April 7, 1910] 



NATURE 



155 



tific than the original, which, however, served a very 

 useful purpose in the past. 



A new edition of Johns's "Flowers of the Field" 

 differs only from the last remodelled version, published 

 in 1905, by the addition of the coloured plates. This 

 addition is obviously a concession to the modern prac- 

 tice of supplying illustrations in colour. The drawing 

 of the plants is good, but the colour and printing are 

 uneven in the reproduction. 



Dynamo Laboratory Manual for Colleges and Techni- 

 cal Schools. Vol. I., Direct-current Studies and 

 Tests. By W. S. Franklin and \V. Esty, with the 

 cooperation of S. E. Seyfert and C. E. Clewell. 

 Pp. viii-hi52. (New York: The Macmillan Com- 

 pany; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1909.) 

 Price ys'. 6d. net. 

 The advisability of publishing a laboratory manual 

 which consists practically only of a reprint of the 

 instructions given to the students in a particular 

 college or university is a matter that is open to ques- 

 tion. It may be objected that the instructions can 

 only be of real value to those who have an equipment 

 exactly the same as that in the laboratory of the 

 authors, a coincidence that is likely to be rare, and 

 that each teacher will preferably use instructions of 

 his own, drawn up to suit the circumstances of his 

 case. On the other hand, it may fairly be contended 

 that such publications are of special value to teachers 

 in that they enable them to compare their own 

 methods with other people's, and to modify and im- 

 prove their own courses as a result. From this point 

 of view this volume, in common with others of the 

 same kind, must be regarded as rather of value to 

 the teacher than to the student. Indeed, as the 

 instructions without the experiments are like the 

 white of an egg without salt, the student can gain 

 little from the present volume unless it is adopted by 

 his teacher. 



The volume deals only with direct-current machines. 

 There is a short introduction dealing with general 

 methods of measurement, &c., and the remainder of 

 the book is divided into three parts, each describing 

 sixteen tests. The experiments seem well chosen so 

 as to bring out the more important points in direct- 

 current dynamo work, and the instructions are full, 

 if anything too full. There are a large number of 

 clear diagrams. 



The authors admit in their preface that their lean- 

 ing is towards the purely pedagogical aspects of 

 laboratory work ; it is hardlj- the place in a review 

 of a book written frankly on this basis to discuss 

 whether this aspect is the best one, and it need only 

 be said that, granting this premise, the course indi- 

 cated in the volume before us seems admirably suited 

 to get the most out of the laboratory training. 



Mona's Records of the Earth's Changes. By Joseph 

 Lewin. Pp. iv+ioo. (Douglas: Brown and Sons, 

 Ltd., 1909.) 

 This is not, as might be supposed, a popular sketch 

 of the geology of the Isle of Man. It is a description 

 of certain highlv hypothetical changes in the relations 

 of sea and land that are held to have taken place 

 within historic times. Five successive lowerings of 

 the sea are said to have left their traces in wave-worn 

 terraces, and these records were all formed in the last 

 2000 years (p. 39). Seeing that the Mona of Tacitus 

 (p. 2) is moved by the author from Anglesey to the Isle 

 of Man, we may well have doubts as to his historic 

 judgment. One of the withdrawals of the sea is 

 placed in 1538, so as to coincide with the enlargement 

 of the shore near Pozzuoli ; and such changes are 

 attributed to movements of the axis of rotation of the 

 earth, or to movements of the shell of the earth over 

 NO. 21 10, VOL. 83] 



the axis of rotation. The author does not seem quite 

 clear as to which of these he adopts ; but his context 

 usually conveys the latter impression. His style may 

 be gauged from the following portion of a sentence, 

 the whole being too long for quotation (p. 94) : — 

 " But, according to the wobbling state of the poles of 

 our earth at present, as described by our scientists 

 at the earthquake, that caused so much damage and 

 loss of life at Messina, as described in the Daily Mail, 

 our earth at any moment, with another great earth- 

 quake, may lose its centre of gravity at the Poles, 

 and move again slightly in the same direction as it has 

 already done. ..." 



The general underlying conception is that the 

 British Isles are being carried nearer to the North 

 Pole, and away from the bulge of waters round equa- 

 torial regions. Palestine (p. 99) is to profit by the next 

 change, which is due in a few years. There are some 

 interesting scraps from old chronicles throughout the 

 book, which save it from being judged too severely 

 as a scientific treatise. G. A. J. C. 



Ancient Angling Authors. By \V. J. Turrell. Pp. 



xiii + 239. (London : Gurney and Jackson, 1910.) 



Price 35. 6d. net. 

 It is fortunate that our English ancestors did not 

 all agree with Plutarch in regarding fishing " as a 

 filthy, base, illiberal employment," for the works 

 which they have left us in praise and honour of the 

 angler's art contain a valuable histor}- of both tackle 

 and methods. The fisherman has for a long time 

 enjoyed a poor reputation for truthfulness, and Mr. 

 Turrell exposes the angling author as a most un- 

 blushing plagiarist ; but in spite of these short- 

 comings they are both excellent companions. 



The respectable antiquity of many methods, re- 

 putable and otherwise, practised to-day is certainly 

 remarkable ; in 1657 one Barker had already dis- 

 covered the use of salmon-roe as a bait, and salmon- 

 fishing with the prawn was known in 1740. While 

 Cotton (1676) may claim the credit of first describing 

 how to take trout in clear water with the worm, the 

 exact history of dry-fly fishing appears obscure, and 

 cannot be definitely traced beyond the early part of 

 the eighteenth century. So long ago as 1600, 

 Taverner was recommending that fish-ponds should 

 lie dry every other year, as is, we believe, the modern 

 German practice, and ten years earlier Mascall had 

 discussed the best methods of preserving fish. 



There is, however, one habit of our ancestors which 

 we have fortunately abandoned, to wit the anointing 

 of our baits with strange and horrible unguents to 

 attract the fish ; from the beginning of the seven- 

 teenth to the middle of the eighteenth centur\' recipes 

 for the compounding of these form part and parcel of 

 the current angling literature, and it is small wonder 

 that these medleys of man's fat, cat's fat, assafcEtida, 

 mummy dust, and turpentine called forth the anger 

 of Dr. Martin Lluelyn on those whose 



" pastes fox Rivers throat, . . . 

 That from May to parcht October 

 Scare a Minew can sleepe sober." 



With the help of Mr. Turrell 's little work and its 

 really admirable index, much further information as 

 to the early history of various parts of the angler's 

 equipment and the different forms of his art may 

 be readily gleaned, and the various subjects touched 

 upon will be found to be explained by copious ex- 

 tracts from contemporary books. Nor must it be 

 supposed that we are dealing with a mere compila- 

 tion ; Mr. Turrell has obviously gone to the very 

 fountain-head for his information, and he is at times 

 able to ccwrect the errors of his predecessors and to 

 throw fresh light upon doubtful points. 



