August 8, 1895] 



NATURE t,!^ 



339 



'"tubercle'' can only lead to confusion, especially now 

 that, in connection with bovine and other tuberculosis, it 

 is so frequently heard at aj^ricultural gatherings. Several 

 peculiarities in spelling, adhered to throughout the work, 

 might in a new edition be brought into conformity with 

 general usage : examples are afforded in Telletia, Cecyd- 

 oiiiyia, Ccntorhyiichus, Si/o/t^, C/ionopo:iiii»i, Cliwiceps 

 purpura. 



It is difficult to understand wh\' the second of the 

 volumes of which the titles head this notice has been 

 prepared, unless it be to find favour with candidates in 

 a certain specified examination, the syllabus of which, 

 however, the author tells us, " has not been slavishly 

 followed." The really valuable parts of the book have 

 apparently been culled from the writings of five living 

 agricultural authors whose names are mentioned in the 

 preface, and who, if they turn over the pages of this 

 compilation, can hardly fail to alight upon much that 

 they have seen before. It is regrettable that the author 

 did not cling to his guides throughout. He would not 

 in that case have said of sainfoin : " In appearance the 

 lea\es resemble those of vetches, but the blossom is 

 more like that of red clover." Apart from the worth- 

 lessness of such a statement as this, it cannot fail to 

 raise a doubt as to whether the author has e\er seen 

 a field of sainfoin, .\gain, with reference to lucerne, 

 we read : " Like sainfoin, it produces good crops for 

 about ten years." Where, we would ask, is the district 

 in which sainfoin stands for anythmg like this period ? 

 What is meant by the statement that " sainfoin is much 

 harder than lucerne " ? The germination of a seed is 

 described as "the period parallel to the sucking of a 

 young mammal "; and elsewhere we read, "nitrification 

 goes on or acts more quickly under circumstances favour- 

 able for rapid growth, and in this respect is parallel to 

 germination." Nothing, perhaps, indicates the character 

 of the book more thoroughly than the page of illustra- 

 tions entitled " \'arious Specimens of s Grass .Seeds." 



We omit the name of the seedsman, who jjrobably 

 would be sorr)' to claim that a seed of rye-grass, for 

 example, sold by him is difterent from all other rye- 

 grass seed. 



The 350 pages of the book are di\ ided into no fewer 

 than 70 chapters. Inter a/in a treatise on chemistry 

 is introduced, with figures of a spirit-lamp and test- 

 tube. From a chapter on " Blossoms and their func- 

 tions," wo cull the following specimen of literary grace : 

 " We are apt to look upon them merely as objects 

 1 reated to feast man's eye with their beauty, or his nose 

 with their sweet scent." The language of the book is 

 of an irritating style, which is constantly in evidence 

 from the grammatical blunder at the close of the pre- 

 face down to the final chapter, in which reference is 

 made to what "the plant needs to live healthy." It 

 is, however, only fair to add that, at the outset, the 

 author writes : "It has been my endeavour to a\oid 

 errors." 



The sub-title of .Mr. L. H. Hailey's book— " .A. com- 

 pendium of useful information for fruit-growers, truck- 

 gardeners, florists, and others "—indicates its scope. 

 In a score of chapters such subjects are dealt with as 

 injurious insects, insecticides, plant diseases, fungicides, 

 lawns, grafting, seeding, storing of fruits and vegetables, 



NO. 1345, VOL. 52] 



the weather, and many other matters of practical interest. 

 It is stated in the preface : " The contents of the volume 

 ha\e been gleaned from many sources ; and, whilst the 

 compiler cannot assume the responsibility of the value 

 of the many recipes and recommendations, he has ex- 

 ercised every care to select only those which he con- 

 siders to be reliable." The result is a most valuable 

 book, and though intended primarily for American 

 readers, it will none the less constitute a useful reference 

 manual for horticulturists in this country. We notice, 

 with regard to potato disease, that it is recommended 

 to spray the plants with Bordeaux mixture "upon the 

 first indication of the blight." It would probably be 

 better to follow the advice, recently published by the 

 Irish Land Commission, to spray before the appearance 

 of disease, and thus employ the application as a preven 

 tive rather than a remedial measure. It is when the 

 reader meets H-ith such a remark as the " marsh-marigold 

 or so-called cowslip," that he must bear in mind the 

 .■\merican origin of tlie book. There is probably no better 

 work of its kind. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Electrical Laboratory Notes and Forms. Arranged and 

 prepared by Dr. J. .\. Fleming, F.R.S. (London : The 

 Electrician Printing and Publishing Co.) 



It is now generally recognised that the best way to 

 teach the rudiments of science is by the natural or 

 kindergarten method, which aims at leading the young 

 student to observe facts and phenomena for himself, and 

 come to conclusions concerning them. The method is 

 applied easily enough to very elementary practical work, 

 and with the best results. In the case of elementary 

 work in physics, all the student requires to be told is 

 what to do, and he may be left to find the teaching of his 

 results. For instance, it is only necessary to instruct 

 him to find the weights of equal bulks of different liquids 

 and solids, and the results of his experiments show him 

 at once what relative density means. This principle of 

 letting the results of experiments suggest conclusions is 

 undoulitedly the right one for introductory courses of 

 practical physics and chemistry ; indeed, almost the only 

 information that need be given to the students in the 

 laboratory is how to set up their simple a])paratus and 

 what to do with it : nothing ought to be said about what 

 they are going to prove, or the experiments lose their 

 value of developing the faculties of acute observation and 

 intelligent induction from the observed facts. 



.•\dvanced work in physics and chemistry offers 

 difficulties to the extension of the scientific method of 

 observation and induction. The time spent in the 

 laboratories is far too short to enable students to re- 

 discover the more intricate laws and relationships for 

 themselves, however admirable the mental training of 

 such researches may be ; and if the instruments are all 

 arranged so that it is only necessary to press a knob to 

 make them act, and obtain a result, the value of the 

 mechanical observations then made cannot be very great. 

 The difficulty of applying the scientific method to 

 physical laboratory work is brought out by the \ olume 

 before us. The \olume contains twenty elementary and 

 twenty advanced exercises in electrical measurement. 

 Each exercise consists of a six-page sheet, two pages 

 of which are occupied with a condensed account of the 

 theoretical and practical instructions for performing the 

 particular experiment, while the remaining pages are ruled 

 up in lettered columns, to be filled in by the student with 

 the results of his observations. What the student does 



