320 



KNOWLEDGE. 



August, 1913. 



lating currents in the year 1878. Surely two figures have 

 become transposed, for Clerk Maxwell died in 1879. It is, 

 perhaps, unfortunate that three pages are devoted to the 



Marconi Agreement of 1912. 



VV. D. E. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Text Book of Zoology.— By H. G. Wells, B.Sc. and A. M. 

 Davies, D.Sc. 487 pages. 207 figures. 7-in. X 5-in. 



(The University Tutorial Press. Price 6/6.) 



Mr. H. G. Wells, when he was a teacher of Zoology, planned 

 out this book, which was rewritten by Dr. Davies. Now the 

 sixth edition has been carefully revised by Mr. J. T. Cunning- 

 ham, who has added a summary of the modern ideas with 

 regard to evolution, which we have read with very great 



interest. 



W. M. W. 



Wild Life in Wales. — By George Bolam. 405 pages. 

 62 illustrations. 9-in. X 6-in. 



(Frank Palmer. Price 10/6 net.) 



There is a wealth of interesting information in this book 

 which deals first of all with sheep-dogs and agriculture, but as 

 its name implies is mostly occupied with first-hand observa- 

 tions on the wild life of Wales. There are also included 

 some very useful discussions as, for instance, the one with 

 regard to the development of spots on birds' eggs. For the 

 mole it is claimed that the damage he may do is so insignifi- 

 cant that it may be ignored, " while his hillocks form a good 

 top dressing to the grass and are gradually spread by sheep, 

 who thereby, it has been claimed, help to grind off the 

 superfluous growth with their own hoofs." It is pleasant to 

 learn some good also of the carrion crows, which Mr. Bolam 

 says for the greater part of the year are nearly as assidious as 

 rooks in hunting and destroying beetles, wireworms and so 

 on. The lover of nature will be delighted to hear of the 

 chough, the buzzard, the peregrine falcon, the polecat and the 

 marten, and also to see many of the excellent photographs 

 which have been used as illustrations, while here and there 

 those to whom antiquities have a charm will be glad to find 

 details of the hand-plough, the flail and the rushlight. 



W. M. W. 



"/•" A Memoir of John Willis Clark, Registrary of the 



University of Cambridge and sometime Fellow of Trinity 



College.— By A. E. Shipley, F.R.S. 362 pages. With 



3 portraits. 8£-in. X 5j-in. 



(Smith, Elder & Co. Price 10/6 net.) 



To almost every Cambridge man who matriculated between 

 the middle sixties and the earlier years of the present century 

 the name of J. W. Clark — abbreviated at first to "J. W. " and 

 then to " J " — must have been more or less familiar. For its 

 owner occupied a unique and prominent position at the 

 University, while his many-sided activities brought him into 

 contact with undergraduates of diverse types, from serious 

 zoological students to the light-hearted members of the 

 Amateur Dramatic Club. And as every alumnus who 

 came in contact with Clark could not fail to be attracted by 

 his genial, if somewhat cynical, disposition, they should all 

 rejoice that the book escaped the dire fate of being privately 

 published. 



To the naturalist the chief interest of the book is concentrated 

 in the appendix on Clark's long career (from 1866 till 1891) 

 as Secretary and Superintendent of the University Zoological 

 Museum ; an institution which may be said to have attained 

 its present high status as a teaching unit as the result of the 

 energy and hard work of its Superintendent, combined, it 

 should be added, with the assistance of the then Professor of 

 Zoology, the late Alfred Newton. But Clark succeeded in 

 making the museum under his charge a great deal more than 

 a teaching centre by obtaining for it many collections of high 

 scientific value to which students will constantly resort so 

 long as they remain in existence. Of actual scientific work 

 Clark did comparatively little, partly, no doubt, through lack 

 of the proper training in early years and partly owing to the 

 pressure of his administrative duties. In the early part of his 

 career as Superintendent he published, however, some papers 

 on sea-lions, which were of considerable value in clearing up 

 the confusion then existing with regard to the number of 

 species and their distinctive characters. 



No one better suited to the task of writing the life of his 

 old friend could possibly have been found than Dr. Shipley, 

 to whom all contemporary Cambridge men owe a debt of 

 gratitude. j^ ^ 



NOTICES. 



BIO-ECONOMICS.— Dr. Reinheimer is about to issue, 

 through Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Company, 

 a contribution to evolutionary science in the form of a 

 volume entitled " Evolution by Co-operation — A Study in Bio- 

 Economics." 



FOREIGN BOOKS.— Messrs. W. & G. Foyle have opened 

 at 5, Manette Street, W.C., a Foreign Book Department 

 containing, we are told, volumes in every language and on 

 every conceivable subject, carefully arranged and classified. 



SCIENCE FOR ARTISANS.— To meet the want of highly 

 intelligent artisuns for something more concrete than theory, 

 Messrs. Constable & Company are bringing out a series of 

 short, simply-written monographs by competent authorities 

 under the title of " Thresholds of Science." The books will 

 be well illustrated, and the volumes on Zoology, Botany, 

 Chemistry and Mathematics are now ready. 



HISTORICAL MEDICAL MUSEUM.— This Museum, 

 which has been set up at 54a, Wigmore Street, is formally 

 recognised as part of the History of Medicine Section of 

 the International Medical Congress which is now being held 

 in this country. The collections are due to the munificence 

 of Mr. Henry S. Wellcome, and to the most interesting speci- 

 mens and models brought together by his and his assistants' 

 labours we hope to devote a special article in the near future. 



SECOND-HAND BOOKS. — Mr. Edward Baker, of 

 Birmingham, has sent us his catalogue of Second-hand 

 Books, numbered 319, and among the thirteen hundred items 



described in it we notice many having reference to various 

 branches of science, while there are special headings dealing 

 with Botany, Ornithology, and General Zoology. 



NEW EDITIONS.— Messrs. J. & A. Churchill, of 7, Great 

 Marlborough Street, W., have nearly ready for publication 

 the 7th edition of " The Microtomist's Vade-Mecum," by Mr. 

 Arthur Bolles Lee; the 6th edition of the late Professor J. 

 Campbell Brown's " Practical Chemistry," edited by Dr. 

 Bengough ; and the 3rd edition of " A Text- Book of Physics," 

 edited by A. Wilmer Duff. 



JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY.— The 

 Publications Committee of the Association of Chemical 

 Technologists announce that in future the " Journal of 

 Chemical Technology," the official organ of the association, 

 will be published quarterly, and that the July number will 

 be the first of the new issue. 



BAUSCH & LOMB MICROSCOPES.— We have received 

 the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company's catalogue of micro- 

 scopes which contains particulars of two new stands " F " 

 and " FF " the latter of which has a focussing sub-stage. 

 A special feature of these microscopes is the base, which is 

 of a modified horse-shoe form of rounded contour. These 

 models, which embody all up-to-date bacteriological require- 

 ments have been introduced to meet the popular demand 

 for a high-class instrument at a moderate figure. Incident- 

 ally we may mention that the Bausch & Lomb Optical 

 Company have now sold more than eighty-seven thousand 

 of their microscopes. 



