•8o 



NATURE 



[November 12, i{)i4 



licious scent of heather-honey for my nose if I 

 apply it to the golden cowslip-balls in miniature, 

 after I have shaken off the bees, which might not 

 behave kindly to my proboscis, mistaking it for 

 a rival to their own in the honey-gathering trade." 



This, alas ! is typical of many others which 

 give a painful stab in the middle of chapters con- 

 taining a great deal of interesting and valuable 

 information. 



The book is illustrated by some very fair 

 photographic reproductions, but the coloured 

 plates are miserable. The sad part is that Mr. 

 Bowles has the knowledge that others seek to 

 acquire, but an evil spirit appears to haunt him 

 when he takes his pen to write. 



The book contains a great deal of very valuable 

 and interesting information, but the shock to the 

 literary sensibilities of those who seek to extract 

 the gold is almost too severe. 



(4) The pictures of desert flowers will be very 

 useful to travellers interested in the desert flora 

 of Egypt. The photographs, especially when 

 taken in the field, are good, and the introductory 

 twelve pages are well written. We hope Miss 

 Crowfoot will be rewarded by a ready sale for her 

 book, and induced thereby to publish a further 

 volume of pictures of the flowers of the desert. 

 Should this be feasible a plate giving a detailed 

 study of the flowers, fruits, and leaves of each 

 plant, would be a useful addition to accompany 

 the plate showing the habit of the plant in its 

 natural conditions. 



(5) " Flower Favourites " is a very pretty little 

 book, a storehouse of quaint legend and myth 

 relating to some forty-eight well-known flowers. 

 Among them are such familiar plants as the rose, 

 cowslip, speedwell, leek, and hyacinth, and in all 

 cases numerous quotations from the poets are 

 given which refer to the particular flowers. It is 

 a book for which lovers of flowers will be grateful, 

 since it has been compiled with great care, and 

 shows that the author has a very extensive know- 

 ledge of the ancient and modern literature of 

 plant lore. It is essentially a book to be appre- 

 ciated by those whose vision penetrates beneath 

 the surface. 



" Earth's crammed with heaven 

 And every common bush afire with God : 

 But only he who sees takes off his shoes : 

 The rest sit round and pluck the black berries.' 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Kinetische Stereochemie der K ohl ens toff ver- 



bindungen. By Dr. A. von Weinberg. Pp. 



viii + 107. (Braunschweig: F. Vieweg und 



Sohn, 1914.) Price 3 marks. 



It would be difficult within the compass of a short 



notice to develop the highly speculative concep- 



NO. 2350, VOL. 94] 



tion which underlies what the author terms 

 "kinetische stereochemie." He claims that it will 

 eliminate the vague notions which hover round 

 the theory of valency, and have rendered it 

 necessary to qualify this attribute by the use of 

 " partial " valencies, broken valencies, distributed 

 valencies, and valency electrons. 



Dr. von Weinberg has attempted to prove 

 that chemical changes are determined by 

 atomic motions; that these motions are rota- 

 tory and vibratory, and are closely linked to 

 the phenomena of heat of combustion and mole- 

 cular refraction. He considers that by means o!^ 

 this conception it is possible to solve a variety o; 

 unsolved problems, such as the structure of 

 benzene, the phenomenon of dynamic isomerism, 

 the asymmetric carbon, optical activity and 

 colour. 



He lays down the proposition that in all states 

 of aggregation the atom has motion, and that the 

 energy content of these atomic motions in organic 

 compounds may be determined by the atomic 

 volumes, which in turn can be estimated as heat 

 of combustion and atomic refractivity. He further 

 assumes that singly-bound atoms rotate or oscil- 

 late round an axis, and that doubly- and trebly- 

 linked atoms undergo a vibratory movement. The 

 diff^erence in the heat of combustion of an atom 

 when combined in an organic compound and when 

 free as an elementary molecule is not a question 

 of a change in chemical affinity, but of the in- 

 crease or decrease in atomic motion In the two 

 states. In the same way increase or decrease of 

 atomic volume, as determined by the motion (rota- 

 tory or vibratory) of the combined atom, is mani- 

 fested by the density of the liquid substance, i.e., 

 its refractivity. These two ideas are developed 

 conjointly at some length, and a considerable mass 

 of data is introduced to support the theory. We 

 think that some of the statements are open to 

 criticism, such, for example, as making one kind 

 of atom in a compound responsible for the whole 

 difference in the heat of combustion, and conse- 

 quently in atomic motion and so forth. Whether 

 these speculations, for they are pure speculations, 

 will serve to stimulate further experimental in- 

 quiry is somewhat doubtful ; but the theory is bold 

 and suggestive, and the pamphlet is well worth 

 perusal. J. B. C. 



The Essence of Astronomy: Things Everyone 

 Should Knonv about the Sun, Moon, and Stars. 

 By E. W. Price. Pp. xiv + 207. (New York 

 and London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1914-) 

 Price I05. 6d. net. 



The title "The Essence of Astronomy" gives a 

 good idea of the lines on which this book has 

 been written. The book does not pretend to be a 

 treatise, and it deals only with the main, well- 

 authenticated facts in a popular manner. All 

 technical terms, mathematical formulae, and sym- 

 bols have been omitted in the text, but the last- 

 mentioned are given on a separate page at the end 

 of the volume. 



