278 



DISCOVERY 



and it brings the chronicle dowii to a more recent date. 

 The great contribution of radio-activity and experi- 

 mental work in connection therewith to our knowledge of 

 the atom receives here its due share of importance, and 

 altogether it is a satisfactory and well-balanced compila- 

 tion. 



Textile Chemistry : A n Introduction to the Chemistry of 

 the Cotton Industry. By F. J. Cooper. (Methuen 

 & Co., Ltd., los. bd.) 



The first twelve chapters of this book describe the 

 elements of chemistry, and contain a large number of 

 diagrams exceedingly well drawn by the author. The 

 last six chapters describe the application of chemistry to 

 textOes. It should be found very useful for the students 

 for whom it has been wTitten. The first part of the book 

 would serve as an introduction to chemistry which is 

 anv-thing but bookish for young students. 



A. S. Russell. 



The Outline of Science. Edited by Professor J. Arthur 

 Thomson. Volume II. (George Newnes, Ltd.) 



The second \-olume of the Outline of Science is fully 

 worthy of its predecessor. It covers a great variety of 

 matter, but it teems with interest in every page. There 

 is rather more physical science and less biological science 

 in this volume that in Volume I, but all the chapters 

 are well worth reading. One may single out specially 

 that by Sir E. Ray Lankester on Bacteria. It is the 

 most complete and scientific account of any of the groups 

 which are dealt with. It is written with all Sir Ray's 

 grasp of the subject, and the historical introduction is 

 masterly. It would be worth while reprinting as a small 

 tract. 



Another signed article is that by Mr. Julian Huxley. 

 He has taken an extremely difficult subject and has 

 treated it in due proportion. But the subject is too large 

 for some twenty- pages, and one feels that the article is 

 deahng with regions beyond the grasp of the average 

 intelligent non -specialist. 



The chapters on applied science, dealing with Electricity, 

 Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Flying, are adequate 

 and are far better illustrated than many of the biological 

 articles. The figures, in fact, tlu-oughout the book are 

 very unequal. Some of the reproductions of photographs 

 do not do justice to the originals. 



Tlie book closes with a chapter on the science of thought 

 by the editor, and one need hardly say that it is original 

 and stimulating. On the whole we are not at all sur- 

 prised to learn that the American edition of this work 

 is selling by some tens of thousands. 



A. E. Shipley. 



MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS 



Chanties in Greek and Latin. By W. H. D. Rouse. 

 (Oxford : Basil Blackwell, 2S. 6rf.) 

 In this book the Head Master of the Perse School, 

 Cambridge, offers a collection of songs " which the 

 children of ancient days might have sung," and he has 

 fitted them to various traditional tunes. A few of them, 



such as " The Swallow Song " and " Torty Tortoise,'" 

 have been adapted from ancient material ; others — free 

 translations, parapteases, and songs which have originated 

 in the author's own head — have been done into Greek 

 and Latin from the EngUsh, German, French, etc., 

 originals. Altogether a very dehghtful collection, which 

 should pro\-e most useful in teaching the two ancient 

 languages in scliools through dance and song, and which 

 anyone with a fair kiiowledge of the classics will easilv 

 imderstand and enjoy. 



Dreams of an Astronomer. By C.'^mille Fl.^mmarion. 

 Translated from the French by E. E. I'oumier 

 d'Alb2. (T. Fishsr Unwin, Ltd., lo.s. bd.) 



An imaginative astronomer's voyage through space 

 which, despite its picturesqueness, imparts much interest- 

 ing linowledge to the average reader of the realms of 

 space and their occupants. 



The Wheelwright's Shop. By George Sturt (" George 

 Bourse "). (Cambridge University Press, 12s. 6d.) 



Tlte well-knowii author of The Beitesworth Book and 

 Memoirs of a Surrey Labourer gives a comprehensi\-e 

 picture of the trade that was his own liveUhood and 

 that of some of his companions during the thirty-six 

 years that he plied it. 



Flying Round the M'orld. By M.\jor W. T. Blake. 



Major Blake is sufficiently well known to our readers 

 to need no introduction. In this book his attempt to 

 fly round the world in 1922 is graphically described, 

 and illustrated with interesting snapshots. Major Blake 

 had to retire from the flight in India owing to appendicitis. 

 The final disaster, described by Captain Macmillan, in 

 which he and Mr. Malins nearly lost their lives in the 

 Baj' of Bengal, holding on to their sinking plane for tliree 

 days and nights, reads like an exciting story in a magazine, 

 but is obviously unexaggerated in every detail. Nearly 

 11,000 miles were covered in the flight. 



Books Received 



(Mention in this column does not prechide a review.) 

 MISCELLANEOUS 



Bibliography of English Language and Literature. By 



A. C. Paues. (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, bs.) 

 The Travels of Fa-hsien (399-414 a.d.). Re-translated 



by Prof. H. A. Giles, M.A. (Cambridge University 



Press, 54".) 

 Ancient Man. Bv Hendrik William van" Loon. 



(Harrap, 55.) 



SCIENCE 



Pitman's Radio Year Book, 1923. (Sir Isaac Pitman & 



Sons, Ltd., 15. bd.) 

 Wireless World and Radio Revieiv. (\^'ireless Press, Ltd., 



4d.) 

 Fabric of Thought. By G. E. M. Ennis. (Effingham 



Wilson, bs.) 



