April 29, 1920] 



NATURE 



259 



thing at school. Most of the work in the courses 

 for students in their first year, and some of that 

 in the second, in all the* engineering- schools with 

 which I am acquainted, is of a kind that a boy 

 might well be expected to do at school. There 

 is no reason why a boy of eighteen, of the mental 

 calibre which would justify his becoming an 

 engineer, should not have a good working know- 

 ledge of the calculus and the elementary parts of 

 differential equations, and have read a consider- 

 able portion of dynamics. Tb«s could, I am con- 

 vinced, be done without undue specialisation, and 

 without depriving the boy of the literary training 

 which is essential, if he is to keep his sympathies 

 wide and his mind receptive." 



w. c. u. 



Health and the Teacher. 



A. Text-hook of Hygiene for Training Colleges. 

 By Margaret Avery. Pp. xv + 324. (London : 

 Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1919.) Price 75. 6d. net. 



THIS book is intended to cover the subject- 

 matter of the Board of Education Certificate 

 Examination for Training Colleges in England. 

 It includes the usual anatomico-physiological 

 " properties " long familiar in books of this order 

 since the days of Huxley's "Physiology": 

 elementary ideas about structure of tissues, the 

 skeleton, the muscular system, the circulatory 

 system, the digestive system, etc. But the exposi- 

 tion is kept well within the technicalities suited 

 to the students concerned. There are chapters on 

 food, clothing, cleanliness, mental dullness and 

 (deficiency, fatigue, infectious diseases, temper- 

 ance, school building, medical inspection and 

 treatment, special schools, welfare of infants and 

 young children, legislation affecting school 

 children, and eugenics. 



This is a very large programme for so small a 

 book, but the expositions, which, incidentally, 

 retain a good deal of the somewhat loose notes- 

 for-lecture style, are, on the whole, relevant and 

 practical. The author has kept close touch with 

 official memoranda, reports, and standard books. 

 The result is that the volume, all through, con- 

 tains good informational material which has obvi- 

 ously stood the test of experience in the class- 

 room. 



It is difficult to say how much medical informa- 

 tion proper should be included in a book like this, 

 but to untrained lay persons it is of no value to 

 state that, in anaemia, "a little iron often has 

 excellent results " (p. 42). Again, as to the cause 

 of rickets, something more is wanted than that 

 "the cause is wrong food, chiefly lack of fat, a 

 lack existing in all patent foods " (p. 88). This 

 kind of information may fulfil the terms of a 

 NO. 2635, VOL. 105] 



syllabus, but it is of no value whatever to the 

 student, though, usually, in a practical curriculum, 

 there are many opportunities of supplementing 

 these generalities by demonstrations of cases. 



The chapter on " First Aid " relies on accepted 

 instrilctions, but Schafer's method for recovery 

 from drowning should have a place. The 

 chapters on legislation affecting children and on 

 eugenics are judiciously proportioned, but the 

 remarks on the causes of pauperism as implying 

 " a want of grit and independence " (p. 305), and 

 on feeble-mindedness and heredity, show that the 

 author has accepted somewhat too uncritically the 

 theoretical deductions of "experts." The book 

 will, however, serve as a good text-book for the 

 practical teacher. 



Our Bookshelf. 



The Mineralogy of the Rarer Metals : A Handbook 

 for Prospectors. By Edward Cahen and 

 William Ord Wootton. With a foreword by 

 F. W. Harbord. Second edition, revised by 

 Edward Cahen. Pp. xxxii -1-246. (London: 

 Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1920.) Price 

 I OS. 6d. 



This book is neatly bound, and is of handy size 

 for the pocket. The mineral descriptions are con- 

 veniently treated in a general way in the alpha- 

 betical order of the metals. The alkali metals come 

 first; then follow beryllium, cerium, and so on to 

 zirconium. Under each metal the properties, 

 preparation, industrial application, and ores are 

 first considered; following this an account of the 

 chemical methods for its detection, and a list of 

 the minerals containing the metal, are given. 

 Much care appears to have been taken in describ- 

 ing the chemical and physical character of the 

 minerals and the tests available for purposes of 

 identification. Separate sections at the end of 

 the book deal with the geographical distribution 

 of rare metals and methods of analysis. 



To the critical reader of the book many of its 

 features suggest questions and scope for improve- 

 ment. Is it permissible to regard titanium as a 

 rare metal? Ilmenite is certainly not a rare 

 mineral, and it is incorrect to refer to this mineral 

 as "a chief constituent of monazite from Travan- 

 core and Ceylon " (p. 130). It would be more 

 correct to say that the chief producer of rutile is 

 Virginia, U.S.A., than to imply, as the author 

 does, that the chief producer is Norway (p. 131). 

 Under tungsten no mention is made of the wolf- 

 ramite deposits in China, which has recently been 

 the leading producer (p. 141). Zircon is men- 

 tioned as occurring in "Scotland and Ireland," 

 but no mention is made of its universal distribu- 

 tion in sands and gravels such as those of Hamp- 

 stead Heath (pp. 182, 189). 



The section dealing with geographical distribu- 

 tion has been revised, but it might with advantage 

 be amplified to include such countries as Spain, 



