July 22, 1920] 



NATURE 



641 



Our Bookshelf. 



Bibliography of Industrial Efficiency and Factory 



Management. (Books, Magazine Articles, etc.) 



With many Annotations and Indexes of Authors 



and of Subjects. By H. G. T. Cannons. 



(Efficiency Books.) Pp. viii+167. (London: 



George Routledge and Sons, Ltd. ; New York : 



E. P. Dutton and Co., 1920.) Price 105. 6d. net. 



Can this country pay the interest on the money 



borrowed during the war without reducing 



large sections of the community to poverty? The 



answer to this question appears to be that only 



by increasing the annual production by at least 



as much as corresponds to the necessary increase 



in taxation can we provide enough for everybody. 



Industrial efficiency is thus seen to be of vital 



importance. Employers and employed alike 



should therefore welcome any book which helps 



to improve methods of production. It will be 



generally agreed that our manufacturers have still 



much to learn in this direction. 



Mr. Cannons is to be congratulated on having 

 collected no fewer than 3500 references in this 

 bibliography. It would appear that more attention 

 has been given to the subject in the United States 

 than in Great Britain. For example, in a list of 

 thirty-two periodicals dealing more or less speci- 

 fically with industrial efficiency and factory man- 

 agement, we notice that twenty-three are published 

 in America. 



The bibliography is divided into sixty-four sub- 

 sections. The titles of a few of these will serve to 

 indicate the scope of the book : " Academic study 

 and teaching," "Principles of industrial effi- 

 ciency," "Factory and workshop management," 

 " Scientific management applied to special 

 branches of industry," "Fatigue study," "Hours 

 of labour," "Personal factor in scientific manage- 

 ment," and "Safety methods." 



We wish Mr. Cannons had done more to in- 

 dicate which among the articles referred to are 

 more likely to be worth careful study. Some help 

 in this direction is, however, given in brief notes 

 of the contents of many of the books and papers 

 indexed. 



Aliments Sucres. Sucres — Miels — Sirops — Con- 

 fitures — Sucreries — Sues et Reglisse. Par Dr. 

 E. Roux et Dr. C.-F. Muttelet. Pp. vi + 474. 

 Paris and Li6ge : Ch. Beranger, 1914. Price 

 12 francs. 

 The rnanual of Drs. Roux and Muttelet on the 

 analysis of foodstuffs of which sugar is an im- 

 portant constituent is naturally of somewhat re- 

 stricted interest. The first part deals with the 

 general optical and chemical methods of deter- 

 mining sugars and various other substances, such 

 as dyes and antiseptics, used in confectionery. In 

 the second part these methods are applied to the 

 examination of commercial products such as 

 honey, sugar, syrups, and preserves. The 

 French laws and regulations dealing with the 

 subject are given at some length together with 

 extracts from those of other countries. 



NO. 2647, VOL. 105] 



Letters to the Editor. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



British and Foreign Scientific Apparatus. 



It may, perhaps, be ust^ful if 1 attempt to sum up 

 the conclusions that seem to me to be justified from 

 the somewhat divergent views that have been ex- 

 pressed by those who have written upon this question. 



It is satisfactory to find that the makers are keenly 

 desirous of meeting the requirements of the scientific 

 worker. I think 1 am correct in saying that tfie 

 majority of these prefer to obtain British rather than 

 foreign goods, even at a somewhat higher price, pro- 

 vided that the quality is sufficiently good. It is here that 

 the difficulty stiows itself. It is significant that most 

 of the makers who have written on the matter belong 

 to the optical industry, and it is in this case that 

 the state of affairs appears to be the least to be com- 

 plained about, except, perhaps, in the smaller acces- 

 sory app>aratus, such as the object-marker referred to 

 by Mr. Dunkerly (Nature, June 3, p. 425). It 

 is chiefly with regard to glass, porcelain, and 

 chemicals that experience has been unfortunate. 

 There has undoubtedly been improvement, but 

 the impression given is that the makers as a 

 whole have not altogether grasped the necessity 

 of putting some of their best men to the work, and 

 that there has been some carelessness in sending out 

 goods of inferior quality. I have been told of flasks 

 the necks of which drop off on the draining rack. 

 It is natural that the users should be critical, especi- 

 ally when a large expense in time and money may 

 be incurred by the breakage of a beaker in the final 

 stage of a process. 



The exhibitions arranged by the British Science Guild 

 in 1918 and 1919 showed that excellent apparatus can 

 be produced, and the difficulty is presumably in the 

 main a matter of price. Glass and porcelain of quite 

 satisfactory quality are being made in this country, 

 and due credit should be given to the makers. The 

 Worcester porcelain works, for example, supply ex- 

 cellent crucibles. At the same time, consumers meet 

 with the experience that a large order cannot be relied 

 ujxjn to be of uniform quality. It is unfortunate, 

 though f>erhaps unavoidable, that unsatisfactory 

 apparatus was put on the market in the early stages 

 of the supply of British glass, and it was to enable a 

 greater perfection to be attained that I made the sug- 

 gestion of a subvention (Nature, May 6, p. 293). It 

 is to be rememt)ered that this is being done through 

 the research associations of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research, and it is in the 

 direction of more scientific investigations that progress 

 is to be looked for. In this connection, I may direct 

 attention to the statement in the leading article of 

 Nature for June 24 that the profit of some three or 

 four German dye-making firms in 1919 was more 

 than 3,000,000?., as compared with only 172,000/. by 

 the British Dyestuffs Corporation. 



The manufacturers want prohibition of import of 

 foreign apyparatus, at all events for a time, with the 

 granting of special licences to import. I think 

 it will be generally agreed that this would not meet 

 the case, owing to 4he difficulty and delay that would 

 necessarilv l)e involved. They do not wish for a tariff, 

 and the only alternative seems to be a grant in some 

 form. When British goods have attained the neces- 



