360 



KNOWLEDGE. 



September, 1913. 



The Stock Dove. — Condemned by Mr. Collinge. 



Plover. — It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of 

 this bird to the agriculturalist. 



These extracts will show Mr. Collinge's well-considered 

 opinions, but we would urge all those who are interested in 

 birds, from whatever point of view, to get Mr. Collinge's book 

 and study all the interesting details and information contained 



thefein - W.M.W 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



Anaphylaxis. — By Charles Richet (Paris). Translated by 



J. Murray Bligh, M.D., with Preface by T. R. Bradshaw, 



M.D., F.R.C.P. 266 pages (including Bibliography). 



7-in. X5-in. 



(Constable & Co. Price 3/6 net.) 



It it only eleven years since that strange and interesting 

 condition known as Anaphylaxis was first discovered and 

 described by the author of the monograph before us. Already 

 an enormous literature on the subject has grown up, but 

 Professor Richet, the pioneer, is still the greatest master of 

 his subject, as every page of this interesting book testifies. 



Anaphylaxis may be described as " the modification of the 

 cells of an organism by the injection of a dissimilar albuminoid 

 substance, so that they seem to react with greater intensity on 

 the repetition of the injection," and is of great importance in 

 these days of serum treatment for diphtheria, cellulitis, and 

 other conditions. If, as was described in a recent number of 

 this Journal, after an interval of from a few weeks to two or 

 three years, a second injection of the serum of the same 

 animal is administered, serious symptoms of poisoning often 

 rapidly develop, and in some cases prove fatal. It is also 

 probable that those curious cases in which ordinary articles of 

 diet such as eggs, pork, strawberries, asparagus, shellfish, and 

 so on, in some people give rise to symptoms of poisoning, are 

 to be explained in somewhat the same manner. 



The book is clearly and ably written, and should prove of 

 the greatest possible value to those working at this subject. 



A very complete Bibliography is included. 



S. H. 



RADIOACTIVITY. 

 Beyond the Atom. By John Cox, M.A. 151 pages. 

 13 figures. 6i-in.X4i-in. 

 (The Cambridge University Press. Price 1/- net.) 

 This volume, No. 65 of the " Cambridge Manuals," contains 

 an interesting and succinct account of the modern science of 

 radioactivity and the theory of the disintegration of the atom, 

 which may justly be regarded as the central doctrine of this 

 science. Except for the occasional use of an unexplained 

 technical term or two (e.g., "Faraday tube of force"), the 

 book is well adapted to the needs of general readers. Mr. 

 Cox clearly indicates the broad lines of evidence for the 

 disintegration theory and its advantages over the " helide " 

 hypothesis, which in the light of so much evidence can now 

 hardly be regarded as in any sense tenable. As Mr. Cox says, 

 " the chemist . . . has been compelled to look ' beyond the 

 atom,' and in the words of Blake — 



' To see a world in a grain of sand 

 And heaven in a flower ; 

 To grasp infinity in the palm of the hand, 

 And eternity in an hour.' " 



There is a statement on page 46, however, which will 

 certainly prove misleading, as seeming to indicate that the 

 products of radioactive disintegration are not elementary, for 

 which there is, of course, no evidence, and which is not, I 

 think, what Mr. Cox intends to say. 



There is an interesting chapter on " The Objective Reality 

 of Molecules." No doubt the Brownian movement, especially 

 in the light of Perrin's wonderful investigation, does endow 

 molecules with more reality than heretofore, and the word 

 " objective " is not out of place. But lest we interpret this 

 term in too metaphysical a sense, we must remember that 

 Berkeley's arguments concerning the nature of the existence 

 of the material world still remain ; and in the last analysis it 

 is clear that the world of science is a purely conceptual 

 world — that it is a great hypothesis, a machine, as it were, 

 produced by the mind in order that the mind may deal easily 

 with its sense-impressions. But on the other hand, of course, 

 if this view limits the meaning of "objectivity," it does 

 nothing to invalidate physical science or to deny its truth, 

 pragmatically understood. 



H. S. Redgrove. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The British Parasitic Copepoda. — By Thomas Scott, 



F.L.S., and Andrew Scott, A.L.S. Vol. II. Copepoda 



Parasitic on Fishes. 72 plates. 9-in. X6-in. 



(Dulau & Co. Price 25/- net.) 



In our July number we noticed the text of the latest 



publication of the Ray Society, dealing with the British 



Parasitic Copepoda. The present volume, which is issued 



to subscribers for the year 1913, contains the excellent 



plates — more than half of them coloured — the majority of 



which have been drawn by Mr. Andrew Scott from specimens 



examined by the authors. ... ,, ... 



W. M. W. 



The Wanderings of Animals. — By Hans Gadow, F.R.S. 

 150 pages. 17 maps. 6i-in. X5-in. 



(The Cambridge University Press. Price 1/- net.) 



The distribution of animals is a question which calls up all 

 sorts of interesting matters. On many of these Dr. Gadow 

 is able to touch in the first part of his book, which shows how 

 animals have spread and how long they have taken to do so. 

 Some attractive calculations are incidentally given with regard 

 to the human species. In England the population doubles 

 itself in fifty years, and if this was to go on, a thousand years 

 hence the whole land surface of the globe would not afford 

 sufficient standing room for the sixteen hundred and sixty million 

 millions of people that would then exist. It is absolutely 

 certain that the origin of man dates back into the Pliocene, 

 and if we assume that the human race started as the traditional 

 Adam and Eve pair in that period, the rate of increase 

 necessary to account for the present total population would be 

 so small as to render the calculation quite preposterous. 

 Dr. Gadow gives figures which show that the rate of propaga- 

 tion has been always as large as it is now all over the world. 



The second half of the book consists of brief accounts of 

 the distribution of selected groups of animals, and contains a 

 large amount of useful information in a small compass. 



W. M. W. 



NOTICES. 



PLANT PROTECTION. — Arrangements are being made 

 to hold a Conference on this subject in London on September 

 the 19th. Those interested in the subject who would like to 

 attend are invited to communicate with the Editors of 

 " Knowledge " at 42, Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C. 



CLASSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY.— Mr. Edgar Senior's 

 elementary and advanced classes in photography at the 

 Battersea Polytechnic begin again at 7.30 p.m. on September 

 the 30th, and at the South-Western Polytechnic, Manresa 

 Road, Chelsea, on September 22nd. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.— This year's meeting 

 will be held at Birmingham, under the Presidency of Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, who will give his address on the 10th of 

 September. The Railway Companies, on production of a 

 voucher signed by the Secretary of the Association, will grant 

 reduced fares, and Birmingham can now be reached on the 

 new Great Western line in exactly two hours from Paddington. 

 From a time-table sent to us by the Divisional Superintendent, 

 we learn that trains depart at 9.10 and 11.5 a.m., and 1.0, 

 2.35, 4.0, 6.0, and 8.0 p.m. 



