August i, 191 8] 



NATURE 



42, 



causes which led Germany to contrive the 

 present war ; but few know the inner history 

 of this project. This want is now well sup- 

 plied by Prof. M. Jastrow, the well-known 

 professor of Semitic languages in the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, and his exposures 

 fully justify President Wilson's informed state- 

 ment that this railway was "the heart of the 

 matter" in the long-planned German arrangements 

 for this war, and that "it is the bulk of German 

 power inserted into the heart of the world." 



The railway, intended to connect Constantinople 

 and Bagdad, stretches across Asia Minor along 

 one of the most historical highways of the ancient 

 world. The scope of the story told by Prof. Jas- 

 trow and his interesting style are well seen in the 

 following extract, which also summarises the 

 scope of the book : — 



"The purpose of this volume is to elucidate an 

 asp>ect of the war which, although overshadowed 

 at present by the paramount issue— the menace of 

 a militarism in league with autocracy — was the most 

 significant factor contributing to the outbreak of 

 the long-foreseen war in 1914, and will form one 

 of the most momentous problems when the time of 

 the peace negotiations arrives. Ever since the an- 

 nouncement was made towards the close of the year 

 1899 that the Turkish Government had conceded 

 to a German syndicate the privilege of building a 

 railway to connect Constantinople with Bagdad 

 through a transverse route across Asia Minor the 

 Bagdad Railway has been the core of the Eastern 

 question. There were, to be sure, other aspects of 

 that question, which led to the two Balkan wars of 

 1912 and 1913, but the addition of the Bagdad 

 Railway was an aggravating factor to an already 

 sufficiently complicated situation, that involved the 

 great European Powers — England, France, Ger- 

 many, and Russia — in a network of diplomatic 

 negotiations the meshes of which became closer 

 as the years rolled on. Th6 railway became the 

 spectre of the twentieth century. It was a spectre 

 that always appeared armed 'from tip to toe,' and 

 when occasionally he ' wore his beaver up ' the 

 face was that of a grim, determined warrior." 



Numerous excellent photographic illustrations 

 give vivid glimpses of the scenery along the line 

 of the railway and several of its bridges and 

 mountain tunnels ; and there are historical and 

 archaeological notes by the way, from classic down 

 to Crusading times, with a good, useful, and up- 

 to-date map. L. A. Waddell. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 How to Enlighten our Children: A Book for 

 Parents. By Dr. Mary Scharlieb. Pp. V.+ 202. 

 (London : Williams and Norgate, 1918.) Price 

 35. 6d. net. 



'A'e welcome this very useful little book on the 

 xed question of how to educate children in 

 . cgard to their physical nature and its develop- 

 ment. As Dr. vScharlieb says, the difficulty lies 

 not so much in the shy reluctance of parents a^ in 

 NO, 2544, VOL. lOl] 



their absolute ignorance of what they ought to 

 teach, and she here sets forth simply and straight- 

 forwardly the main facts the parent must know 

 in order to guide the child aright. 



•A brief chapter on the child in the pre-pubertal 

 stage is followed by an account of the reproduc- 

 tive organs and their functions in girls, the 

 changes that take place at puberty, and the com- 

 moner physiological difficulties that may arise. 

 Much wise advice is given to mothers on the need 

 for sympathetic watchfulness during this period 

 of physical transition, with its influence on the 

 moral and spiritual nature. In the succeeding 

 section the boy with his particular difficulties is 

 dealt with in the same way, and a chapter is 

 devoted to the special instruction he needs at the 

 onset of puberty. 



"How Life is Transmitted" gives an account 

 of the beginnings of life in the plant and animal 

 world. This is necessarily slight, but it is sufficient 

 to indicate the way in which teaching of the bio- 

 logical facts of sex at a stage when they are still 

 external to the child's mind may be used as a safe 

 foundation for personal sex instruction when that 

 comes to be necessary. 



The last section of the book is devoted to the 

 social aspect of the sex question — the dangers to 

 which young adults of both sexes are exposed 

 under modern industrial conditions, the " social 

 evil " and how to combat it, and the value as a 

 safeguard of continual insistence on the eugenic 

 point of view. 



Acoustics for Musicians. By Prof. P. C. Buck. 



Pp. 152. (Oxford : At the Clarendon Press, 

 I 1918.) Price 75. 6d. net. 

 This text-book is intended to present to music 

 students the scientific basis of their subject, and 

 to many such students probably any science is 

 somewhat difficult, even that with which they are 

 most concerned proving no exception. Accord- 

 ingly, the author of such a work undertakes a 

 hard task ; but in the present case its difficulties 

 have been tackled with sympathy, insight, and 

 skill. The result is a work which should prove 

 welcome to those who, though their chief interest 

 lies in the music itself, must acquire some know- 

 ledge of the scientific principles underlying it. 



The book is divided into six parts, dealing 

 respectively with production of sound, pitch, 

 intensity, quality, temperament, ^nd transmis- 

 sion. The sixth part includes chapters on com- 

 bination tones, consonance and dissonance, and 

 the human ear. The fifth part has a chapter on 

 the equal and mean-tone temperaments. This sub- 

 ject is treated from the musician's point of view, 

 and its inevitable mathematical difficulties are re- 

 duced to a minimum. 



In a work otherwise so excellent it is regret- 

 table that, in the diagrams of wave curves, 

 circular arcs usually occur instead of true sine 

 graphs. But this is practically the only blemish 

 in a book which is to be heartily commended for 

 its accuracy and lucidity. E. H. B. 



