May 6, 1920] 



NATURE 



29: 



designer. We can recommend the book to all 

 engineers desirous of obtaining information on the 

 running of Diesel engines. 



A Course of Practical Chemistry for Agricultural 

 Students. Vol. i. By L. F. Newman and 

 Prof. H. A. D. Neville. Pp. 235. (Cambridge: 

 At the University Press, 1920.) Price los. 6d. 

 net. 

 Mr. Newman and Prof. Neville have brought 

 into three volumes details of a practical course of 

 agricultural chemistry designed for students tak- 

 ing degrees in agricultural science; the present 

 volume deals with the chemistry and physics of 

 the soil. Much of the book is concerned with pure 

 chemistry and pure physics (physical properties 

 of gases, density, specific heat, etc.), and has 

 no special connection with agriculture as distinct 

 from any other branch of science ; only about 

 one-third is devoted to soils and manures. 



The exercises appear to be well chosen, but one 

 cannot help wishing that the authors had used 

 one of the many books already published on pure 

 chemistry, and given more space to agricultural 

 problems. 



The exercises on soils and manures are mainly 

 analytical ; they are on the usual lines, and 

 intended obviously for elementary students, for 

 whom the instructions should be found sufficient. 

 Had there been more space available, some more 

 inspiring exercises might well have been given, 

 especially in the direction of pot and plot experi- 

 ments. Many of the properties of soil are more 

 easily demonstrated out of doors than indoors, 

 and in any case the principles of soil fertility 

 cannot be elucidated entirely by purely laboratory 

 work. Numerous experiments have been devised, 

 but they are scattered about over a number of 

 text-books and have never been collected. 



Within the limits they have set themselves, the 

 authors have produced a useful book Avhich will 

 be helpful to teachers, especially in these busy 

 times, when classes are large and demonstrators 

 very hard-worked. 



The Mason-Wasps. By J. Henri Fabre. Trans- 

 lated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Pp. 

 vi-f3i8. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 

 n.d.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 

 The writings of few open-air naturalists have 

 equalled, or even approached, in ease and attrac- 

 tiveness of style the "Souvenirs entomologiques " 

 of J. H. Fabre, the veteran observer of S^rignan. 

 Much of the charm of these essays has been 

 preserved in the skilful translations by A. T. de 

 Mattos, of which the present work is an example 

 in no way inferior, either in interest or in wealth of 

 accurate observation, to the other volumes of the 

 series. In it are recorded the results of a minute 

 and careful study of the life-history of wasps 

 belonging to the genera Eumenes, Odynerus, 

 Pelopoeus, Agenia, and Vespa, related with the 

 utmost simplicity and vividness, and illuminated 

 by the lively and charming personality of the 

 author. 



NO. 2636, VOL. 105] 



Leavmg the domain of pure observation and 

 experiment, and entering on that of bionomic 

 speculation, we find Fabre a less satisfactory 

 guide. It is well known that no theories of evo- 

 lution appealed to him in the least degree, and the 

 naivetd with which he touches and dismisses the 

 problems of mimicry and protective resemblance 

 in the volume before us gives a key to the reasons 

 of his failure to appreciate the greatest advances 

 in biological science of his time. On the other 

 hand, his views on the subject of instinct, forti- 

 fied by ingenious experiments on the mud-building 

 and spider-storing habit of Pelopoeus and on the 

 cocoon-weaving procedure of Saturnia, are sound 

 enough. But it is difficult to follow him in the 

 distinction that he draws between "instinct " and 

 "discernment"; nor can one take seriously his 

 playful remarks on the mental processes involved 

 in insect activities. F. A. D. 



The Handbook of Cyprus. Eighth issue. Edited 

 by Harry Charles Luke and Douglas James 

 Jardine. Pp. xii + 300. (London : Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 1920.) Price 125. net. 

 To every Englishman — and by that we mean every 

 English-speaking citizen of our Commonwealth — 

 Cyprus suggests, not the succession of love-cults, 

 but that one great lovers' meeting when Othello 

 came to land. "Once more well met in Cyprus." 

 This new issue of the official handbook assures 

 us that the island is now a Crown colony of 

 Britain. Let us trust that its authors, who are 

 both administrators of empire, in reviewing their 

 work among its mixed inhabitants, may record 

 that they "have found great love amongst them." 

 It is rare to find a publication that in its essence 

 is economic and statistical allowing also for the 

 taste of visitors in archaeology and natural history. 

 Enough is here given in a small compass to lead 

 the reader on to the works enumerated on 

 PP- 93~95 ^'^d in the sections on geology and 

 zoology. It would have been well if the treatment 

 of the geology had been connected with the brief 

 geographical section which occurs some two 

 hundred pages earlier. The comparatively recent 

 origin of the islands of the Levant, consequent on 

 the breaking up of the ^gean land, is the real 

 basis for the history of merchant fleets. The 

 dwarf elephant and hippopotamus, so well 

 included under Natural History on p. 246, are 

 effective links in the romance. We find so much 

 in this invitation to the isle that we should like 

 to arrange it more in sequence, so as to produce 

 the true geographical effect. Perhaps each 

 reader will do this for himself as he journeys 

 eastward, sure of welcome. G. A. J. C. 



An Introduction to Social Psychology. By Dr. W. 

 McDougall. Fourteenth edition. Pp. xxiv-f 

 459. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1919.) 

 Price 75. 6d. net. 

 In this edition, among other changes, the prin- 

 ciple is elaborated that all emotion is the affective 

 aspect of instinctive process. 



