May, 1915. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



159 



book will therefore be found of great use both to the student 

 and to the chemist in practice ; and its value is enhanced by 

 the inclusion of the methods applicable to compounds of 

 technical importance, such as sugars, dyestuffs, alcohols, 

 and oils. Diagrams of apparatus are supplied where 

 necessary, and full references to the original papers are 

 given in each case. As a rule, the working directions are 

 quite clear, though occasionally — as in the description of 

 the bromine absorption method — further detail would be 

 desirable. The most noticeable error is the omission of the 

 final " s " from the name " Wijs," which does not appear 

 to be a misprint, since it is repeated in another place. 



C, A. M. 



GEOGRAPHY. 

 The Home of Man. Part III. America. — By W. C. Brown 

 and P. H. Johnson. 282 pages. 107 illustrations. 7A-in. 

 by 5-in. 

 (George G. Harrap & Co. Price 1 /9 net.) 

 Part IV. Asia.— By L. A. Coles. 192 pages. 91 Illus- 

 trations. 7|-in. x 5-in. 

 (George G. Harrap & Co. Price 1/3 net.) 

 Although a large number of school geographies has been 

 published in recent years, these volumes, which are in- 

 cluded in " The New Outlook Geography " series, should 

 prove very useful to teachers. The various parts of the world 

 are examined, from the " human " standpoint, in prefer- 

 ence to the purel}' scientific, and emphasis is laid throughout 

 on the relations between population and physical conditions, 

 the methods being statistical rather than descriptive. The 

 books are well illustrated by a large number of maps and 

 diagrams, and numerous questions and exercises are inter- 

 spersed throughout the text. In Part III the geology of 

 Central America, as shown in Figure 10, differs radically 

 from that given in Figure 70, while the " annual rainfall " 

 maps of the same countries (Figures 20 and 69) likewise do 

 not agree. Each volume has a useful index and also an 

 appendix containing tables of trade and other data. The 

 lack of uniformity in the units employed in the latter is 

 somewhat confusing, while some of the figures are scarcely 

 the most recent. A. S. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 

 Field Studies of Some Rarer British Birds. — By John 

 Walpole-Bond. 305 pages. 9-in. 5J-in. 

 (Witherby & Co. Price 7/6 net.) 

 A love of birds and the desire to protect the rarer 

 ones from extinction are now very widely spread, and many 

 will be glad to have in collected and revised form the 

 personal observations of Mr. Walpole-Bond upon some of 

 the British species, which cannot be called common, 

 although in his preface he gives the pleasing information 

 that most rare birds are considered rarer than they are in 

 reality. We might expect that Mr. Walpole-Bond would have 

 something to say of choughs and ravens, eagles, buzzards, 

 and kites, not to mention the peregrine falcon ; and this is 

 the case; but he also gives us an account of Dartford warblers, 

 crossbills in Sussex, and cirl-buntings in the same county. 

 Tin' woodlark, we are told, is much more local than would 

 be gathered from many books on British birds, and Mr 

 Walpole-Bond says that in very many places it is one: <>t 

 extremely rare occurrence, at any rate as a breeding species. 

 The pied-flycatcher, as studied in its Welsh resorts, is another 

 bird that is dealt with. The nest is sometimes a joint-stock 

 affair. Eggs of the redstart have been found in it, and 

 several kinds of tits have helped to rear a mixed brood. 

 The usurping and eviction on the part of other small hole- 

 breeders does not, of course, says Mr. Walpole-Bond, take 

 origin from any love those birds may have towards the pied- 

 flycatcher. It is simply owing to the fact that in some 

 districts there are not enough suitable holes to go round. 

 We know that in one locality in Wales the pied-flycatcher 

 takes readily to nesting-boxes, and comes back to them 

 year after year with hardly the difference of a day. There- 

 fore there is an opportunity for bird-lovers to attract and 

 protect this species. W M W 



THE SEA. 

 Nature Notes for Ocean Voyagers. — By Captain A. Car- 

 penter, R.N., D.S.O., and Captain D. Wilson-Barker, 

 R.N.R. 181 pages. 139 illustrations. 9-inx6|-in. 

 (Charles Griffin & Co. Price 5/- net.) 

 There are many who have to travel on the sea who, 

 although they have no scientific knowledge of the pheno- 

 mena and creatures with which they may meet, at the same 

 time are thoroughly interested in them, and are desirous 

 of knowing something about their unfamiliar surround- 

 ings. For these, Captains Carpenter and Wilson-Barker 

 have written the attractive book under consideration. 

 Physical features of the ocean are not forgotten. Natural 

 history, as may be expected, comes in for considerable 

 attention, and this includes surface life and ocean deposits. 

 Even old sea monsters are dealt with, and there are chapters 

 on Weather and on Waves. Among the illustrations to 

 these are some of the photographs of clouds and of ripples, 

 for which Captain Wilson-Barker is famous. Not the least 

 interesting is the final chapter on "Some Old Sea Customs 

 and Chanteys." W. M. W. 



ZOOLOGY. 

 An Introduction to the Study of Fossils. — By Hervey Wood- 

 burn Shimer, A.M., Ph.D. 450 pages, 175 figures. 



7J-in x 5-in. 

 (Macmillan & Co. Price 10 /6 net.) 

 Even nowadays there is still a tendency to keep fossil 

 creatures distinct from living ones, and in writing this 

 " Introduction to the Study of Fossils," Professor Shimer 

 has had in view the students who come to him with little 

 previous training in biology. His idea is to awake an 

 interest in the fossils — which are too often looked upon 

 merely as bits of stone — as once living animals and plants, 

 connected by the wonderful chain of evolution, with 

 animals and plants now living. Special emphasis has been 

 laid on the relation of the soft body to the hard skeleton 

 or shell, so that the student may reconstruct from the hard 

 parts preserved in the rocks the appearance of the once 

 living animal. Briefly the various classes and orders of 

 plants and animals are reviewed, and, after most of the 

 paragraphs, instructions and questions are printed for the 

 benefit of students. The descriptions are necessarily short, 

 but they are quite sufficient to fulfil the objects of the 

 author, and to give the student a very fair idea of the animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms. W. M W. 



Some Minute Annual Parasites. — By H. B. Fantham, D.Sc, 

 and Annie Porter, D.Sc. 319 pages. 58 illustrations. 

 7i-in. x5-in. 

 (Methuen & Co. Price 5 - net.) 

 The importance of the work in zoology, or perhaps we 

 had better say proto- zoology, which is now being done in 

 connection with the investigation of diseases is possibly 

 not realised by the general public Articles in magazines 

 and exhibits at scientific conversaziones have familiarised 

 people with the blood parasites causing malaria and sleeping- 

 sickness . but it needs a popular book, such as the one by 

 Doctors Fantham and Porter, to make generally known 

 the many " unseen foes in the animal world " which have 

 been discovered or unmasked during recent years Not 

 only are the diseases to which we have alluded considered 

 in detail, but similar ones which attack animals, other 

 than man. Spirochaetcs. which the authors have 

 themselves specially investigated, which are found in many 

 animals, come m for attention Oysters and mussels aie 

 troubled with them, while those which cause African tick 

 and other fevers live m the mites know n a- ' ticks," and are 

 transmitted In- them to man Coccidiosis is a disease which 

 plays havoc in the poultry yard and on the grouse moor. 

 The parasites which eau-e it live in the alimentary .anal 

 and enormous numbers ol them reduce the lining to a 

 structureless pulp, with a fatal result 1 [armless and harmful 

 amoebae, the diseases oi yellow fever and red water, bee 

 aud silkworm diseases, and many others are simply de- 

 scribed in " Some Minute Animal Parasites " W M W 



