6i8 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[December, 1906. 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



ASTRONOMY. 

 Stonehenge and other British Stone Monuments, Astro- 

 nomically Considered, bv Sir Norman I.ockycr (Macmillan 

 and Co., 1906, pp. xii. + 340; IDS. net).^Readers of 

 LockvLT's '• Dawn of Astronomy," in which an ahnost 

 fabulous antiquilv is claimed for certain Egyptian temples, 

 will not be surp'rised at his having turned his attention 

 nearer home to a similar investigation as to the possible 

 dates of Stonehenge, the Hurlers, the Merry Maidens, and 

 other prehistoric British monuments. Much of the 

 material in the present volume will be familiar to readers of 

 Nature, and some of the results have been published in the 

 Proceedings of the Roval Society, but the new volume is a 

 complete discussion o'f the subject. It is interestmg to 

 astronomers to see how many sciences have to own an 

 obligation to astronomy for testing hypotheses, and for 

 many other purposes, veVv often chronological. In the pre- 

 sent' instance it is archffiology that shares the burden of 

 investigation, but we cannot claim to t:now enough of ad- 

 mittedly prehistoric Britain to be able to do more than 

 acquiesce in the possibilitv of some of the conclusions. _ The 

 author's enthusiasm for his subject is apt to carry him to 

 his desired conclusions across a morass of doubtful specula- 

 tion where " path " is a euphemism for very uncertain 

 stepping stones, on which few would be inclined to venture in 

 search of an unknown goal. Once admit the goal and the 

 " stepping stones " are highly ingenious, admirable arti- 

 fices, but since the question^ is, after all, a problem and not 

 a theorem, there should be something better than a lack of 

 complete refutation on which to claim success for any solu- 

 tion. Among so manv more or less plausible assumptions, 

 possiblv more than one, perhaps vital to the argument, 

 might be overthrown, but cui bono? Sir Norman Lockyer 

 has in any case produced an interesting book, with ad- 

 mirable descriptions and illustrations, and carefully collected 

 legends on a subject the facts of which, so far as they go, 

 are w-ell worthy of study. Those to whom the "Dawn of 

 Astronomy " brought conviction may accept the results of 

 the present volume without difficulty. Others will be rnore 

 sceptical, except, perhaps, Cornishmen, or those of Welsh 

 descent, whose pride in the antiquity of their race will 

 enable them to skim the doubtful places, imbued beforehand 

 with the author's faith by their strong sympathy with his 

 conclusions. 



BOTANY. 



A Text Book of Fungi, including Morphology, Physiology- 

 Pathology, and Classification, by George Massee (Lon- 

 don : Duckworth and Co. ; 6s.).— This volume supplies a 

 want which has for some time been felt, because of the 

 fact, as stated in the preface, that "During recent years 

 our knowledge of fungi, from morphological, biological, and 

 physiologicai standpoints respectively, has increased by leaps 

 and bounds," so that this increased knowledge has thrown 

 the existing handbooks out of date, and students were 

 waiting anxiously- for a new guide. Inasmuch as a know- 

 ledge of the structure and liife-history of fungi is now re- 

 quired of those who seek a degree or diploma in Agriculture 

 and Forestry in Universities and Colleges, the issue of the 

 present w^oik is amply justified, and doubtless the right 

 author has been selected for the work, and he gives an as- 

 surance that it is arranged as a text book for educational 

 purposes, and is written on the lines required by the Board 

 of .Agriculture. Opening the volume, we are at once struck 

 with the number of illustrations (140), which assist in 

 elucidating the text. And again, by the useful bibliography 

 which concludes each chapter, and indicates where further 

 information can be obtained. After intimating that already 

 no less, than 55,000 species of fungi have been described, 

 good, bad, or indifferent, and included in Saccardo's SyJloge, 

 with the intimation that probably not more than half of 

 these are autonomic species, it is evident that a text-book 

 of little more than 400 pages cannot by any means exhaust 

 the subject ; indeed, it is marvellous how much our author 

 has contrived to condense within that compass, and yet 

 include ,all the most prominent of the theories and demon- 

 strations of recent times. Nearly half the book is occupied 



with the classification, which is possibly the least interest- 

 ing, but not the least essential, although, naturally, the 

 classification of 50,000 plants cannot be fully justified and 

 elucidated within some 200 pages. All mycologists must 

 welcome this volume, which, even the practised hand will 

 find extremely useful, in keeping him up to date. It is, 

 moreover, neatly " got up," of a handy size, and provided 

 with a good index. We heartily commend Mr. Massee's 

 1,-itcst literary effort, and can only hope that it will secure 

 the success it so eminently deserves. M. C. C. 



The Romance of Plant Life, by G. F. Scott Elliot, M.A. 

 Seeley and Co. ; 5s.). — The title to some extent disarms 

 criticism, and we remain in uncertainty as to whether the 

 romancing is done by the author or the plants he men- 

 lions. The information offered bears on all kinds and 

 conditions of plants that exist at the present day, or ever 

 did exist, described under such headings as " The 

 .Scythian Lamb," " Paheolithic Family," The Caustic 

 Creeper," Ingenuity of W'eeds," etc. The story relating 

 to the evil-doings of the famous Upas tree is ruthlessly 

 exposed and stated to be pure romance. Again, the cele- 

 brated Traveller's tree, which for all time has been credited 

 with saving the lives of innumerable travellers in the desert, 

 proves to be a myth. The tree has a considemble amount 

 of water in a hollow at the base of its leaf, and it is possible 

 to drink this water. Unfortunately, the tree only grows 

 in the vicinity of swamps or springs, and the water, which 

 the author tasted, out of curiosity, " had an unpleasant 

 vegetable taste, w-ith reminiscences of bygone animal life." 

 Probably the book under consideration is altogether unique 

 in the amount of accurate information, bearing on every 

 phase of plant life as .seen in a state of nature, as also on 

 the influence exercised by plants on other forms of life. 

 There are numerous very beautiful whole-page illustrations, 

 and the binding also is quite artistic. 



CHEMISTRY. 



The Chemistry and Physics of Dyeing, by W. P. Dreaper, 



F.I.C. (London: J. and A. Churchill; pp. xii. and 315; 

 los. 6d. net). — The tendency of chemistry is to become more 

 and more specialised, especially as regards its technical 

 applications, but, on the other hand, the general principles 

 of chemistry and physics underlying various technical pro- 

 cesses are gradually being made clear, with the result that 

 on every hand rational methods are slowly taking the place 

 of the time-honoured ones, based on " rule of thumb." In 

 his preface, the aut'nor points out that dyeing has lagged 

 behind many other industries in this respect, and that even 

 in the special treatises on the subject the description of 

 working details is given the first place, and relatively little 

 attention paid to the theoretical side; and he has written 

 this book to supply the want. The work opens with an 

 interesting introduction on the history of dyeing, which is 

 followed by chapters on the properties of fibres, the nature 

 of dyes, lakes, and mordants, and their action, evidences 

 of physical and chemical action in dyeing, the part played 

 by colloids in the processes and the action of light on the 

 various operations, and the book concludes with a chapter 

 on the methods of research and good indexes. In each 

 section concise abstracts (with references) of the work 

 done by others in the same field are given, so that the 

 reader gains a complete survey of the whole ground. The 

 book is excellently printed, and the author and publishers 

 may be congratulated on the production of a work that will 

 be most valuable to all interested in the industry of dyeing. 



A Practical Chemistry Note-Book, by S. E. Brown, M.A. 

 (Cantab.), B.A., B.Sc. (Lond.) (London : Methuen and Co. ; 

 pp. 56; IS. 6d. net). — This note-book was originally de- 

 signed for the use of candidates preparing for the qualifying 

 examination of the Civil Service, but Mr. Brown is fully 

 justified in concluding that it will also be found useful as 

 an introduction to practical chemistry. Unlike many of the 

 so-called " note-books," which are compiled solely for ex- 

 amination purposes, it does not do the thinking for the 

 student ; but while giving sufficient directions for the pro- 

 gressive exercises, it leaves spaces for descriptions of the 



