126 



KNOWLEDGE. 



April, 1915. 



ailment known as " gutting into a groove," and look askance 

 upon versatility which Lord Avebury possessed to a very 

 remarkable degree. They seem to forget the necessity of 

 broadmindedness, and fail to appreciate that he who makes 

 known to the World what is being done in science is doing 

 a very important work, with the help most probably of 

 talents winch they do not themselves possess. Science is 

 ignored far too greatly by the powers that be and by the 

 commercial classes in this country ; and the mere fact that 

 a man who has distinguished himself as a financier, a 

 politician, and an administrator has also made a mark in 

 science is of very great value to science. 



At one time there was a tendency to belittle Lord Ave- 

 bury 's scientific work because some of the observations 

 which he used were earned out by others. Nobody objects 

 to the fact that an architect does not with his own hands 

 build the houses which lie plans, or that a modern sculptor 

 puts only the finishing touches to the marble. Many 

 scientific men have become famous through using the 

 observations of others which they did not originate, and 

 many a zoological professor has added his name to that of 

 a demonstrator on the title pages of a paper written by the 

 latter to the mutual advantage of both. 



Lord Avebury, who wasted very little of his time, planned 

 out the work which he wanted done, and it was by delegating 

 part of this that he was able to do so much. 



Mr. Hutchinson's book recalls that, besides being a 

 banker, Lord Avebury was a member of Parliament, where 

 he played no small part ; was Chairman of the London 

 County Council, president of nearly all the scientific societies 

 at one time or another. Warden of Birmingham University, 

 and Rector of St. Andrews ; but even the two volumes 

 before us are not sufficient to record a very great deal of 

 the useful work which Lord Avebury did. We are reminded 

 of his support of Darwin, and that we owe the terms 

 " palaeolithic " and " neolithic " — now household words in 

 science — to Lord Avebury. Educational movements in this 

 country have profited by the help of Lord Avebury, which 

 he was ever ready to give, and not the least of his endeavours 

 was that to preserve something of the beauties and anti- 

 quities of our land. 



The biography of Lord Avebury strengthens one's feeling 

 gained from the lives of other famous men, whose career 

 at school was cut short, that our system of education is not 

 calculated to encourage individuality, and that those who 

 go through the ordinary school course, and make their way 

 in the world, succeed in spite of it. In conclusion, we may 

 say that every thinking person would be the better for 

 carefully reading Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury's 

 life. W. M. W. 



CHEMISTRY. 

 Photo-Chemistry.- — By S. E. Sheppard, D.Sc. 461 pages. 

 47 illustrations. 7£-in. x 5-in. 

 (Longmans, Green & Co. Price 12/6.) 

 This is the latest addition to the series of text-books 

 of physical chemistry edited by Sir William Ramsay, and 

 it fills a distinct gap in chemical literature. Most of the 

 previous treatises on the subject have dealt, in the main, 

 with the reactions of light in its special adaptation of 

 photography, and there was no convenient handbook 

 discussing the other aspects of photo-chemistry. The 

 boundaries of this division of chemistry are not well-defined, 

 for some of the radio-active phenomena also fall within its 

 scope, and are therefore briefly touched upon in this book. 

 It has been the author's aim, not to describe all the known 

 photo-chemical changes, but rather to discuss typical 

 instances at sufficient length to illustrate the theory. The 

 book thus fulfils the true function of a practical handbook, 

 of throwing sidelights upon the meaning of new phenomena 

 met with by the student, and full references to original 

 papeis are given on every page. The branches of the subject 

 discussed include the measurement of quantities of light, 

 the absorption of light, dynamics of photo-chemical change, 

 special photo-chemistry, genesis of light in chemical change, 



and organic photo-synthesis (including the chemistry of 

 chlorophyll). It is a book that should find a warm welcome 

 from the chemist, the photographer, and the botanist 

 with a knowledge of chemistry. 



C. A. M. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



A Little Book on Map-Projection. — By M. Adams. 108 pages. 



41 figures. 8J-in. x 5J-in. 



(George Philip & Son. Price 2/- net.) 



To the non-mathematical student of geography no part 

 of the subject presents so many difficulties as the study of 

 map-projection. Although several excellent books on 

 the latter subject have been written, the treatment in these 

 is, without exception, mathematical, and hence incompre- 

 hensible to many. For this reason alone this book by Miss 

 Adams should be found exceedingly useful. The subject 

 is treated in a strictly non-mathematical fashion, and even 

 the simple trigonometric ratios only appear in some non- 

 essential paragraphs. As is to be expected, the arrangement 

 of the subject-matter is not strictly logical, but this does not 

 in any way diminish the lucidity of the explanations. 



The first part of the book treats of the principles of 

 map-projection, and of the various geometrical concepts 

 connected therewith ; while in the second part is given a 

 description of the types commonly in use. Sundry mathe- 

 matical notes on certain of the latter are given in an appen- 

 dix. A number of diagrams illustrative of the different 

 projections are of much assistance in the comprehension 

 of the descriptive parts (the diagram of the gnomonic 

 projection is a trifle confusing, however.) In view of the 

 great development of modern geographical teaching, 

 this book should prove valuable, both to teachers and 

 students, and it can be recommended as an attractive pre- 

 sentation of a subject usually considered somewhat " dry." 



A. S. 



FORESTRY. 



Elements of Forestry. — By F. F. Moon, Professor of Forest 



Engineering, and N. C. Brown, Professor of Forest 



Utilisation, New York State College of Forestry, 



Syracuse, N.Y. 392 pages. 8J-in. x6J-in. 



(New York : John Wiley & Sons. London : 

 Chapman & Hall. Price 8/6 net.) 



We have watched with interest the growth of State 

 forestry in the United States from its beginning under Dr. 

 F. B. Hough, in 1876, to the present day. In 1882 Dr. 

 Hough published a work with the same title as that now 

 before us — an excellent work, but based necessarily on the 

 experience of European countries. Not till 1891 was Presi- 

 dent Harrison empowered to reserve national forest land ; 

 but the thirteen million acres that he set aside, to which 

 President Cleveland added twenty-two million, rose under 

 President Roosevelt to one hundred and ninety-four and 

 a half million acres, " under the control of an efficient, 

 non-political, technically trained " Forest Service. 

 Deservedly, therefore, is this book dedicated to the last- 

 named ex-President as the man who " aroused the American 

 people to the importance of forestry as a national issue." 

 This importance is categorically demonstrated by the authors 

 under the following four reasons : — 



" First. — We are cutting our timber about three times 

 as fast as it is growing. 



" Second. — Our per capita consumption is unnecessarily 

 high, being two hundred and sixty cubic feet against 

 forty cubic feet in Germany and twelve cubic feet in 

 Great Britain. 



" Third. — Our per-acre production has sunk so low 

 under the poor forest management until it is only about 

 one-fourth of the possible yield. 



" Fourth. — Already the end is in sight for some species 

 of timber, and the virgin supply of forest material in the 



