recommended with confidence. 



Experimental Physiology. By Sir E. Sharpey Schafer. 

 Third edition. Pp. viii + 131. (London: Long- 

 mans, Green and Co., 192 1.) 6s. net. 

 This laboratory manual of experimental physiology, 

 first published in 1912, has now reached a third edition. 

 To those who do not know the book it may be said that 

 the matter is arranged in thirty-two chapters, each 

 of which contains, on the average, enough to occupy 

 the student for a laboratory period. The book does 

 not deal with chemical physiology ; hence the amount 

 of time demanded by a course such as the present is 

 more than some schools will find themselves able to 

 devote to it ; a certain number of the exercises, 

 however, are intended for advanced students, though 

 the author does not attempt to mark these ofif from 

 the rest, the selection having been left to the teacher. 

 The author's experience is a sufficient guarantee of 

 the suitability of the matter, and of the method of 

 arrangement ; the descriptions of the experiments, 

 though concise, are lucid ; and the book is amply 

 illustrated by ninety explanatory figures. 



Laboratory Exercises in Applied Chemistry for Students 



in Technical Schools and Universities. By Dr. W. 



Moldenhauer. Authorised translation by Dr. L. 



Bradshaw. Pp. xii + 236. (London: Constable and 



Co., Ltd., 1921.) 125. 6d. 

 The long title of this book is somewhat misleading ; 

 " Technical Chemical Analysis " would have been much 

 more appropriate. The explanations of industrial 

 processes which are interspersed are clear and concise, 

 but some of the methods differ from those in common 

 use in this country. No mention is made of the im- 

 portant ammonia oxidation process in describing the 

 fixation of nitrogen. The exercises cover a wide field, 

 including water, fuels, alkali industry, fertilisers, 

 metals and ores, oils, fats and waxes, soap, glycerin, 

 and lubricants. The translation appears to have been 

 carefully done, and the book may be recommended 

 to senior students who intend to follow industrial 

 chemistry. 



The Haunts of Life : Being Six Lectures delivered at the 

 Royal Institution, Christmas Holidays, ig2o-ig2i. 

 By Prof. J. Arthur Thomson. Pp. xvi-i-272-t-xvi 

 plates. (London : Andrew Melrose, Ltd., 1921.) 

 95. net. 



The Christmas Holiday Lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion have resulted in several books that charm the 

 general reader as thoroughly as the spoken word held 

 the attention of the juvenile audience to which the 

 lectures were delivered. To those already existing 

 Prof. Thomson has added " The Haunts of Life," where, 

 in simple language, he sketches the problems that con- 

 front the inhabitants of the waters fresh and salt, 

 shallow and deep, open and coast-bound, of the dry 

 land, and of the air. His brief studies of animal 

 adaptations, and of race-migrations from one " haunt " 

 to another, are admirable, and open to the thoughtful 

 reader a wide field of deep philosophic interest. The 

 book should be on the prize-book list of every school. 

 NO. 2744, VOL. 109] 



The Alo Man : Stories from the Congo. By Mara L. 

 Pratt-Chadwick and L. Lamprey. (Children of the 

 World.) Pp.170. (London and Sydney : George G. 

 Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 35. hd. net. 



The series of which the volume under notice forms a 

 part, is designed to open for young readers the study 

 of geography and history as living subjects. It is 

 written as a narrative of events in the tribal life of a 

 boy and girl in the Congo Forest, culminating in an 

 exciting fight between the tribe and a band of Arab 

 slave traders which ends in the discomfiture of the 

 latter. The Alo Man, a wandering story-teller, is 

 responsible for the introduction into the narrative 

 of a number of folk-tales of the animal type. The 

 book is true to detail of a generalised forest type, 

 although both type and area might perhaps have been 

 more precisely defined with advantage. 



Alternating Currents. By G. C. Lamb. Part I. Pp. 

 viii-i-73. 5^- 6i- '^et. Part 11. Pp. viii -1-127. 

 js. 6d. net. (Cambridge : At the University 

 Press, 1921.) 



In the books under notice a full explanatory syllabus 

 is given of the lectures delivered to third-year students 

 in the Engineering Laboratory at Cambridge. The 

 volumes are meant primarily to be a help to the 

 student when writing up his lectures. They will also 

 be useful to teachers in technical schools, as the diagrams 

 are beautifully clear, the descriptions are good, and 

 many of the proofs given are very neat. The nota- 

 tion and nomenclature are practically international. 

 " Effective," however, is now preferred to " virtual." 

 Personally we prefer " sine-shaped " to " sinoidal," 

 and " not sine-shaped " to " non-sine." 



The Structure of the Atom : Notes on some Recent 

 Theories. By Dr. Stephen Miall. Pp. iii + 26. 

 (London : Benn Bros., Ltd., 1922.) 15-. 6d. net. 

 Dr. Miall states that he has published this pamphlet 

 in the hope that it " might interest, and even instruct, 

 some junior students of chemistry." To treat of the 

 structure of the atom, radioactive changes, isotopes, 

 and the octet theory in twenty-six pages, and in such 

 a way as to be clear and interesting as well as accurate 

 and instructive, is a task which calls for no little skill. 

 Dr. Miall has undertaken it with a great measure of 

 success, and his small pamphlet should fulfil the 

 object he had in mind in its publication. If he had 

 given some account of Sir J. J. Thomson's recent 

 theory the whole range of the subject would have 

 been covered : perhaps he will do this in future issues. 



Insects and Human Welfare. By Prof. C. T. Brues. 

 Pp. xii-l-104. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni- 

 versity Press ; London : Oxford University Press, 

 1920.) los. 6d. net. 

 Though embodying no original research, this book is a 

 useful and pleasantly written compilation of the results 

 achieved by economic entomologists (including medical 

 investigators), and of the tasks that are yet to be under- 

 taken in Man's battle with his most formidable rivals 

 on earth. The majority of the statistics and facts 

 narrated are from the United States ; but this circum- 

 stance in no way impairs their value to the British 

 reader, whether doctor, farmer, or forester. 



