June 6, 191 8] 



NATURE 



263 



vantage. The author refers throughout to the 

 kilowatt-hour as the B.T.U., which is a contraction 

 for the Board of Trade (electrical) unit. It is 

 therefore liable to be confused with the British 

 thermal unit (B.Th.U.). In this edition a new 

 chapter on polyphase meters and the measure- 

 ment of polyphase power has been added, all the 

 well-known mathematical theorems being clearly 

 given. We sometimes wonder whether these 

 theorems will be included in the school studies of 

 the coming generation. A. Russell. 



NATURAL HISTORY OBSERVATIONS. 

 The Young Observer's Handbook. By W. P. 

 'Westell. Pp. 317. (London : McBride, Nast, 

 and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 



THIS book will be useful in giving practical 

 hints to young observers who have the root 

 of the matter in them. It gives hints about collect- 

 ing, preserving, and mounting ; about microscopic 

 work and photography ; about keeping pets and 

 making little museums ; about aquaria and 

 vivaria. It also suggests how the young natural- 

 ist may set about exploring shore-pools, ponds, 

 and other haunts of life ; or how he may make 

 much of the wild life of a garden. On the last 

 topic we have the best part of the book. The idea 

 of providing an all-round introduction to practical 

 Nature-study is good ; the mood of the book is 

 wholesome; and the text has been kept simple. 

 We are sorry to have to say that the style is easy- 

 going and inelegant. But there is in Mr. Wes- 

 tell's work an enthusiasm for Nature-study that 

 inclines one to forgive a good deal. Young ob- 

 servers will find in the book many suggestions 

 which will make them more efficient, but we think 

 and hope that they will, even when grateful, resent 

 the author's tendency to "talk down" and his 

 not infrequent wordiness. 



The book is liberally illustrated with one hun- 

 dred and fifty photographs, diagrams, and 

 sketches, many of which are of much interest. We 

 wish Mr. Westell's standard of precision and 

 accuracy had been higher, for it is by example as 

 much as by precept that young observers learn 

 that they can never go far unless they are dog- 

 gedly precise and accurate. Besides a frequent 

 vagueness in the book, there is a lack of careful- 

 ness, which is regrettable. Thus the figure of a 

 so-called Nautilus is quite wrong. It is a fictitious 

 Nautilus, which should not have been allowed to 

 figure in a scientific book. It is, we think, a pity 

 to tell boys and girls that "newts pass through a 

 similar metamorphosis to their relatives, the 

 frogs and toads. They also have, like them, a 

 supplemental breathing apparatus when grown 

 up, consisting of pores in the skin." Many other 

 examples might be given. Changing the subject 

 a little, we do not think that it profits much to 

 write : " I do not know that it matters whether 

 the young naturalist should be aware of the fact 

 that some fishes have teeth, whereas others are 

 toothless. We do not judge a man or woman, 

 a boy or girl, bv being toothless. We judge him 

 or her by the life that is led, and as such we may 

 NO. 2536, VOL. lOl] 



also judge fishes." But this Daniel come to judg- 

 ment has not judged rightly in including in his 

 handbook for young observers, wit'h a delightful 

 "foreword" from Marcus Aurelius (to which 

 name the author characteristically adds "An- 

 tonius "), three lists of the old horrors of connate 

 leaves, ochreate stipules, runciform shapes, 

 aeterio of follicles, and the regma. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 A Flora of Epsom and its Neighbourhood. Bv 



the Rev. T. N. Hart Smith-Pearse. Pp. ix+ 107. 



(Epsom : L. W. .\ndrews and Son, 1917.) Price 



35. 6d. net. 

 The late Headmaster of Epsom has worthily 

 carried on the traditions which he established at 

 Marlborough, and in his flora of Epsom and the 

 neighbourhood has produced a very useful little 

 book. 



The flora, which includes a good map of the 

 district, is the outcome of observations made 

 between the years 1889 and 1914 by Mr. Hart 

 Smith-Pearse and masters and other members of 

 the Epsom College Literary and Scientific Society. 

 The account suffers a little, no doubt, owing to the 

 absence of records during school vacations in 

 April and August, not so much in the omission 

 of plants, perhaps, as in the records of the first 

 flowering of certain species. 



These records of the earliest and latest dates of 

 flowering are a valuable addition to the flora, and 

 a particular feature of the natural history work, 

 both, at Marlborough and Epsom. 



The London Catalogue is followed as regards 

 specific names and the numbering of the orders 

 and genera, and in comparison with the Catalogue 

 for 1908, it is noted that twelve orders and 184 

 genera are not represented in the flora. 



The interest of the book is enhanced by the 

 attempt which has been made to give the 

 derivation of each generic name. It is unfor- 

 tunate that in the case of names from the Greek, 

 the Greek word is not given as a guide to the 

 pronunciation. The author has, however, taken 

 care to accent all the names, and we hope that 

 some day the proper pronunciation of cle'matis 

 will become general. 



As to Fumaria, we believe the. name to have 

 been used with reference to the resemblance of 

 the grey-leaved plants to smoke issuing from 

 ground, rather than to the smell of the plants. 

 Certainly the old authors referred to the fumitory 

 as fuma terrae. 



The studv of natural history as fostered by the 

 Rev. T. N. Hart Smith-Pearse, both at Marl- 

 borough and Epsom, is of the utmost value, as 

 bovs who have learnt how to observe, thanks to 

 the traditions he has established, well realise. As 

 an old Marlburian, the writer fully agrees that 

 field botany, properly studied, will not fail to bear 

 fruit in after years. "It is." as the author says 

 in his preface, "a branch of education which it is 

 foolish to neglect, for it may often lead a boy to 

 find his true career, and seldom fails to add to his 

 future happiness and enjoyment." A. W. TI. 



