April i i, 1895J 



NA TURE 



557 



p. 1 10, it is stated that, in puddling, the carbon is reduced 

 to 'I per cent. ; and also that during; the melting-down 

 stage there is little chemical action. P. iii: Puddled 

 bloom is chemically wrought iron wiih intermingled slag. 

 P. 123: Steel is made by carbonisini^ malleable iron. 

 P. 12S : Mild steel, not more than 5 per cent, carbon, 

 does not harden when heated and quenched in water. 

 P. 134 : The slags from the acid Bessemer process are 

 very iiasic silua/es oi iron and manganese. P. 13S: In 

 Open Hearth process it is stated that the iron ore should 

 be as free as possible from silica, whereas the Spanish 

 hematite usually employed is very siliceous. P. 143: 

 The strength increases as the diameter of the wire 

 decreases. Also cake or tough copper may contain any 

 amount of impurities. P. 223 : An alloy of 80 per cent, 

 copper and 20 per cent, zinc is called red brass. P. 229 : 

 Electro refining of copper ; the anode is a thin sheet of 

 copper ; the cathode is a bar of blister copper . P. 230 : 

 The passage of the electric arc through the carbons pro- 

 duces a very high temperature. It is a great pity that 

 a work which has been so judiciously compiled as the 

 present one should be marred by so many mistakes, 

 when by a more careful supervision of the proof sheets 

 they might have been easily detected and corrected. 



Annals of liritish Geology, 1S93. A Digest of the Books 

 and Papers published durmg the Year. Ey J. K. 

 Blake, M.A., F.G.S. (London : Dulau and Co., 1895.) 



Once more has Prof. Blake overcome all the obstacles 

 of prolonged research among publications that are many 

 of them difficult of access. Once more has he braved the 

 disappointment of inadequate suppoit, and following his 

 own independent course in the selection and arrange- 

 ment of his material, he has now given us the fourth 

 volume of his "Annals of British Geology." Every 

 addition to the series renders the whole of greater value, 

 and we sincerely hope that the present volume will be 

 self supporting, as he ventures to anticipate. To all 

 geologists, and to the provincial worker especially, these 

 "Annals" must be of the greatest service, for the author 

 contrives to give so much of the substance of each paper, 

 that the leader will gain a very fair notion of the 

 additions made to our knowledge during each year. 

 Except in the student's special department of work, there 

 will be no occasion to consult the originals. 



Altogether 730 papers and books are noticed, being an ; 

 increase of 180 over those recorded in the previous 

 volume. The author's introductory review, occupying 

 twenty-four pages, gives a summary of the chief geo- 

 logical news of the year. Although not essential to the 

 Annals, this review acts as a safety-valve for the escape 

 of some few of the critical remarks which arose while the 

 author was perusing the 730 works. New forms of 

 Ammonites and Corals come m for critical observations, 

 so also do the "hemera;" of the Inferior Oolite, and 

 various glacial theories. | 



In Palaeontology the place of honour is rightly given to ' 

 the Elgin Reptiles described by Mr. E. T. Newton, and 

 an excellent illustration of ElgiiUa mirabilis forms the , 

 frontispiece of the book. 



The Origins 0/ Invention. By Otis T. Mason, A.M. 



Ph U Pp. 419. (London ; Walter Scott, Limited, 



1895.) 

 Tu trace our modern industries to their origins, to show 

 how they have evolved, and to point out the changes 

 from naturalism to artificialism that mark the course of 

 civilisation, is a difficult task, but an attractive one ; and 

 few ethnologists are better equipped with facts relating 

 to this development than the Curator of the Department 

 of Ethnology in the L'nited States National Museum, 

 who is the author of this book. 



NO. 1328, VOL. 51] 



Dr. Mason lays down the following as the order in> 

 which kinetic energy has been con)manded : (1) man- 

 power in every pursuit ; (2) fire as an agent in cooking, 

 pottery, metallurgy, &c. ; (3) the power of a spring, as 

 in a bow or trap ; (4) beast-power, for burden a.id trac- 

 tion ; (5) wind-power, on sails and mills, and in draught; 

 (6) water-power, as a conveyance and a motor, and 

 gravity or weight generally ; (7) sieam-power, utilisation 

 of an expanding gas ; (8) chemical power, in the arts of 

 the civilised ; (9) electric power, motors, message- 

 bearers, in mechanics and illumination ; (10) light as a 

 mechanical servant, only beginning 10 be domesticated. 



Prominent among inventions are tools and mechanical 

 devices — objects employed as means to ends. .Many of 

 these have come down from remote antiquity. Follow- 

 ing M. Adrien de Mortillet's classification. Dr. viason 

 describes the tools and appliances used by primitive 

 peoples for cutting ; abrasion and smoothing ; fracturing, 

 crushing, pounding; perforating, grasping, and jointing. 

 At the basis of tool-using, lie the systems of counting 

 and weighing and measuring, all of which receive 

 attention. 



The invention and uses of fire, forms the subject of a 

 very interesting chapter. < ther matters treated in 

 separate sections are stone-working, pottery, primitive 

 uses of plants, the textile industry, inventions belonging 

 to the chase, methods used for the capture and domestic- 

 ation of animals, means of travel and transportation, and 

 instruments of warfare. 



The work is readable throughout ; it is a valuable 

 history of the development of the inventive faculty, and 

 has, therefore, an important relation to the history of 

 humanity. The ethnologist will find in the volume much 

 that is interesting in regard to the relationship between 

 man's activities in different regions. 



Short Studies in Nature Knowledge. By William Gee. 

 Pp. 313. (London : Macmillan and Co., 1895.) 



For boys in the upper standards of our elementary 

 schools, this forms an idea! reading-book. It is simply 

 worded, is not too full of details, contains numerous illus- 

 trations, and is likely to create and fo-ter a love of 

 natural knowledge. The book is intended to be used as 

 an introduction to physiography, and it covers the ground 

 usually understood to belong to that science. Copious 

 extracts from the poetical and prose writings of standard 

 authors are introduced into the text wherever possible, 

 and serve to lighten it. The author appears to have 

 spent a deal of care upon the work, and wc think he has 

 succeeded in producing a volume which will be welcome 

 to teachers, as well as readable to all who find pleasure 

 in the study of inanimate nature. 



Organic Chemistry: The Fatly Compounds. By R. 



Lloyd Whiteley, F.I.C., F.C.S. Pp. 291. (London : 



Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895). 

 This is another elementary science manual "written 

 specially to meet the requiicments of the elementary 

 stage of science subjects as laid down in the s)llabus of 

 the Directory of the Science and Art Department." It 

 is hardly a book that we could recommend to followers 

 of departmental organic chemistry, and certainly not 

 one to be adopted by other students of the science. It 

 is most unequal in structure, and very deficient in parts : 

 Chapter iv., on percentage coinposilion and empirical 

 formulas, consists of less than one and a half pages. As 

 well-known standard works have been " freely employed " 

 in the preparation of the volume, it is difficult to re- 

 cognise the sections for which the author is responsible, 

 and therefore undesirable to impeach the accuracy of 

 some of the information. 



