May 



1895] 



NA TURE 



77 



way, sc\cr;il means for the same stations for ten years 

 each from the observations of the last quarter of a centur>' 

 have been calculated, with the result that none of these 

 series show an excess, the only variation being such as 

 appears in the isobars of this region for December, 

 Januar\-, and Februar>' in the maps of the " Challenger 

 Report. ' Finally, on comparing the means for the twenty 

 years gi\en in the Atlas with those we ha\e newly 

 calculated, the strange result comes out that to the north 

 of a line drawn from near Hernosand in Sweden, to a 

 point fifty miles to the north of the Skaw, the pressure 

 means of the Atlas are all in excess of the other means 

 from o'03o inch downwards, whereas to the south of this 

 line, the pressure means of the newly calculated stations 

 are all in excess of those of the Atlas from 0030 inch 

 downwards. For now many years, this error has 

 appeared in nearly all maps published on the continent 

 showing the distribution of atmospheric pressure over its 

 surface ; and it received greater currency by being 

 adopted in 1887 in the Meteorological Atlas, lorming part 

 ol Berghati^ Physical Atlas. It is probable that the error 

 would never ha\e appeared, if there had been established 

 in Southern Scandinavia a true high level Meteoro- 

 logical Observatory, that is, an observatory situated on a 

 peak such as we have in the Ben Nevis Obser\atory and 

 the other high level observatories on the continent. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Text-book of Anatomy and Physiology for Nurses. Com- 

 piled by D. C. Kimber. (London : Macmillan, 1895.) 



This is a book of 268 pages on anatomy and physiology, 

 written by a member of the nursing profession. The 

 author states that the text is compiled from many well- 

 known books, and that nearly all the illustrations are 

 figures taken from standard works. On first taking up 

 the book, we were surprised at the amount of detailed 

 anatomy it is considered necessary to impart to nurses in 

 the American training schools, and we are told that the 

 scheme of the book has been practically worked out in 

 class-teaching. So far as we can judge, the class-teaching 

 is conducted in a radically wrong way. In the first place, 

 there are no directions for practical work anywhere in the 

 book. .Anatomy and physiology cannot be taught to any 

 one without observation ; and with women entering so 

 practical and serious a profession as nursing, actual 

 obser\ation and simple experiments could be insisted 

 upon and more easily carried out than with a class of 

 school-girls. If the work is to be considered as a text- 

 book only, it is far too difficult to be put at once into the 

 hands of a nurse : yet the author makes no statement about 

 previous knowledge. The descriptions given of structure 

 and functions must surely be in many cases very difficult, 

 if not impossible, for beginners to understand, for such 

 descriptions often consist of a few sentences slightly 

 modified, apparently taken from full accounts found in 

 well-known books. Such detached sentences alone, 

 although correct enough in themselves, can lead to no 

 proper understanding of the subject. The book is 

 burdened with much detailed anatomy, such as of the 

 bones, muscles, development of blood-vessels, which 

 although possibly of use to nurses, would have better 

 given place to a simple, clear, and connected description 

 of the general structure and functions of the body. The 

 arrangement observed in the book is not good, and some 

 subjects are treated of in a wrong connection. For 



NO. 1334, VOL. 52] 



instance, the disposition and action of the muscles of the 

 eyeball are considered in the chapter on muscles in 

 g:eneral, as is also the action of the muscles of respira- 

 tion, and these descriptions are consequently inadequate. 

 There are instances of anticipation of topics, strange 

 sentences thrown in, which must be unintelligible until 

 matters treated of later have been grasped. In the 

 chapter on the heart, the author describes almost 

 at once the arrangement of the muscular fibres 

 of the chambers, before even a general description 

 of the organ is given, or the words auricle 

 and ventricle defined ; in fact, the whole description of 

 the heart should be much clearer, and the account of its 

 action fuller and more accurate. It would be easy enough 

 to point out some loose and erring statements, and one 

 or two misprints ; we are told, for instance, that water is 

 produced " when two molecules of oxygen unite with one 

 of hydrogen." It is far the best for nurses to learn the 

 anatomy and physiology they require from anatomists 

 and physiologists, and nursing from nurses. The book, 

 however, contains a full and excellent glossary. 



Calcareous Cements : their Nature and Uses. By G. R. 



Redgrave. (London : C. Griffin and Co., Limited, 



1895.) 

 Many valuable contributions to the wide literature of 

 cements have appeared from time to time in the engineer- 

 ing and chemical journals devoted to the industries. 

 Several of these are of foreign origin. 



The author of this work is to be congratulated on 

 having collected, in a handy volume of 222 pages, all 

 the most interesting and important facts dealing with the 

 history, manufacture, testing, &c.,of" Calcareous Cements." 



The volume is divided into sixteen chapters and eight 

 appendices. The first three chapters are devoted to a 

 historical review of the subject, and then follow in 

 systematic order chapters dealing with the various 

 stages in the manufacture of Roman and Portland 

 ceinents. 



Chapter viii. contains a short but accurate account of 

 the researches of Fremy, Le Chatelier, and Landrin on 

 the setting of cement. The author has given to the 

 subject of cement-testing its fullest importance: the various 

 methods and appliances for determining the strength of 

 cements are fully described, and the use of Unwin's 

 formula is clearly stated. The last chapter deals with 

 different specifications for cement. In connection with 

 this subject, the author deplores the want of a uniform 

 and generally accepted system of cement-testing in this 

 country ; and, in the hope no doubt of stimulating con- 

 sumers and manufacturers to an agreement, he gives, in 

 Appendix E, a full translation of the German standard 

 tests. 



It is not encouraging to find that an industry which 

 originated in England with the work of Aspdin and 

 Smeaton is slowly but surely passing over to the con- 

 tinent. The annual production of cement in Germany 

 equals that in England ; but that is not all, starting unth 

 raw materials of an exceedingly unfavourable character, 

 Germany produces a finer and more reliable cement than 

 that manufactured in England, and at no greater cost. 

 French cement is also, as a rule, superior to the English 

 article. 



A figure of Scheibler's, or any other form of calcimeter, 

 in the chapter on chemical analysis, due to Mr. Spack- 

 man, would help to make the work more complete in 

 itself ; and Schumann's convenient apparatus for deter- 

 mining the specific gravity of cement is not mentioned ; 

 the cumbrous Keates' bottle is alone described and 

 figured. 



The illustrations, thirty in number, are good,, and the 

 book is supplied with a very complete index. 



E. A. \V. 



