August 15, 1918] ' 



NATURE 



463 



lively in the highest form in schools. It is with 

 i^enuine appreciation of the success Mr. Downing 

 has achieved that we join with the editors in 

 recommending- this little book, high-priced for its 

 -^ize, " to the reading of ministers and laymen who 

 are desirous of obtaining in untechnical language 

 the results which scholars have arrived at in this 

 modern attack upon the problem of evolution." 

 The author is a competent biologist with a keen 

 educational sense. From data drawn from trot- 

 ting horses and distinguished human families he 

 shows that race counts. Which is the more 

 f>otent, environmental nurture or .hereditary 

 nature? "Such a question is about as sane as 

 whether wind or water is the more important in 

 the production of the waves that surge in along 

 the ocean shore." From mandrake flower and 

 frog's spawn the fundamental facts of reproduc- 

 tion and development are illustrated ; the import of 

 Mendelian inheritance and of the selection of muta- 

 tions is made clear; the question of the transmissi- 

 bility of individually acquired somatic modifica- 

 tions is dealt with wisely and practically, and the 

 inheritance of good and evil qualities in mankind 

 is ' illustrated without exaggeration. The book 

 expresses a clear mind, a well-balanced judgment, 

 a eugenic ideal, and a belief in education. \\'e 

 wish for it a great success, which it well deserves. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



A Map showing the Known Distribution in Eng- 

 land and Wales of the Anopheline Mosquitoes, 

 with Explanatory Text and Notes. By W. D. 

 Lang. Pp. 63. (London : British Museum 

 Natural History, 1918.) Price 2s. 6d. 

 The map deals with the distribution of the 

 anopheline mosquitoes (Anopheles mactdipennis, 

 !. bifurcatus, A. plumbeus (nigripes)) previously 

 ( corded as indigenous and proved to convey 

 malaria. The text contains records relating to 

 the distribution of these mosquitoes, and, like the 

 map, is modelled on the publications of Nuttall, 

 Cobbelt, and Strangeways-Pigg (1901), "Studies 

 in Relation to Malaria: i., The Geographical Dis- 

 tribution of Anopheles in Relation to the Former 

 Distribution of Ague in England,". Journal of 

 Hygiene, vol. i. ; and Nuttall (1905), ibid., vol. v., 

 a considerable number of additional data being 

 supplied from records hitherto unpublished. The 

 statement made by the earlier authors that 

 Anopheles are likely to l>e found in suitable waters 

 anywhere in this country is confirmed. The fea- 

 tures whereby the species may be identified are 

 described, and a brief account is given of their life- 

 history. Taken in conjunction with the earlier 

 papers cited and those by Nuttall and .Shipley 

 (1901-3), "Studies in Relation to Malaria: ii.. 

 The Structure and Biology of .Anopheles," ibid., 

 vols. i. iii., readers will find in these sources most 

 of the information that is obtainable regarding the 

 insects. Their importance is fully appreciated 

 now that indigenous cases of malaria have arisen 

 more frequently owing to the return to England 

 NO. 2546, VOL. lOl] 



of soldiers with malaria, there being no reason 

 why malaria should not become re-establishe'd and 

 more widely distributed in this country if adequate 

 precautions are not taken. 



Wayfarings: A Record of Adventure and 

 Liberation in the Life of the Spirit. By W. J. 

 Jupp. Pp. 234. (London: Headley Bros., 

 Ltd., n.d.) Price 6s. net. 

 This autobiographical study will interest many 

 who have lived through the period of intellectual 

 transition which had its keynote in the evolution- 

 idea. It tells frankly, sometimes naively, of the 

 author's "advance from the credulities of 

 Calvinism to that liberty of open-mindedness 

 which permits the continual readjustment of 

 belief to the ever-widening experience of 

 life." Greatly influenced by Wordsworth, 

 Emerson, Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, he 

 reached, after many wayfarings and much 

 discipline, a serene faith i'n the orderliness, 

 rationality, progressiveness, and purposefulness 

 of the cosmic process. "The Universe must needs 

 care for all its creatures." "The Spirit of the 

 whole must surely be present and effective in all its 

 parts." "The Creative Spirit of Life must be 

 continually present and effective in all forms of its 

 activity, in all creatures through which it lives and 

 has its being." But what gives the book a special 

 interest for us here is its disclosure of what the 

 beauty of Nature^ — ^ven in its most familiar expres- 

 sions — may come to mean to a busy man in the 

 way of " refreshment and inspiration and console 

 ing grace." In the quietness of old age he went to 

 a garden-city and continued to make his soul and 

 to find " this world, with all its strangeness and 

 apparent failure, a very homelike, habitable 

 place." In th^ autumn, though he did not strain 

 to listen, he heard the voice of spring. To many 

 readers, especially of patient years, " Wayfarings " 

 will give much pleasure. 



Mathematics for Engineers. Part I., including 

 Elementary and Higher Algebra, Mensuration 

 and Graphs, and Plane Trigonometry. By W. N. 

 Rose. (The Directly Useful Technical Series.) 

 Pp. xiv + 510. (London : Chapman and ftall, 

 Ltd., 1918.) Price 85. 6d. net. 

 This book contains a course on algebra, mensura- 

 tion, and plane trigonometry for engineering 

 students ; the calculus, vector analysis, spherical 

 trigonometry, differential equations, etc., being 

 reserved for part ii., which is to appear shortly.. 

 It is to be feared that a beginner may be some- 

 what confused by the arrangement adopted ; thus 

 Cardan's solution of the cubic occurs on p. 6/, the 

 rule for finding the area of a triangle on p. 79, 

 and the definition of a circle on p. 90. Even the 

 practical portions of the book are in places rather 

 misleading : it must surely be easier to add 

 logarithms vertically than horizontally. But doubt- 

 less the teacher will find the book a valuable mine 

 for examples likely to interest the future engineer, 

 as bearing on problems connected with his prac- 

 tical work. 



