86 



NATURE 



[September 24, 1914 



The Life of Flies would have been nearer the 

 mark, for most of the essays deal with Diptera. 

 There are others, e.g. on pond-life, caddis-worms, 

 insects and mushrooms, which have not much to 

 do with flies, and the interspersing of biographical 

 chapters — charming as they are — removes the 

 book even further from being a unity. The essays, 

 like everything Fabre wrote, are vividly interest- 

 ing ; they discover to us the wonder of life ; they 

 set us thinking ; they make us wish to go out and 

 observe. The now well-known style suffers neces- 

 sarily in translation, but it is extraordinarily pic- 

 turesque and arresting. We confess to getting 

 wearied when the conversationalism and anthropo- 

 morphism is too prolonged ; but it is mar- 

 vellously fine. "I pry into life," Fabre said, and 

 these essays give us some idea of his reward. 

 As the translator has done his work well, and 

 will doubtless do more, may we suggest that the 

 repeated wrong use of the term " species " in the 

 notes is irritating, that starfishes cannot be in- 

 cluded in the modern use of the word zoophytes, 

 that the natterjack " sometimes as large as a 

 plate," excites remark; and so does "underneath, 

 in a pool of sanies, is a surging mass of swarm- 

 ing sterns and pointed heads. ..." 



AN ITALIAN TEXT-BOOK OF METALLO- 

 GRAPHY. 



Le Leghe Metalliche ed i Frincipii Scientifici della 

 Metallografia Moderna. By Prof. Domenico 

 Mazzotto. Pp. xi + 421. (Modena : G. T. 

 Vincenzi e Nipoti, 191 3.) Price 6 lire. 



PROF. MAZZOTTO'S work is the first com- 

 plete treatise on metallography in the 

 Italian language. It is very similar in scope to 

 other text-books which deal with the chemical 

 rather than the engineering aspect of the subject, 

 and the treatment is throughout mainly theo- 

 retical. As might be expected from the nature 

 of the author's original publications, the quanti- 

 tative interpretation of the equilibrium diagram 

 receives much attention, and the student will find 

 in these chapters a useful review of the possible 

 types of equilibrium amongst alloys. The ternary 

 and quaternary systems, which have been studied 

 chiefly by Italian metallographers, are also 

 described with the aid of diagrams. 



This theoretical section is followed by the dis- 

 cussion of a limited number of actual systems, 

 and this part of the work is somewhat less satis- 

 factory. A more critical treatment of the experi- 

 mental material would have been of great advan- 

 tage, as several systems are represented by 

 diagrams taken from early investigations, which 

 later researches have shown to be incorrect. The 

 7iO. 2343, VOL. 94] 



copper-manganese series is a conspicuous ex- 

 ample, the maximum in the second diagram being 

 due to the presence of carbon in the materials 

 employed by Wologdine. 



Practical methods are only briefly described, 

 but the usual methods (.sf taking cooling curves 

 are illustrated and explained. Several forms of 

 pyrometer are included, however, which are use- 

 less for metallographic work, being designed only 

 for the approximate measurement of furnace tem- 

 peratures in works practice. Microscopical 

 methods occupy only a few pages, but some 

 photo-micrographs are reproduced from well- 

 known sources. 



The general sections on physical and mechanical 

 properties, and on the modes of formation of 

 alloys, although brief, are well written, and should 

 serve as an interesting introduction to the subject 

 for students previously unacquainted with it. The 

 impression of metallography which such students 

 will obtain is somewhat one-sided, but the science 

 is new in Italy, and the admirable work which 

 has been done already by such investigators 

 as Bruni, Giolitti, Parravano, and Mazzotto is a 

 guarantee that it will become firmly established 

 there. By the time the author is called on to 

 revise the present book, his attention will prob- 

 ably have been directed to those aspects of the 

 subject which are now unrepresented, and it will 

 be possible, by reducing the disproportion be- 

 tween the several parts, to render an excelle:"it 

 introductory text-book still more valuable. 



C. H. D. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



A Practical Treatise on Sub-aqueous Foundations. 



Including the Coffer-Dam Process for Piers, and 



Dredges and Dredging, with numerous Prac-| 



tical Examples from Actual Work. By C. E. 



Fowler. Third edition, revised and enlarged. 



Pp. xliii + 814. (New York : J. Wiley and Sons, 



Inc.; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1914.) 



Price 315. 6d. net. 



This book first appeared in 1898 under the title 



"The Coffer-Dam Process for Piers." The title 



was altered in 1904 to "Ordinary Foundations, 



including the Coffer-Dam Process for Piers." 



The work now presented under the title given 



above contains a large amount of new matter, 



consisting of practical examples of work, much 



of which has been constructed by the author, or 



with which he has come in intimate contact in a 



consulting capacity. Among the new subjects 



treated may be noted concrete piles, the jetting 



of piers, metal sheet-piling, the open-dredging 



process, caisson work and caisson disease, diving, 



the bearing power of soils. 



An attempt has been made to render the booli 

 so complete that the engineer may find it un^ 



