6l2 



NATURE 



[February 4, 191 5 



worthy of the name, and the wealth of fresh 

 material that the author has collected from far 

 and near. Among" the interesting' plates, we may 

 refer to those illustrating- symbiosis, protective 

 coloration, wild g^eese, the courtship of caper- 

 caillie and blackcock, cave animals, and phos- 

 phorescence. 



As we pass from this valuable treasury of 

 bionomics, many reflections rise. We recognise 

 the impossibility of understanding details of struc- 

 ture apart from details of environment — a com- 

 monplace, of course, but illumined by some of the 

 subtle instances that Doflein gives. We appre- 

 ciate the light that the manifold inter-relatedness 

 of organisms throws on the value of even small 

 variations. The selective process has to be en- 

 visaged in relation to the web of life. We realise 

 afresh the importance of the organism's active 

 agency. It is modified by its environment and it 

 is adapted to its environment ; but there is more, 

 it actually adapts the environment to itself. And, 

 finally, we are filled once more wjth wonderment 

 at the vision of life slowly creeping upwards 

 through unthinkable ages, asserting itself insur- 

 gently amid a callous physical nature. All that 

 the author of this fine work has told us confirms 

 the impression of a deep tendency to inter-linking 

 and systematisation — ^the Darwinian systema 

 naturae — which is more than a mere image of 

 what obtains increasingly, in spite of all rendings 

 of the web, in the progress of mankind. 



J. Arthur Thomson, 



ASSAYING AT THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF 

 MINES. 

 Assaying in Theory and Practice. By E. A. 

 Wraight. Pp. xi + 323. (London: Edward 

 Arnold, 1914.) Price 105. 6d. net. 



THIS book will be welcomed by all assayers 

 who appreciate the value of the teaching 

 at the Royal School of Mines, and is of special 

 interest to old students of the School, for the 

 reason that it gives an account of the methods of 

 assaying which have been taught there during the 

 last few years. Almost all the notes issued to the 

 students in the laboratory are contained in the 

 book, and, in addition, besides other matter, the 

 author gives some general remarks which will be 

 of use to mine assayers and prospectors. Mr. 

 Wraight is well equipped for the task of remind- 

 ing his former students of what he has taught 

 them. He was for some years the senior demon- 

 strator in the assay laboratory of the Royal 

 School of Mines, and in that capacity has been 

 able to command the attention and affectionate 

 respect of all who have come under his guidance. 

 NO. 2362, VOL, 94] 



His work has only recently passed into other 

 hands. 



iSjiT. Wraight has made no attempt to write a 

 complete book on assaying. The number of 

 methods given is comparatively small and the 

 gaps are considerable. For example, no mention 

 is made of the volumetric methods of assay of 

 silver bullion, or of the dry method for antimony, 

 or of any method at all for platinum. The author 

 observes that he has some thoughts of preparing 

 a second volume containing analyses of ores, 

 slags, etc., and of iron and steel. It may be 

 hoped that he will include in it much besides 

 these important sections. 



As might be expected by those who know the 

 author's work, there are few mistakes to be found 

 in the book, and none of much importance. The 

 method of determining silver in gold bullion 

 given on p. 153 is an untrustworthy one, which 

 is becoming obsolete. The method of parting 

 with cadmium is not given. On p. 182 it is 

 stated that graphite is not attacked by basic 

 oxides. On p. 297, in the estimation of protective 

 alkali in cyanide solutions, a decinormal solution 

 of nitric acid is recommended instead of the usual 

 oxalic acid or the fairly satisfactory sulphuric 

 acid. The book certainly deserves a place on the 

 shelf of works assayers. As a concise and clear 

 statement of well-tried methods, it could scarcely 

 be improved. T. K. R. 



J A PA NESE MA THEM A TICS. 

 A History of Japanese Mathematics. By D. E. 

 Smith and Yoshio Mikami. Pp. vii + 288. 

 (Chicago and London : The Open Court Pub- 

 lishing Co., 1914.) Price 125. net. 



NOW that Europeans are becoming acquainted 

 with the history of mathematics in Japan, 

 it is possible for them to form a kind of general 

 opinion about the work of Japanese mathe- 

 maticians. Unless future research bring to light 

 works of a calibre superior to those now known, ■ 

 we must acquiesce in the conclusions stated in 

 the terminal pages of the present work. Briefly, 

 they are that Japan has not originated any great 

 and far-reaching theory, such as the infinitesimal 

 calculus, or function-theory, or group-theory; 

 while on the other hand, native methods of great 

 ingenuity, applied to particular problems, did lead 

 to equivalents for such things as Horner's method 

 in solving equations, the general rule for com- 

 puting, a determinant, and a large number of ways 

 of calculating tt, some including the use of infinite 

 series. 



Another thing in which the older Japanese* 

 J mathematicians excel is in dealing with a set of j 



