January i, 1920] 



NATURE 



433 



specimen, and thus gains a first-hand knowledge 

 of the whole creature before commencing his final 

 essay. 



The text which the artist supplies of how and 

 when he made his sketches, supplemented with 

 original observations of the habits of birds and 

 mammals, is both adequate and interesting. At 

 the end of the volume are some beautiful studies 

 of landscape and plant life, notably the exquisite 

 sketch of a thistle (plate 60), snow-covered furze 

 and pines (plate 58), the eagle's hunting-ground 

 (plate 57) — a perfect handling of the high tops — 

 and pheasant covert (plate 56). 



The volume will do much to enhance the repu- 

 tation of Archibald Thorburn as an artist, and 

 those possessed of the necessary wealth have the 

 opportunity of purchasing something that will 

 live as long as the taste for Nature, high art, and 

 beauty continues — and that remains for ever. 



It is an unfortunate truism that few men, least 

 of all artists, are recognised as supreme crafts- 

 men during their lives. The day is coming 

 shortly — if it has not already arrived — when the 

 public, and even art critics, will awake to the fact 

 that this century has produced two great artists 

 of Nature — namely, Joseph Wolf and Archibald 

 LThorburn — and those who possess a complete set 



fof the work of these two masters will be very 



fortunate. 



In the volume under review we notice only two 



[slight errors. We have never seen a white-tailed 



t eagle (plate 4) so dark as the specimen figured, 

 nor have we observed a green cormorant (plate 36) 



[with a " bushy " crest of the shape depicted. 



J. G. M. 



SUBMARINES AND SEA POWER. 

 Submarines and Sea Power. By Charles Dom- 

 ville-Fife. Pp. viii-f250. (London: G. Bell 

 and Sons, Ltd., 1919.) Price 10s. 6d. net. 



THE author has already written several books 

 dealing with the development of submarines 

 and also with their exploits on actual service 

 under war conditions. In the present volume an 

 attempt is made to discuss the influence of the 

 submarine, now an important weapon in naval 

 warfare, "on national life in time of war in order 

 to awaken those who administer the empires of 

 to-day and to-morrow to the need of provision 

 against a new and growing menace which has 

 changed the older theories of sea power." 



Much of the matter in this book has already 

 been covered in the author's previous publications, 

 particularly that in the chapters on the evolution 

 of the submarine. The difficulties of navigating 

 the submarine, the restrictions imposed by limited 

 NO. 2618, VOL. 104] 



depth of water and other hydrographical features, 

 the conditions for favourably attacking an enemy 

 and for escape from one, and other factors deal- 

 ing with the employment of submarines, are dealt 

 with in some detail, particularly in so far as they 

 affect the use of naval power. The immediate 

 effect of the German submarine menace upon our 

 " sea power " during the Great War is discussed, 

 and the author makes some suggestions based 

 on our recent unpleasant experience for the guid- 

 ance of future administrators. 



So long as details of construction and of work- 

 ing the submarines are under review, the author 

 is on safe ground, but in developing general 

 arguments, in stating his premises, in the marshal, 

 ling of his facts, and in selecting his language, he 

 is not so happy. A plaintive appeal is made in 

 the preface that the book may be read to the 

 end before any definite opinion is formed. The 

 appeal is necessary. 



The author has not considered his subject on 

 broad lines. When one has defined a submarine 

 as a mobile ambush which can be set not only on 

 this side of an enemy, so that he will have to 

 encounter it in his advance, but also well within 

 the enemy lines without incurring any serious risks, 

 and with a considerable degree of protection by 

 reason of its power of submergence, whilst retain- 

 ing its powers of observation, the serious restric- 

 tions it imposes upon the movements of a surface 

 fleet become almost obvious. The submarine 

 affects enormously the tactics of a surface fleet, 

 but the experience of the war has not shown that 

 the submarine has appreciably altered the applica- 

 tion of naval strategy. It will alter types of ships. 



A picture is drawn or suggested of what might 

 have happened to our sea-borne commerce had 

 Germany possessed at the outbreak of war 1000 

 high-powered submarines. Such a picture is not 

 instructive in any way in regard to the future 

 aspect of the submarine question. The success 

 of the German submarine — for it was undoubtedly 

 a most successful weapon for harassing our sea 

 power — as a matter of fact lay in its surprise ap- 

 plication contrary to the Hague Convention. Had 

 Germany possessed 1000 submarines Britain would 

 have had in all probability 10,000 partial antidotes. 

 Fortunately, such favourable conditions for sur- 

 prise by submarine cannot occur again. A 

 measure of the success of submarine activities is 

 obtained from the book, in which it is stated that 

 600 merchant ships and fifty warships were 

 destroyed, and that 1500 patrol ships, with guns 

 and ammunition and depth-charges, and 2000 

 minesweepers had to be built or used in com- 

 bating submarines. 



The chapters at the end of the book dealing 



