DISCOVERY 



381 



available concerning the influence of solar activity upon 

 the processes of the earth's atmosphere. 



In comparison with some others, for example Germany, 

 this country has been singularly lacking in meteorological 

 books written by persons of authority, and for this reason, 

 if for no other, one is glad to receive a work by an Assistant 

 Director of the Meteorological Office. 



This luminously expressed and, one may adil, well- 

 produced statement of the chief features of modern 

 meteorological endeavour and thought requires no 

 profound knowledge of mathematics or physics on the 

 part of the reader, and will be of inestimable value to 

 those who cannot readily gain access to official and other 

 publications containing the detailed accounts of original 

 investigations. Not less irresistibly will the book appeal 

 to those who contemplate adopting, or who have recently 

 adopted, the profession of meteorologii', and, lastly, to 

 all students of science, particularly of physics and mathe- 

 matics, whose attention is normally not directed during 

 a university career to the manifold problems of the 

 atmosphere which await investigation and elucidation. 

 H. W. L. Absalom. 



Studies in Fossil Botany. By D. H. Scott, D.Sc, 

 F.R.S. Third Edition. Vol. I, Pteridophyta. 

 (A. & C. Black, 1920, 25s. net.) 

 Dr. Scott's volumes on Fossil Botany are sufficiently 

 well known to the botanical student as affording the 

 readiest and clearest introduction to this branch of the 

 science, and the fact that they hold the field is shown by 

 the issue of successively enlarged editions. The work 

 was originally published in one volume (1900), and 

 increased to two volumes in 1908. The first part of the 

 latter issue has now grown from 363 pages to 434, with 

 an added selection of 65 new figures, or igo in all. The 

 earlier chapters foUow the previous editions with com- 

 paratively little modification, including accounts of 

 Equisetales, Sphenophyllales, and Lycopodiales of the Coal 

 Measures, as derived more particularly from the exami- 

 nation of sections of coal-balls, in which details of ana- 

 tomical structure are so clearly sho\%-n that one acquires 

 a conception of the general organisation of these remark- 

 able plants, almost as complete as if they were still alive. 

 Many of these arborescent Calamites and Lepidodendra 

 attained forest dimensions as loo-feet trees, and they are 

 still visualised by the help of their diminutive modern 

 representatives as Horse-tails and Club-mosses ; but 

 even in the distant ages at which their remains culminate 

 in the English Coal Measures, they were as highly or- 

 ganised and as widely divergent as are their reduced 

 descendants at the present day ; hence, their origin may 

 be antedated by many geological epochs. Though slight 

 suggestions of attempts at the seed-habit may be traced 

 in some Lycopodiales, and other families of fern-like habit 

 have been more successful in this direction, the true 

 Ferns of the Palaeozoic are comparatively few, and they 

 are represented by equally divergent and peculiar forms 

 as Botryopterids and Zygopterids, the, anatomy of whose 

 stems affords as pleasing a study as that of Mesozoic 



ContitiufJ o» ^.382 



The "Ars Vivendi" System 



IiUro.lucc'; into hvini.m evohitiuii .1 new principle. Hrielly 

 <'.escril)e(l, il is connected with the allimpurt.int part played 

 in the mech.nnism of Brc.ilhing by the air-chambers of the 

 cranium. After prolonged investigation conjoined with 

 extensive practice, the author has not only f<jr the first time 

 in history discovered the part assigned lo them by Nature in 

 the play of human energy, bnt has succeeded in turning this 

 immense secret to practical daily account. So far as vitality 

 is concerned, this is by far the most recondite as well .is im- 

 portant secret o( Nature, for it has a direct and constant 

 bearing upon mental and physical vigour, supplying the key 

 to many diverse and perplexing problems of menial evolution 

 as well as development of physique. In its highest aspect 

 it explains why, in all the Aryan languages, the terms 

 "spirit" and "breath" are identical, as seen in Sanskrit, 

 Greek, and Latin. Physically, as well as metaphysically, 

 it is the Spirit or lireath of Life which animates and con- 

 stantly supplies energy to mind and body. The strong man 

 is strong because he breathes not by fus and starts in small 

 driblets and with considerable effort, but easily and copiously 

 day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, year in and 

 year out. The weak and ailing are .11 the other end of the 

 scale, only able to draw the air in scantily and with more 

 or less effort. Just as the Breath of Life is the key to health 

 and disease, so this discovery is the master key to the 

 lireath of Life. It will do more for the consumptive in one 

 month than can now he done in years. It will be taught in 

 every school and college, and practised universally in the 

 home, the hospital, and the sanatorium. 



For further parUciilarSy fippty to 



Mr. ARTHUR LOVfLL, 94 Park St., Mayfair, London, W.I 



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