f02 



NATUm. 



[M-m 1.6': ipijg^ 



The author is interesting on the folk-lbre of. 

 war and the signification of soldiers' songs. These' 

 he must admit are for the most part crude and 

 childish^ but possess the merit of dispeilihg sad- 

 ness and relieving psychic tension, and tend to 

 elevate the patriotic spirit. He quotes figures to 

 prove that the infantry invariably bear the brunt 

 of the battle and most truly are the representatives 

 of -their nation. When it comes to the final assault 

 they aire the principal factor in victory. Each 

 nation has its own innate characteristics, and there- 

 fore each army its own methods of fighting, so 

 that the slavish imitation of another nation's 

 methods should be severely deprecated. The feats 

 accomplished by the infantry are due to strict 

 laws and to the correlation between the nation 

 and the army ; thus a people in possession of good 

 infantry can achieve a durable success, and this 

 can be established only on a love of national inde- 

 pendence. Modern war, therefore, has accentu- 

 ated and not diminished the importance of indi- 

 viduality in battle. The ultimate argument in 

 war is not the cannon, but the man. 



In the last few pages of the book the author 

 gives a short though useful account of the effects 

 ot war upon the soldier's nervous system. His 

 conclusion is that "war insanity " in the strict 

 sense is either non-existent or extremely rare. 

 War simply brings into evidence, in those in- 

 dividuals already predisposed, the classical symp- 

 torhs of the various insanities with which we are 

 familiar in civil life. This opinion is now uni- 

 versally accepted. 



The author has devoted most study in this 

 direction to the psychoneuroses caused by pro- 

 found emotion-^for example, "shell shock" — and 

 emphasises their similarity with those found to 

 occur after earthquakes and other disasters. 

 Violent emotion tends to produce fear, which in 

 a normal person may be unaccompanied by a 

 morbid mental disturbance. In the predisposed, 

 however, the violent emotion of fear determines 

 symptoms of "shock," some elements of which 

 are fixed for a longer or shorter time by auto- 

 suggestion. The author does not accept the view that 

 emotional and "shock" symptoms are separable. 



The book is an extremely able study and well 

 worthy of perusal. One cannot, however, avoid 

 criticising the unusually close spacing. This, pos- 

 sibly, is due to measures of economy. 



OZONE AS A HYGIENIC AGENT. 

 Ozone: Its Manufacture, Properties, and Uses. 

 By Dr. A. Yosmaer, Pp. xii + 197. (London : 

 Constable and Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price xos. 6d. 

 net. 



IN comparatively recent years the production of 

 ozone, or rather of air containing a small per- 

 centage of ozone, on an industrial scale has 

 i;eached a considerable degree of development, 

 chiefly on account of its application to the sterilisa- 

 tion of drinking water. In a less degree ozonised 

 air has been applied to the deodorisation of the air 

 of public buildings, underground railways,' etc. 

 NO. 2533, VOL. lOl] 



T^hese , tfipliiinic^l, .de,yelQpmeR,t,?.^i(, ar,e, .associated 

 nx^Aly with the name^, of ,the.S^n^iEi^^,.an(^ Hijiis^^ 

 Abraham^-Marniier,;; bttp, ar>d.,;,fB^n^ra|; Eiecjtfjb 

 Companies. ■,, ; ,, . .. , > f» 



, As regards European works employing ozonised 

 air for the purification of drinking water. Dr.- 

 Vosmaer gives a list of forty-nine installations, 

 treating in summo nearly ,, eighty-five million 

 gallons of water per day of twenty-rfour hours. 

 Of these the largest are at Paris, Pptrograd, Nice, 

 Villefranche, Lun^ville, Lqrient, Florence,, 

 Chartres, Saint-Servan, Laval, Compi^gne, Con- 

 stanza, and Wiesbaden. 



Parts i. and ii. of the present work deal with 

 the chemistry of ozone, the electrical discharge in 

 gases,- the different types of technical ozonisers 

 and their output and efficiency. Part iii. is con- 

 cerned with the uses of ozone, and part iv. con- 

 tains a list of American patents bearing on ozone 

 and a bibliography of papers and books. 



Although it is undeniable that the book contains 

 a good deal of useful information, and is written 

 by an author practically familiar with the subject, 

 it must be admitted that its scientific niveau is not 

 high. Even when we come to the more technical 

 part, where the author is obviously more at home, 

 there is very little of that thorough quantitative 

 information which is requisite for the scientific 

 designer of plant. A number of diagrams, photo- 

 graphs of plant, and curves are given, but the 

 treatment of the subject is distinctly sketchy and 

 superficial, and does not convey the impression 

 that the author possesses a real scientific know- 

 ledge of the chemical, electrical,' and engineering 

 principles, relating, to his subject. Viewed, how- 

 ever, as a semi-technical, semi-popular account of 

 the manufacture and uses of ozone (which is, per- 

 haps, all that the author intended it to be), the 

 book is certainly interesting, and will, no doubt, 

 be of use to readers unacquainted with the subject. 



F. G. DONNAN. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Cellulose: An Outline of the Chemistry of the 

 Structural Elements of Plants with Reference 

 to their Natural History and Industrial Uses. 

 By Cross and Bevan. New impression, with 

 Supplement. Pp. xviii + 348. (London : Long- 

 mans, Green, and Co., 1918.) Price 145. net. 

 This well-known monograph by authors actively 

 engaged in original investigation on many matters 

 connected with the cellulose group is written in 

 a manner stimulating to all workers in this field. 

 The new impression is chiefly remarkable . for a 

 supplementary phapter- of twenty pages, the 

 greater portion of which is composed of the 

 authors' critical review of researches published by 

 others during the last two Or thfee'years. In 

 addition therq^is-^ A*ery^ if)terestin.gtre'5Mme of the 

 authors' views on the standard of, purity for 

 '.'pure celluipsQ " afid of their- att(ejt)pts to define a 

 "normal cellulose.." Whilst they regard cotton 

 cellulose ! as -the . prototype of the group, it is 

 'a'ffil:'med, in ■contradi'stinctioii' to- the • descriptions 



