Makih, 1911. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



121 



.4 Textbook of Geology. — By P. Lakh. M..\.. F.G.S.. and 

 K. H. Rastai.l, M.A.'. F.G^S. 494 pages. 134 figures. 

 32 pl.ites. 5A-in.XS^-in. 

 (Edward .■\niold. Price 16 ■ net. I 



Geological students have long needed a textbook to bridge 

 the gap between the elementary manuals and such detailed 

 works as Sir A. Geikie's great treatise. They have their need 

 satisfied in the book under review, which meets a distinctly 

 "felt want." In its five hundred pages the student will find 

 most geological topics dealt with in clear concise paragraphs 

 informed with the latest results of research. The book is 

 divided into two parts ; the first, dealing with physical geology, 

 has been written by Mr. Rastall ; the second, on stratigraphical 

 geology, by Mr. Lake. The treatment adopted, as acknow- 

 ledged in the Editor's preface, is frankly Lyellian. In 

 accordance with this method, petrology and palaeontology are 

 necessarily dealt with only to such an extent as is required to 

 appreciate their place in geological science. Their modern 

 development is regarded as altogether too extensive to be 

 included in a work on the principles of geology. 



We have nothing but praise for that portion of the book 

 which deals with physical geology. The arrangement and 

 selection of material is good. Some of the latest results of 

 research on British rivers, and on North .American glaciers, to 

 mention only two subjects out of many, are here rendered in an 

 easily accessible forms, for the first time in an English text book. 

 The whole section gives evidence of very careful and extensi\e 

 reading on the part of the author. Similar praise must be 

 accorded to the stratigraphical part of the book, which is headed 

 by a good chapter on the often-neglected principles of strati- 

 graphy. A. welcome feature to British geologists is the 

 incorporation of the latest results of stratigraphical work in 

 Wales, Cornwall and elsewhere. Only British stratigraphy is 

 dealt with, as the scope of the book does not permit the 

 consideration of foreign deposits. The work is in general so 

 thoroughly done that it is surprising to find no account of the 

 recent material development of our knowledge of the great 

 Dalradian series of the Scottish Highlands by the Geological 

 Survey officers and others. The plateau lavas of the Carbon- 

 iferous in Scotland, except in the Garleton Hills, are mostly 

 very basic olivine basalts, not andesites. as stated on page 371. 

 In spite of minor defects, we have in this section the best, 

 fullest and most modern account of British stratigraphy. The 

 text is illustrated by many excellent plates and informative 

 diagrams. There are two misprints in a single paragraph on 

 page xii., and a transposition of lines on page 140, but these 

 are the only blemishes we have been able to discover in a well- 

 printed book. The authors are to be congratulated on this 

 excellent and important summary of geological science, which 

 should be in the hands of all geologists. 



MEDICINE. 



Induced CeJl-rcproductioii and Cancer. — By Hugh 



Campbell Ross. M.R.C.S.,L.K.C.F. _'91 pages. 125 plates. 



9i-in. X6-in. 



(John Murray. Price 12 - net.) 



In this large and interestingly-written book the author 

 describes researches which he has recently carried out by a 

 special and, for the most part, original method, upon the white 

 blood corpuscles. .A small quantity of blood is spread out on 

 the surface of a film of jelly, containing stains and other 

 substances dissolved in it, and the whole is then covered with 

 a cover-slip and examined. The stain is slowly taken up by the 

 leucocytes and lymphocytes and various changes are observed 

 to take place in these cells, depending on the nature of the 

 dissolved substances. What the writer describes as division 

 of the white blood corpuscles can be watched on the stage of 

 the microscope. In the case of the lymphocytes it is quite 

 possible that these changes may at times constitute a true 

 physiological dixision: but it would appear probable that the 

 leucocytes never really divide, as they are fully formed and 

 specialised cells, and that what the author has observed are 

 really degenerative changes taking place in cells that are 

 slowly dying. .-\t any rate, as the writer very justly points 



out. no one has previously observed the division of the ordinary 

 polymorphonuclear leucocyte, though this has been searched 

 for during half a century. Among other substances, extracts 

 of decomposing animal tissues have the power of inducing the 

 above changes in the white blood cells, ar.d the suggestion is 

 \ery reasonably brought forward that the presence of these 

 substances may be the deterniining factor of the cell prolifera- 

 tion that takes place in a healing wound. The last few 

 chapters are devoted to some theoretical considerations 

 regarding the cause and cure of cancer. 



The book is well written and well illustrated iiy micro- 

 photographs. Some of the observations described in it have 

 already appeared in the journals, but do not appear to have 

 been well received by pathologists generally. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Sontliern Hemisphere Surface-Air Circulation. — By 



WlLl.L\M J. S. LocKVER. M..\. (Cantab.), Ph.D. (Giittingen), 



F.R..-\.S. 110 pages. 15 plates 12-in. X9i-in. 



( Wyman & Sons, for the Solar Physics Committee. Price 6/-.) 



-■^ most interesting and instructive study of air movements 

 in the southern hemisphere during the winter — .-^pril to 

 September — months. There appear to be a series of anti- 

 cyclones, or high pressure swirls or eddies, travelling constantly 

 eastward. The areas of these vary somewhat, being larger in 

 winter, and smaller in summer. The centres in winter 

 travel nearly alon.g parallel 34 south, the circulation of the 

 eddy being in the direction S.E.N. W. They appear to 

 tra\el over land at the mean rate of about 1 L • 5 daily 

 in longitude, but over the oceans at about 9 '-2, giving a 

 mean rate of 10' -7 per da\- around the earth, completing 

 the circuit in 33-6 days. The path of these systems is 

 instructive. They seem to follow almost truly along the 

 line of latitude across the wide expanse of the Pacific 

 Ocean, then, when met by the Andes chain near the 

 west coast of South .America, they turn very abruptly south, 

 and after breaking through the mountains curve north again, 

 and travel direct over the .Atlantic, but follow the coast-line 

 south of Africa. Thence direct across the Indian Ocean and 

 .Australia. .Again, over the South Pole there is another anti- 

 cyclonic region, not indeed having the pole quite central, but 

 crushed down, as it were, directly below South .America. 

 Between the anti-cyclonic systems there travel in the same 

 direction, but rotating S.W.N.E., a series of low pressure 

 eddies or cyclones. The path of these is near latitude 60 

 south. For the " reason why " of these movements we 

 cannot do better than ad\ise those interested to study the 

 memoir. The results are obtained from the observations 

 made at about fifty stations, supplemented by the work at 

 eight stations occupied by Antarctic expeditions. In going 

 through the volume it seemed unfortunate that there could be 

 no report from Tristan Da' Cunha, which would be like a 

 connecting link between America and Africa. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



Practical Physiological Chemistry. — By R. H. .Aders 

 Plummer, D.Sc. 270 pages. 10-in. x 6i-in. 



(Longmans, Green and Co. Price 6 - net.) 



Physiological Chemistry, it will be remembered, deals with 

 the composition and properties of those carbon compounds 

 which are constituents of living matter, and are concerned in 

 \ital processes. The Chemistry of the chief organic con- 

 stituents of the human body and its secretions, and of the 

 principal food-stuffs, are dealt with, from the practical stand- 

 point, in the work before us. The present volume was, in 

 fact, as we are reminded in the preface, originally compiled as 

 a handbook for the practical work hi Physiological Chemistry 

 at University College, London. The text is conveniently 

 arranged in paragraphs with headlines, while the descriptive 

 matter is printed in large, and the practical work in smaller, 

 type, and the author's name is a sufficient guarantee that 

 every statement therein contained is in accordance w'ith the 

 most recent researches ui this rapidly extending science. 



