July io, 1919] 



NATURE 



Z^Z 



pected from such a soil, the garden contains a 

 wealth of rhododendrons and heaths and other 

 interesting- plants which only flourish where chalk 

 is absent from the soil. 



The remarkable list of the plants grown in the 

 garden which the late Miss Messel has drawn up, 

 to the memory of her father, Mr. L. Messel, the 

 founder of the garden, is not only a splendid 

 tribute to one who took the keenest interest in the 

 cultivation of all that was rare and interesting, but 

 also a most valuable work for all true garden- 

 lovers. 



The book enumerates all the plants grown at 

 Nymans, a sufficiently remarkable .collection to 

 warrant its publication, and its value is much 

 enhanced by the notes added by Miss Messel about 

 the plants of more especial interest. Particulars 

 as to the hardiness of numerous tender plants 

 grown in the garden are also given, and all those 

 that are half-hardy or doubtfully hardy, as well 

 as those grown under glass, are specially marked. 



The volume, which is beautifully printed on 

 excellent paper, is enriched by the drawings of 

 Mr. Alfred Parsons of plants which have flowered 

 in the garden. So good are these that one would 

 have welcomed some more from his accomplished 

 pencil. 



One reads through the lists of plants with envy, 

 especially when the sizes of some of the more 

 tender plants are noted. To find Emhothriuni 

 coccineuni, Berheridopsis corallina, Ahutilon viti- 

 folium, and four species of Acacia, among other 

 tender plants, flowering out of doors so near 

 London is remarkable. 



One reason of Mr. Messel's success, with 

 plants which are not usually considered hardy, 

 was that he grew such plants with some pro- 

 tection during the winter, until they were large 

 enough and strong enough to plant in the open. 

 Had they been put out as small plants the failures 

 would have been numerous. 



In the appendix a list of the plants killed or 

 severely damaged during the winter of 1916— 17 is 

 given. On the whole, the casualties are remark- 

 ably small, and it is particularly interesting to 

 notice the somewhat unexpected survivors of the 

 severe winter. 



It is with great regret that we have to record 

 the death of Miss Messel in December last from 

 influenza. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Electro-Analysis. By Prof. Edgar F. Smith. 

 Sixth edition, revised and enlarged. Pp. xiv 4- 

 344. (Philadelphia : P. Blakiston's Son and 

 Co., 1918.) Price 2.50 dollars net. 



At one time electro-analysis did not find much 

 favour among chemists, because an analysis re- 

 quired too long a time, too complicated apparatus, 

 and too much platinum. These objections have 

 to a great extent been removed, largely through 

 research by Prof. Edgar F. Smith, whose rapid 

 NO. 2593, VOL. 103] 



precipitation of metals by the method of the rotat- 

 ing anode, introduced in igoi, has overcome the 

 difficulty of time. Also of particular importance 

 is his double mercury cup, the usefulness of which 

 has been greatly enhanced by recent improve- 

 ments described in the present edition of this book. 

 The principle of this double cup is the same as 

 that of the Castner-Kellner caustic soda plant. 

 Remarkable success has attended the application 

 of this method, not only to the complete analysis 

 of single salts, such as sodium chloride, but also 

 to the effecting of certain difficult separations, 

 such as that of the alkali metals from one another. 



Apart from a short chapter on "Theoretical 

 Considerations," this book is entirely devoted to 

 practical details, which are very fully given. 

 Nevertheless, the author speaks with the confi- 

 dence of one who has acquired his knowledge by 

 actual experience, and has researched for more 

 than forty years untrammelled by any electro- 

 chemical theory, whether of ions or of potentials. 



The rareness among analysts .of familiarity 

 with electricity still remains a serious obstacle to 

 progress in electro-analysis, and will remain so as 

 long as electricity receives the little attention at 

 present given to it by the chemist-in-training. If 

 we have in view both speed and accuracy the best 

 procedure in analysis is neither purely chemical 

 nor purely electrical, but comprises a judicious 

 blending of the two methods, and for guidance 

 in electro-analysis every chemist should have a 

 copy of the present standard work. 



Francis W. Gray. 



The Journal of a Disappointed Man. By W. N. P. 



Barbellion. With an introduction by H. G. 



Wells. Pp. X + 312. (London: Chatto and 



W'indus, 1919.) Price 65. net. 

 There have before now been clever young men 

 who by their own efi^orts have conquered circum- 

 stance and won distinction in science, but, thank 

 goodness, none of them has ventured to publish 

 his high opinion of his own merits and his con- 

 tempt for his neighbours, if not for the rest of 

 mankind. Had he kept his own counsel, like the 

 rest of us, Barbellion would doubtless have 

 passed for a bright boy-naturalist, a student of 

 zoology deserving all encouragement, and an 

 amiable colleague when by hard work he won a 

 post at the Natural History Museum. One would 

 have recognised his brains, originality, and power 

 of presentation, and one might have regretted to 

 see another promising morphologist pinned for 

 life to systematic entomology. His restless 

 energy might have moulded to his own fashion 

 that cramping environment, or might have raised 

 him above it, had it not been for the slow and 

 fatal disease against which he was struggling 

 from the first. For that tragedy, for his courage 

 and humour, and for his unquenched love of 

 Nature, which here finds beautiful though rare 

 expression, we can forgive his self-love, self-pity, 

 and self-exposure, and place his journal on our 

 shelf next that of Marie Bashkirtseflf. 



