72 



NATURE 



[September 25, 1919 



OL'i? BOOKSHELF. 



Birds Beneficial to Agriculture: Economic Series 



No. 9, British Museum {Natural History). By 



F. W. Frohavvk. Pp. vi + 47. (London: 



British Museum (Natural History), 1919.) 



Price 2s. 



It is important that attention should be focussed 



now and again on the benefits that accrue to 



farmer and gardener from the activities of birds, 



for too frequent reiteration of misdemeanours 



tends to produce an antagonism which the facts 



do not warrant ; and there is greater danger in 



• indiscriminate destruction than in indiscriminate 



protection. Recognising these facts, the Trustees 



of the British Museum have done good service, 



at once to the farmer and to the naturalist, in 



publishing this pamphlet, and in preparing the 



special exhibit to which it makes an efficient and 



attractive guide. 



Of the birds the presence of which in Britain 

 is of any importance in this connection, " 120 

 species may be regarded as decidedly beneficial 

 to agriculture generally," and of these Mr. 

 Frohavvk describes in detail a very fair sample of 

 forty-four species, and adds besides two short 

 general notices, necessarily somewhat perfunctory 

 in treatment, on birds in their relation to injurious 

 insects and to agriculture. Careful illustrations 

 by the author make easy the task of identifying 

 a large proportion of the species described. It 

 is to be regretted, however, in a work dealing 

 primarily with economic values that more space 

 could not have been given to feeding habits and 

 food statistics, even at the expense of specific 

 characters and of habits of less immediate import- 

 ance. Neverjheless, this latest addition to the 

 " Economic Series " of British Museum Publica- 

 tions should help to awaken and broaden interest 

 in the valuable heritage which Britain possesses 

 in its birds. 



Rudiments of Handicraft. By W. A. S. Benson. 



Pp. 40. (London : John Murray, 1919.) Price 



15. net. 

 This is a forty-page pamphlet, illustrated by 

 fourteen pages of sketches, which attempts to set 

 forth the principles and practice of manual train- 

 ing for children between the ages of eight and 

 twelve, taking wood in the form of sawn laths 

 ij in. wide and ^ in. thick as the material to be 

 used. 



The idea of the use of strip wood manipulated 

 by quite simple tools is by no means newj having 

 been adopted in certain important educational 

 centres more than twenty years ago. It is diffi- 

 cult to realise how some of the exercises figured 

 in the book can be made into the substantial 

 structures for which they are designed on the 

 methods described, and many of the drawings 

 leave much to be desired from both the technical 

 and artistic points of view. It is just as important 

 for the pupil to be taught to make an accurate 

 drawing in plan elevation and section of the object 



NO. 2604, VOL. 1 04] 



he purposes to produce as it is for him to execute 

 it. 



The well-trained manual instructor who ought 

 to find an honoured place in every school will 

 search in vain for much that is really helpful to 

 him in the pamphlet. The principle of hand and 

 eye training and of its high and necessary educa- 

 tional value is now fully admitted by educationists 

 and is well established, and a large body of 

 capable men fully trained in teaching methods are 

 now available who have formed themselves into 

 an association and assemble in annual conference 

 with the view of promoting the efficiency of their 

 work. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor docs not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by His correspondents. Neither 

 can be 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.] 



National Representation upon International Councils. 



In the account of the meeting of the International 

 Research Council (Nature, .August 14, p. 464) it is 

 stated that "the United Kingdom" was "repre- 

 sented " on the council by "delegates." The explana- 

 tion in the first paragraph of your Notes of Sep- 

 tember 4 of how the "delegates " were appointed 

 shows that the words are the expression of an inten- 

 tion rather than of a fact. The council apparently 

 wished that its decisions should have some authority 

 other than that derived from the personal distinction 

 of its members, but their wishes remained unfulfilled 

 because there is in existence no machinery for select- 

 ing a delegation representative of the scientific 

 workers of this country. It seems worth while, there- 

 fore, to inquire what characteristics such machinery- 

 must have in order that it should fulfil this purpose, 

 and how such machinery could be set in action. 



I suggest that the machinery necessar}' and suffi- 

 cient would be such as secures that everv professional 

 scientific worker is informed of any action that it is 

 proposed to lake which may affect his work and that 

 he has a constitutional means of expressing his opinion 

 upon the proposal. It does not appear to be necessary 

 that any attempt should be made to obtain the equality 

 of voting power which is important in a representative 

 body concerned with political and economic questions 

 — so long, of course, as such questions are e.xcluded 

 froin the domain of the body and its attention is con- 

 fined to purely scientific matters. 



The chief ditficulty in establishing such machinery 

 is that of defining the class of professional scientific 

 workers. It ought to be overcome by the method used 

 in defining the members of other professions. 

 Lawyers, architects, actuaries, and medical practi- 

 tioners are defined by membership of certain profes- 

 sional societies, of which the distinctive feature is that 

 they admit to membership all who have undergone 

 certain training and acquired certain experience. 

 .Societies having this feature already exist in the 

 profession of science ; the various scientific and 

 engineering institutions and institutes are examples. 

 They do not at present cover the whole field, but it 

 will' probably be agreed that it is desirable that they 

 should. The best way of securing the representation 

 of science would be to set up institutes for those 

 branches of science which do not already possess 



