November 29, 191 7] 



NATURE 



exercise of a science of corporate, or constructive, 

 human geography, manufacture and agriculture, 

 the workshop and the land must become reci- 

 procal and complementary " (chap. iv,). This 

 policy would involve national co-operation, and 

 ultimately international also (chap. ix.). 



Amongst the far-reaching consequences, Mr. 

 Knock anticipates : scientific limitation to the 

 growth of towns and the healthy "pruning and 

 reconstruction " (chap. v.) of over-grown 

 population-centres, with their nests of hunger, 

 squalor, and disease ; world-wide decentralisation 

 of industry (chap, vi.) ; and the rehabilitation of 

 native "arts and crafts" (chap, vii.), now 

 rapidly disappearing or pathetically deteriorating 

 under cut-throat competition of the unregulated 

 growth of machine industry. 



So much for the strength of a notable volume 

 that courts a second study, though revealing 

 thereby its weaknesses also. 



In good faith we accept Mr. Knock's belief in 

 the originality of his diagnosis and proposals. 

 But his historical chapter (xv. : "The Kailures of 

 Utopias ") with the book as a whole is, to one 

 sympathetic reader at least, conclusive evidence of 

 the insufficiency of his grasp of -the work of pre- 

 decessors and contemporaries ; of failure or 

 incapacity to think out fundamental principles 

 systematically ; and of inadequate assessment of 

 human passions and financial factors. 



Perhaps Mr. Knock is himself not wholly un- 

 aware of these serious defects : he mentions, 

 frankly and often, serious difficulties, but only to 

 pass them by on the ground — ill-chosen, we sub- 

 mit to him — that they are not substantially 

 relevant. 



In the spirit of his own "corporate " science we 

 therefore venture this advice : Let the author con- 

 join with himself, or at least seek the frank 

 criticism of one thinker expert in politico-econo- 

 mic history, and another versed in finance. And 

 let him add a good index. 



Benchara Branford. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Le Paludisme Macedonien. Par P. Armand- 

 Delille, P. Abrami, G. Paisseau, et Henri 

 Lemaire. (Collection Horizon Precis de Mede- 

 cine et de Chirurgie de Guerre.) Pp. viii+ 109. 

 (Paris : Masson et Cie, 1917.) Price 4 francs. 

 This is a very lucid and terse description of the 

 symptoms and treatment of malaria, based 

 largely on experience of that malady among 

 soldiers infected in Macedonia. The subject 

 is treated after the method of many recent 

 French writers, in that a sharp distinction is 

 drawn between the symptoms of primary and 

 secondary malaria. We doubt, however, the 

 reality of the distinction, and if it exists, it prac- 

 tically is not of great import, for the funda- 

 mental treatment is always the same, viz. quinine. 

 In one respect we consider the authors' mode of 

 dealing with the subject is unsatisfactory : they 

 discuss malaria as a whole. We believe, on the 

 NO. 2509, VOL. 100] 



contrary, that the proper method is to determine 

 first what species of parasite is present in the 

 blood, and then to associate clinical observations 

 with that species alone. That this is the sounder 

 method is exemplified by the occurrence of coma- 

 tose symptoms almost exclusively with the malig- 

 nant tertian parasites, and other instances might 

 Ije given. 



In the section dealing with treatment, sufficient 

 emphasis is not laid on.the very important distinc- 

 tion between a temporary and a permanent cure. 

 Any of the methods given in this book would 

 suffice to secure the former, but none of them will, 

 in the majority of cases, affect a real cure, i.e. 

 the elimination of parasites from the system- — r.^. 

 in simple tertian malaria — at least in a reasonable 

 time, say two to three months ; for in longer 

 periods generally vis medicatrix naturae alone will 

 produce the desired result. That, however, a cure 

 can, in the majority of cases, be efl^ected by 

 improved methods of quinine treatment, we believe 

 experience of malaria in this war has shown. The 

 student of malaria can with advantage study this 

 book. 



The Quest for Truth {Swarthmore Lecture). By 

 Silvanus P. Thompson. Pp. 128. (London : 

 Headley Bros., Ltd., 1917.) Price 15. 

 "The Quest for Truth" is a lecture given to the 

 Society of Friends, of which the late Prof. 

 Silvanus Thompson was a member; but it will be 

 helpful to all who, like genuine students of 

 science, put truth in the first place. Of that com- 

 munity any distinctive opinions are mentioned only 

 in the latter part, and here an orthodox Church- 

 man, though he could not admit that the Council 

 of Nicaea decided " person " and " substance " to 

 be the same, for the terms there used were the 

 more adequate "hypostasis" and "ousia," and 

 may think Prof. Thompson failed to apprehend 

 the full significance of the "Virgin Birth," will 

 welcome the catholicity of his creed. The earlier 

 and 4arger part of the lecture deals with the 

 methods and spirit demanded in all who under- 

 take so toilsome a pilgrimage. Here is made 

 clear the distinction between categorical and 

 analogical truth, the moral obligation of truth- 

 speaking, the evils consequent on neglecting it, 

 and those which arise from the misuse or mis- 

 understanding of words, from over-respect for 

 authority, from carelessness and impatience in re- 

 search, and other weaknesses of human nature — 

 evils so patent at the present day in politics, in 

 relifrion, sometimes even in science. 



The quest for truth is never popular, for it is 

 not that of the crowd, and the discovery of it is 

 "not for him who is careless of truth in speech 

 or deed, or in habit of mind. Neither is it for 

 him whose thinking apparatus is in a state of 

 confusion." Kxtremists in orthodoxy will doubt- 

 less place Prof. Thompson's book on their Index, 

 and materialists will class him with the credulous ; 

 but others, and they not few, will welcome this 

 little book as the legacy of an eminent student of 

 science and a truly religious man. 



