Julys, 1919] 



NATURE 



343 



monadistic? If monadistic, how are the monads 

 related to one another and to God? And, is the 

 unity of knowing and being such that there can 

 be only one ultimate subject of every judgment to 

 which all predication refers? 



The first symposium in the volume, "Are 

 physical, biological, and psychological categories 

 irreducible? " is of much narrower range, but of 

 ^ ery wide and practical interest from the point of 

 view of scientific method. Dr. J. S. Haldane, in 

 the opening paper, makes a powerful appeal to 

 his special experimental work on the physiology 

 of breathing, and also to his experiments on bleed- 

 ing and on the action of the kidneys, as con- 

 clusively proving the inadequacy . of the ordinary 

 mechanistic explanation. His contention is that 

 in vital phenomena the investigation must proceed 

 from function to structure, and never vice versa. 

 He rejects the neo-vitalist hypothesis equally with 

 the mechanistic, and proposes a principle which 

 he suggests may be named "organicism," but 

 is really the philosophical principle of per- 

 sonality. The activity of life consists in the main* 

 tenance of a normal or constant equilibrium in a 

 continuously disturbing environment, and an 

 organism is a system of interconnected normals. 

 The thesis is criticised from somewhat different 

 points of view in the papers of Prof. D'Arcy 

 Thompson, Dr. Chalmers-Mitchell, and Prof. Hob- 

 house, but Dr. Haldane is able to claim in his 

 reply that on essential points there is general 

 agreement. 



The two symposia have been reprinted from 

 the Aristotelian Society's Proceedings. They 

 cannot fail to be welcome to a great number of 

 students in the convenient form of this independent 

 volume. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



The Science of Labour and its Organisation. By 

 Dr. Josefa loteyko. (Efficiency Books.) 

 Pp. viii+ 199. (London : George Routledge and 

 Sons, Ltd., 1919.) Price 35. 6d. net. 

 Ix this little book Dr. loteyko treats of the human 

 motor and the measurement of industrial fatigue, 

 scientific management, measurement of aptitudes, 

 anthropological comparison of the sexes from the 

 point of view of strength and endurance, alimenta- 

 tion and work, re-education of the left hand for 

 the mutilated, and Belgian methods of technical 

 education and the University of Labour. 



The earlier part of the book consists largely 

 of material gleaned from different authors, and 

 not always very skilfully strung together. Much 

 important work remains unnoticed, and the treat- 

 ment, as a whole, is inadequate. If the intentioo 

 was to write an elementary book for the use of 

 beginners, a different style and simpler language 

 might well have been employed. If it was to 

 produce a volume useful to those already 

 acquainted with the subject, a more exhaustive 

 treatment would have been suitable. 



The need has passed for small books written 

 merely to attract attention to the Importance of 

 NO. 2592, VOL. 103] 



the matter. The study of the organisation of labour 

 is entering on a new phase, and requires a new 

 treatment. There are persons sufficiently learned 

 in the subject to assume the rSle of teachers, and 

 it is to be hoped they will soon find time to make 

 the learning they possess available for all those 

 who desire to pursue the matter in the light of 

 modern knowledge. 



This book is one of Messrs. Routledge's "Effici- 

 ency " series, and we naturally looked for internal 

 evidence of efficiency in it, but we must confess 

 to some disappointment at the occasional use of 

 words to express an English idea whereby the 

 meaning is obscured. For instance, on p. 55, 

 where it is stated that "a man should be required 

 to load during a strictly defined time," a com- 

 pletely wrong idea is given of Taylor's meaning. 



Typographical errors are met with frequently, 

 and, though these may perhaps be viewed leni- 

 ently in existing circumstances, one cannot help 

 feeling that the exercise of a little care would 

 have led to their elimination. 



For the rest, the book is evidence of the interest 

 that is taken in an important subject, and we 

 ivelcome it accordingly. 



Army Gardens in France, Belgium, and Occupied 

 German Territory. Their Making and Manage- 

 ment, with Plans and Directions suited to the 

 Garden Service of the British and American 

 Expeditionary Forces. By Georges Truffaut, 

 with the collaboration of Helen Colt. Pp. 65. 

 (Versailles : CEuvre des Pepini^res Nationales 

 du Touring-Club de France, 1919.) 

 This booklet, which has been drawn up by 

 M. Georges Truffaut, Director-General of Army 

 Gardens on the French Front, is a very interest- 

 ing record of a remarkable piece of work, which 

 has been of immense service to the armies in 

 France. During the past two years 7000 vege- 

 table gardens have been establis'hed in the actual 

 war zone behind the French front, and, in addi- 

 tion, large national nurseries for vegetable 

 plants have been formed at Versailles. F"ifty-six 

 other nurseries for raising seedling vegetables 

 for gardens near the front have also been estab- 

 lished, and during 1918 some 200,000,000 seed- 

 ling vegetables were distributed. Tables of 

 vegetable rationing and full details of the 

 cultivation and cropping of the gardens are given, 

 also particulars as to the arrangement of the 

 gardens, manuring, and other cultural matters. 



The value of the publication is heightened by 

 the illustrations of the huge nursery of about 

 70 acres at Versailles, of some of the smaller 

 nurseries at Champigneulles and Baccarat, and of 

 some of the Army gardens. A list of the vege- 

 tables suitable for cultivation, with their seasons 

 and other particulars, is given, and also plans for 

 the planting of a given area of ground. 



Though, happily, the immediate military need 

 of the gardens and nurseries has come to an end, 

 the results achieved are by no means lost, as the 

 work done by M. Truffaut and his staff should 

 have far-reaching effects not only in France, but 

 also in this country. 



