June i8, 1903] 



NATURE 



149 



several departments the services of specially quali- 

 fied writers, and will occupy for some time 

 to come a hig-h position as a work of reference 

 for Biblical questions. As, however, it affords 

 willing- hospitality to the representatives of the most 

 advanced criticism, it will be interesting in the course 

 of a few years as a standard of comparison to show 

 how far these opinions have been able to hold their 

 own. Discussions of this kind occupy a large space 

 even in geographical and historical articles and some- 

 times make it difficult to extricate physical facts from 

 the maze of contradictory opinions. But these, when 

 found, are clearly and accurately stated, as in the 

 article " Trachonitis," which, however, is merely one 

 of the more conspicuous of a large group. The maps 

 also are a marked characteristic of the whole work — 

 numerous, excellent of their kind, having in many 

 cases contour lines and tints to indicate heights above 

 and below sea level. That, for instance, which in- 

 cludes Trachonitis gives an excellent idea of the phys- 

 ical geography from north of Hermon to south of 

 Pella in the Jordan valley. The short article on 

 " Tabor " also is an admirable epitome of a place in- 

 teresting both geographically and historically. That 

 on " Tarshish " is a learned discussion on the identi- 

 fication of the place. In that on " Stones (Precious) " 

 we find an almost exhaustive summary of what is 

 known or conjectured about the gems of ancient times, 

 with remarks on those in the high priest's breast-plate 

 and the foundations of the vision city. The articles on 

 natural history are not seldom from at least two 

 contributors, one supplying the scientific the other the 

 historical information. For the former, as under the 

 word "Serpent," Mr. Shipley is responsible, so that 

 we are sure of being on safe ground, while the other 

 contributor adds much curious folklore. Indeed, the 

 frequent references to this are not the least valuable 

 part of the " Encyclopeedia. " Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer 

 has contributed to the botanical articles, such as the 

 "Vine," in this volume; that also on "Wine and 

 Strong Drinks " is full of interesting information. 

 Many of the theological and critical conclusions, as im- 

 plied above, will doubtless be disputed, but as a com- 

 pendium of information on history, archaeology, 

 geography, and all kindred topics the " Encvclopaedia " 

 is most valuable. ' T. G. B. 



Country Rambles: a Field Naturalist's and Country 

 Lover's Note Book for a Year. By W. Perciva'l 

 Westell. Pp. xvi + 312 + xxxvi. (London: Henry 

 J. Drane, 1903.) Price los. 6d. 



Mr. Westell has made a serious mistake ; he has 

 let himself become the slave of his note-book. He 

 seems to have made up his mind to write a year's 

 diary for publication, with the result that he has filled 

 it with trivialities which after a few pages will 

 weary the reader, be he naturalist or not. On almost 

 every page we find entries such as the following, 

 \\hich are taken quite at random : — " February 2. 

 Ihe snow will act as a deterrent on the singing of our 

 ti'athered musicians, although I have often heard 

 Robin and Wren singing in the very depth of winter, 

 <vidently cheered by the transient gleam." "March 

 21. I was tempted out into the garden early by the 

 brilliant sunshine, and did a bit of gard'/nmg. 

 Chaffinch 'pinking.' How delicate-looking the first 

 Snowdrop as it peeps through the brown earth! " 

 "June 10 (among other similar entries). What a 

 variety of small beetles cross the path of the rambler, 

 like dark little jewels darting about in the sunlight ! 

 There are many hairy caterpillars too. Cannot they 

 move at a rate ! How they curl up into the ball of 

 protection ! " No wonder that we read on the same 

 page, " How often the Note-book comes out at this 



NO. 1755, VOL. 68] 



season! " Mr. Westell's mind has been working 

 more upon his note-book than upon nature, and he 

 would do well to leave it behind him for some time to 

 come, and to reconstruct his ideas of observation and 

 of a naturalist's work. When he touches a difficult 

 or doubtful problem, he shows us at once what manner 

 of naturalist he is. On p. 125 we read that " an 

 instance is recorded by Herr Muller {sic), a well-known 

 German Naturalist, of a Cuckoo sitting on, and hatch- 

 ing, her own fledgling. Three Cuckoo's eggs were 

 found by Herr Muller in a hollow under a tussock of 

 grass, &c. " This statement seems to be taken from 

 Dr. Japp's book on the Cuckoo; the Herr Muller is 

 Adolf Muller, the forester; the occurrence he described, 

 though, of course, in itself not impossible, has not 

 been accepted by ornithologists whose opinions at any 

 rate deserve some consideration, e.g. Prof. Nev^-ton, 

 Mr. A. H. Evans, and Mr. Howard Saunders. Yet 

 Mr. Westell retails this as a proved but extraordinary 

 fact, without making the least attempt either to test 

 the truth of it himself by going to the original source, 

 or to collect the opinions of scientific naturalists on an 

 alleged zoological fact of such great importance. He 

 has to learn that there are other qualifications for a 

 naturalist besides the constant companionship of a 

 note-book and a binocular glass. We are very far 

 from v^'ishing to discourage the proper use of these, cr 

 the intelligent enjoyment and observation of nature, 

 but what we cannot possibly encourage is the publica- 

 tion of bulky and expensive volumes like this 

 (weighted, too, by photographs, only some of which 

 are really excellent), which cannot satisfy the real 

 naturalist or even the ordinary reader; and in this we 

 are sorry to disagree with Mr. F. G. Aflalo, who has 

 written a kindly preface to the book. It is to be hoped 

 that Mr. Westell's love of the country and of nature 

 will in the course of time be turned to better account. 



Text-book of Organic Chemistry. By Prof. A. F. 



Holleman, translated by A. Jamieson Walker. Pp. 



xxvii + 555. (New York : Wiley and Sons ; London ; 



Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1903). Price los. 6d. net. 

 A SHORT time ago an English translation of Holle- 

 man's " Inorganic Chemistry " was welcomed by 

 chemists in this country. The translation of the organic 

 part has followed with commendable promptitude. 

 This book is one of the best on organic chemistry 

 which it has been our lot to read. Prof. Holleman ap- 

 proaches his subject with a freshness and vigour of 

 style which make it delightful reading. Furthermore, 

 he is not bound down by precedent or prejudice, and 

 therefore follows no stereotyped style. 



The book is written upon theoretical lines, and for 

 this reason Prof. Holleman does not, as a rule, enter 

 into descriptive details of manufacturing processes, and 

 he only occasionally, as, e.g., in the case of iodoform, 

 describes even laboratory methods for preparing sub- 

 stances. This we consider is a good feature of the 

 work- — not that methods of preparation on a large scale 

 should be neglected in teaching chemistry, but there 

 are already many books which give more or less accur- 

 ate details of manufacturing processes. And as for 

 methods of laboratory preparation, these should be 

 taught in the laboratory. Again, if the student is well 

 grounded in his theory, as he should be if he carefully 

 studies this book, he is less likely to look upon methods 

 of preparation as if they were so many cookery receipts. 



The book naturally falls under two heads, the ali- 

 phatic and the aromatic compounds. The aliphatic 

 part is certainly more complete than the aromatic, 

 which latter, considering that it contains, beside hydro- 

 carbons of the benzene and naphthalene series, the ter- 

 penes, heterocyclic compounds such as pyrrole, furfuran, 

 &c., and the albumens, is shorter than we should have 



