August, 1912. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



325 



than any similar bool< within our knowledfje the agreement, 

 overlapping,and nuitiial interdependence of the statistical and 

 Mendelian methods of investigation. Controversial subjects 

 are treated with scrupulous impartiality, evidence being as 

 rigorously railed off from opinion as stalls are from the pit. 

 In fact, the book has only one fault : it is too short. 



W. Hdl'E-JoNICS. 



MATHEMATICS. 



Tables AniiKcllcs Internationales de Constantcs et 

 Donni'es Nnmeriqiies. Vol. I. — 727 pages. ll-in.X8i|-in. 



(J. & .\. Churchill. Price 21 6 paper, and 

 24/- bound in cloth. I 

 This, the fust fruits of the labours of the International 

 Conunittee appointed by the Congress of Applied Chemistry 

 in 190'}, is a huge volume representing ;i vast amount of 

 patient labour. The work is published under the patronage of 

 the International .Association of .Academies, and material as 

 well as moral help has been given by various Governments 

 and Scientific Societies. A long list of these appears on one 

 page. It is interesting to note th.at the Governments of 

 Austria, France, Holland, Russia and Switzerland are included. 

 The British Government .uid the Koyal Society are con- 

 spicuou.sly absent. The Koyal Dublin Society and the Royal 

 Irish .-\cade[ny. and the Royal Societies of Canada and 

 Edinburgh figure among the British Societies, an argument, 

 perhaps, for Home Rule all round. To criticize a work of this 

 kind in a review is impossible. The proof of the pudding is 

 in the eating, and the size and varied ingredients of this 

 particular pudding should make it a staiuliiig dish in .dl 

 chemical and physical laboratories. 



\V. 1). K 



Mirn-.OROI.OGV. 



I'orccastin^ ll'f<7//uT. -By W. N. Sil.wv, F.K S., Sc.D. 



380 pages. 15S illustrations. 8'{-in.X 6-in. 



(Constable cS: Co. Price 12/6.) 



Everyone is interested in the weather, for everyone is 

 affected by it, but while the state of the weather is a matter 

 of concern, a ([uestion of even greater importance is. What 

 will the weather be ? Most people arc ''weather-wise" to 

 some extent, but in this book we have the latest and most 

 authoritative views on the subject of weather forecasting, from 

 the standpoint of the professed meteorologist, who is at the 

 same time a master in physical science. 



Dr. Shaw has been for the past eleven years the head of the 

 Meteorological Office in London, but before that he was for 

 twenty years engaged in teaching physical science in 

 Cambridge, and he has brought to the preparation of this 

 book the experience gained from the continuous study of 

 weather forecasting in the light of experimental physics. 



The result is a valuable volume in which the modern 

 practice is fuUv detailed, and at the same time the theory on 

 which the practice is based, and the relations that exist 

 between the phenomena of the weather and the facts of 

 physical science, are set out and explained. 



Modern forecasting is based upon the knowledge of present 

 conditions over a more or less wide arc.i, and in practice these 

 present conditions are represented by means of synoptic maps. 

 The author, therefore, devotes his first chapters to the history, 

 method of construction and gradual development of synoptic 

 weather maps, and to a study of the relationships that exist 

 between barometric pressure and wind, temperature and 

 weather, and gives a clear exposition both of the information 

 the daily weather map gives and of the inferences that may 

 be drawn from it. 



Some branches of science demand for their successful 

 prosecution an expensive instrumental outfit, but this is not 

 the case with weather forecasting, and it is shown that a 

 barometer and thermometer are all the instruments necessary 

 to enable one to make effective use of the weather maps issued 

 day by day. 



It has often been objected that the Official Forecasts are 

 not sufficiently precise to be of service, and in connection with 

 this criticism Dr. Shaw devotes a chapter to local variations 



of weather in relation to certain definite weather types. Some 

 most interesting diagrams are given, showing how under the 

 same conditions local phenomena — rainfall, for instance — will 

 differ at different stations in the same district, and how 

 important local knowledge is in interpreting the maps and 

 forecasts. 



While everyone is interested in weather forecasts there are 

 certain classes of the community who are very specially 

 concerned. Amongst these are seamen, agriculturists, 

 aeronauts and colliery managers, to whom the knowledge of 

 the weather conditions of a few hours ahead is sometimes all- 

 important. In America, very special attention is given in the 

 interest of fruit growers, to the issue of warnings of cold waves, 

 .and in our own islands the accurate prediction of night frosts, 

 or of the probable weather in harvest, is of great importance. 

 Dr. Shaw devotes special chapters to each of the classes 

 mentioned, pointing out the varying needs of each, and the 

 speci.il dilVu'ulties the forecaster has to overcome in order to 

 render his predictions really serviceable. 



For a successful forecast it is necessary to take a wide 

 survey, and for a wide survey it is necessary to use 

 observations made outside the British Isles. A very real 

 difficulty experienced by workers in Meteorology, when 

 dealing with results obtained in different countries, is the 

 want of uniformity in the units employed. Dr. Shaw boldly 

 meets this dilficulty by advocating a uniform system of 

 C.G.S. Meteorological Units, the general use of which would 

 clearly be an immense boon. It is hardly likely that the new 

 system will be brought into general use at once, but it is a 

 notable step forward to have developed a practical scheme 

 and to have indicated the line of advance. 



The book is well got up and is very fully illustrated with 

 an admirable selection of charts and di.igrams. Many of 

 these are, however, on a small scale and need a lens for their 

 proper study. 



The author is to be congratulated upon the production of 

 what prob.ibly will be the standard work on weather forecasting 

 for many years to come. 



PHYSICS. 



The Energy System of Matter : A Dediietum from 



Terrestrial Energy Phenomena. — By James \\i:ir. 200 



pages. 12 diagrams. 8-in. X SiJ-in. 



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



The author of this book considers that modern science is 

 too nutaphysical. In particular, he is opposed to the hypo- 

 Ihi'.-is (li the ether of space. He argues that it is absolutely 

 impossible to explain phenomena, that all that can be done is 

 to describe them. After this, he proceeds to attempt an 

 explanation of all natural phenomena in terms of matter and 

 energy, both of which, as presented in his book, are metaphysical 

 entities. He is, therefore, hardly consistent. 



His main thesis is that " Every transformation of energy is 

 carried out by the action of energised matter in the lines or 

 field of an incepting energy influence." .'\s an example of 

 what he means by an incepting energy influence, gravity may 

 be instanced. He argues that the pl;uietary bodies are 

 absolutely separated from one another, and from the sun, and 

 that no energy is transferred from one to another. Across 

 the empty space between them, however, gravity is operative 

 as a passive influence. According to the author's theory, all 

 the various forms of energy manifested on a planet are derived 

 from the energy of its axial rotation, under the incepting 

 influence of gravity and other similar fields U-.g., thermal, 

 luminous, and so on), and all such energy is ultimately trans- 

 formed back into axial energy by means of the atmosphere. 

 Each planet, therefore, is an absolutely conservative system. 



Mr. Weir denies, of course, the existence of radiant heat, 

 and argues that since there is, in his opinion, no transmission 

 of energy from one celestial body to another, there is no 

 necessity to postulate the existence of a medium filling the 

 spaces between. But surely, even admitting the truth of his 

 theory of incepting energy influences, if it is necessary to 

 assume the existence of " matter " to support those phenomena 

 which are loosely spoken of as " properties of matter, ' surely 



