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KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[November, igcS. 



a marked success, and places all concerned in the teaching 

 of botany under an obliLcation to the author, not that books 

 dealing with the subject are lacking, but in the majority of 

 instances thev are of such a nature that the author alone 

 can possibly benefit by their production. .\ notable feature 

 is the ring of life that per\-ades the book from beginning 

 to end. We miss the usual chapters retailing in orthodox 

 fashion certain structural features, definitions of leaves, 

 flowers, &:r. All these points are considered as a matter of 

 course, but in conjunction with the reason for their presence. 

 The living plant is the one object kept in view, and in this 

 important essential (he book differs from most others, which 

 suggest an unwritten apolog)' to plants for furnishing so 

 many features of interest when viewed under a microscope. 

 In addition to the parts dealing with structural and physio- 

 logical matters and the larger groups constituting the vege- 

 table kingdom, there are chapters on Plant Breeding, Plant 

 -Associations, and Forestry. The 320 illustrations are all 

 good, some excellent. 



The Study of Plant Life for Young People, by M. C. 



Stopes, D.Sc, Ph.D. (.\Iex. Moring ; 3s. 6d. net).— .A.n 

 excellent book for young people desirous of learning the 

 why and wherefore of plant life. The author commences 

 by stating- : " Many people do not realise that plants are 

 alive." Quite true; in fact, there is no internal evidence in 

 the majority of books on botany to prove that their respec- 

 tive authors realised this fact. The student is first led to 

 realise that plants are living things by carefully indicating 

 the signs of life presented by them, as breathing, eating, 

 growing, moving, reproduction, &c. Simple and well 

 chosen experiments that can easily be performed bv the 

 student are a noteworthy feature of the book. .Although so 

 essentially modern in tone, lapses to the old order of things 

 are obser\'able here and there, as, for example, when con- 

 siderable stress is laid on the statement that some plants 

 have not true flowers, &c. There are excellent chapters on 

 "Plants in their Homes," and "Plant-Maps." Several 

 whole-plate reproductions from photographs are excellent, 

 but some of the figures in the text are scarcely up to the 

 same standard. 



CHEMISTRY. 



Practical Methods of Inorganic Chemistry, by F. Mollwo 

 Perkin, Ph.D., pp. viii. + 155 (London : A. Constable 

 and Co. ; 2s. 6d. net). — This little book is a model of what a 

 practical text-book should be, and it supplies a distinct want. 

 .As the author points out, there are numerous handbooks 

 devoted to the preparation of organic compounds, but none 

 in which the same method of teaching has been applied to 

 inorganic chemistry, and he has written this book to fill the 

 gap. After an introduction and a chapter on general pre- 

 parations and methods there come chapters dealing con- 

 cisely with the preparation of salts, halogens, and halosren 

 compounds, metallic oxides, acids, metals and metalloids, 

 and the work concludes with a chapter on special prepara- 

 tions, followed by useful tables and an index. Theory ac- 

 companies the practical work step by step, and the student 

 who has worked his way conscientiously through the differ- 

 ent exercises will have gained a good grasp of the principles 

 of chemistr}'. The book is well printed, and has good 

 illustrations of apparatus where required. 



Researches on Cellulose, II. fl900 1905). C. F. Cross and 

 E. J. Bevan, pp. xi.-l- 184. (Lonermans, Green, and Co.; 

 7s. fid. net). — Substances that would not yield crystallisable 

 derivatives capable of being purified so as to be recognised 

 as chemical individuals were for years shunned by chemists 

 as unpromising subjects for research, and thus cellulose was 

 long neglected, in spite of its importance as a structural com- 

 pound in the vegetable world and its increasing use in 

 manufacturing processes. It is largely owing to the 

 systematic and untiring researches of Messrs. Cross and 

 Bevan that we are at last beginning to know something of 

 the probable constitution of the cellulose group of com- 

 pounds, and the present work is another valuable contribu- 

 tion to a very difficult subject. The first section of the book 

 gives a concise summary of the chemical reactions and 

 structural form of cellulose. In the second section, which 

 forms the bulk of the book, we find abstracts of various 

 investigations made by the authors and others, with critical 

 notes on the results, and a discussion of the possible bearing 

 of these results on the chemical constitution of cellu- 



lose. Lastly comes a section giving a brief but most inter- 

 esting account of the progress that has been made in the 

 cellulose industries during the last five years. In the 

 making of artificial silk, for instance, it is shown how what 

 was little more than a curiosity in 1899, is now being manu- 

 factured at the rate of at least 7,000 kilos, per day, while the 

 fibres of the best products are now so fine as to be only 

 about twice the weight of the natural silk fibre. A short 

 description of the different artificial silk processes is given, 

 including the authors' own " viscose " process, and other 

 uses of " viscose," such as in the sizing of paper and the 

 manufacture of a plastic material, are also described, and 

 the section concludes with suggested avenues of investiga- 

 tion in paper making, textile bleaching and finishing, and 

 other industries. The book is e.xcellently printed in clear 

 tvpe, and has a good subject index and an index of authors' 

 names. 



QEOQRAPHY. 

 Rhodesia ; Geodetic Survey of South Africa. (Vol. III., 

 Cape Town, 1905. London .Agents : 36, Basinghall Street, 

 E.C. ; 146 pp., los.). — In spite of manifold discouragements 

 this valuable work is making headway under the energetic 

 direction of Sir David Gill, who is now, however, retiring 

 from the post of H.M. Astronomer at the Cape, which he 

 has so ably filled. This volume contains a convincing state- 

 ment of the reasoning by which the Cape Government was 

 brought to admit the importance and urgency of the Survey, 

 and, better still, to sanction it. We read also of the special 

 difficulties and dangers of the work, and of the troubles- 

 some unavoidable, others due to regrettable misunderstand- 

 ings, which hindered the progress of the .Survey, and in 

 particular one such misunderstanding, which cost two 

 whole months at a critical time of year, and invalided one 

 of the surveying staff, and thereby prevented the com- 

 pletion of the programme laid down, so that this volume 

 does not quite cover the whole of Rhodesia south of the 

 Zambesi. The Jaderin method, with Jaderin wire standards, 

 was employed, and details are given of the elaborate pre- 

 cautions necessary to secure accuracy. The two base lines 

 were at Inseza (12J miles) and Gwibi (135 miles), and 

 astronomical determinations were made at Bulawayo, 

 Thabas Inyorka, and two or three other stations. The 

 chief of the expeditions was Mr. .Alexander Simms, who 

 had been employed at the Cape Observatory. This is a 

 very important contribution to the projected survey from 

 Natal to the Mediterranean along the 30" E. meridian. 



The Dead Heart of Australia, by J. W. Gregory (London : 

 Murray, 1906; pp. xvi. + 371 ; illustrated; price. i6s. net.) 

 — .Mthough, as indicated by its full title, which we have not 

 space to quote, this work is primarily a record of an adven- 

 turous journey through the arid deserts of the Lake Evre dis- 

 trict in Central South .Australia, it is really a very great deal 

 more than this, and is, in fact, one of the most valuable con- 

 tributions to the physiography and past history of .Australia 

 that has been rhade during recent years. To the naturalist 

 the most interesting chapter is the one in which the author 

 e.xpresses his views as to the character and relationships of 

 the -Australian aborigines. That the " black fellows " are not 

 the low and degraded creatures they have been commonly 

 represented. Dr. Gregory is fully convinced ; while he is fur- 

 ther of opinion that, in place of being hybrids between Tas- 

 manians and some other race (as supposed bv Sir William 

 Flow er), they are pure-bred Caucasians, whose nearest rela- 

 tions are the A'eddas of Ceylon ; and, we presume, the primi- 

 tive race recently discovered in Central Celebes. In this 

 view the author is in accord with opinions expressed, indepen- 

 dently of one another, by Dr. .Alfred Wallace and Mr. 

 Lydekker. Very interesting, too, are the fossil bird-remains 

 discovered during the expedition, of which Mr. de Vis will 

 doubtless give a full account in due course. Dr. (Gregory 

 has also something to say on cosmical and economical sub- 

 jects. -As regards the first, he bids us have no fear of the 

 desiccation of our globe so long as the sun continues to give 

 out its present amount of heat ; while in respect to the pro- 

 posal to flood the Lake Eyre district by a canal to the sea, 

 the author points out that since the cost would run into tens 

 of millions, the project is scarcely within the field of practical 

 politics. -A thoroughly entertaining book, containing a vast 

 amount of scientific lore, is our verdict on Dr. Gregory's 

 volume. 



