June 30, 19 10] 



NATURE 



D^O 



ms, the law of the Porro, the savage ritual of 

 Bundu, and, dominating all, the ineradicable 

 Idom of the fetish. It is an interesting story of 

 making of empire among the savage races of 

 t Africa which will well repay perusal, and the 

 e of the work is much enhanced by the numerous 

 :al photographs of scenerv- and native customs 

 ; which it is illustrated. ' W. T. P. 



GEOLOGICAL XATURE-STUDl^ 



HTHE sixth volume of 'The Book of Nature Study " 



-*■ is devoted to what is styled "the Physical 



ironment." This, again, is subdivided ' into 



iteorolog}-, &c.," written by Dr. Marion I. New- 



in, and "Geology, &c.," by Prof. W. W. Watts, 

 titles of these subdivisions have been omitted, 



riously enough, from the headings on pp. i and 

 Both authors, in pursuance of the plan of the 



>rk. guide the 

 reader towards 

 personal observa- 

 tion ; and Dr. 

 Newbigin especi- 

 ally addresses her- 

 self to the teacher, 

 md considers 

 tfiroughout how 

 certain facts are 

 to be brought 

 home simply to a 

 lass. Prof. 

 Watts 's pages are 

 dierefore more 

 closely written 

 uid more enjoy- 

 able as literature, 

 while those of his 

 X)lleague are in- 

 tentionally more 

 didactic. 



Throughout Dr. 

 Newbigin 's work 

 there is a con- 

 sistent attempt to 

 imp art just 

 enough informa- 

 tion to excite in- 

 terest, and H' 

 more. The apos- 

 tles of the centi- 

 metre scale will 

 be shocked at the 

 willingness of the 

 author to accept 

 'slovenly" results. The teacher is invited to 

 direct attention later to the difficulties that 

 arise from careless measurement. In the case 

 selected, however, that of the rain-gauge fp. 25), 

 'he errors would cause no difficulty- at all ; the results 

 would simply be wrong at the end of a given time, 

 and there would be no means of finding out the truth. 

 Phis is just the sort of easy-going procedure that 

 would suit the average child; but does it conduce to 

 iducation? Is it not wiser to explain and illustrate 

 methods of observation, but to refrain from records 

 that cannot be accurate within reasonable limits ? All 



1 "The Book of Nature Study." Edited by Prof. J. Bretland Farmer, 

 F.R.S. Vol. vL Pp. viii-t-244. (London : Caxton Publishing Co., n.d.) 

 Price 8j. W. 



"Vorschule der Geologic. Eine gemeinverstandliche Einfuhrung und 

 Anleitung zu Beobachtungen in der Heimat." By Prof. T. Walther. Vierte 

 Anflage. Pp. x-f294. f Jena : Gustav Fischer, loio.) Price 2.50 marks. 



" Die Vulkanischen Gewalten der Erde und ihre Erscheinungen.' By 

 Dr. H. "Haas. Pp. viii + i^S. (Leipzig: Quelle u. Meyer, 1909.) Price 

 J.S5 marks. 



; explanations of natural phenomena have a partial 

 I character; we are always making suppositions in 

 regard to an unknown. Dr. Newbigin, however, 

 shows a real preference for the partial explanation, 

 and we fear that the teacher w-ould often have to go 

 much further than is here indicated, when confronted 

 with the child's persistent "Why?" 

 i The passages on "floods," "drought and deserts," 

 ' or " rainfall and vegetation," show how well the 

 author writes and teaches, within the limits expressly 

 imposed upon herself. Astronomical considerations, 

 sunrise and sunset, time, summer and winter, involve 

 more difficulty, and we cannot see our own w^ay, in 

 such instruction, to dispense with the good old- 

 fashioned terrestrial globe — one, of course, without 

 an elaborate setting, and preferably turning on a 

 wire axis sunoorted at one end only. Dr. Newbigin 

 (p. 53) leaves this to a later stage and to the teacher 

 ; of geography. Meanwhile, the child is instructed in 



Spring issuing from Limestone. From " The Book of Nature Study.' 



nature-Study geocentrically, and will surely soon find 

 something to unlearn. 



One point insisted on by the author, in common 

 with many other writers, is that the atmosphere car- 

 ries a "load of moisture." This phrase is, of course, 

 singularly misleading when applied to invisible 

 vapour, especially when the air is said to 

 "throw down its burden" on cooling (p. 21, for 

 instance, where this is stated in three different ways). 

 How is the child to realise that the air, when it has 

 done this, becomes heavier than it was before? The 

 matter was so well treated long ago in Sir A. 

 Geikie's "Physical Geography" that it is wonderful 

 how it is slurred over in ordinary teaching. Surely, 

 again, the cold surface of a hill (pp. 20 and 22) has 

 ver\' little to do with the formation of cloud around 

 it. " Vapour " is used in two senses on pp. 19 and 

 21, where invisible vapour is postulated, and yet a 

 cloud is said to consist of vapour. Are we not, in 



NO. 2122, VOL. 



83] 



