546 



NATURE 



[October 8 1903 



by one of the ordinary methods of terrestrial survey. 

 The results of the first trial in the kite flying for plan 

 photographic purposes were published in ha Nature 

 by M. Batut in 1888, so that the experiment is by no 

 means new; but we doubt if this system has ever 

 really added any valuable results to the reconnaissance 

 information obtained by more usual methods in time 

 of war; and it is conceivable that only for military 

 purposes under stringent conditions would such 

 methods be applicable. Stereophotography is the sub- 

 ject which concludes Col. Laussedat's review of instru- 

 ments and methods. This, indeed, forms a most 

 useful variation on ordinary metrophotographic ob- 

 servations, for it Is obvious that the representation of 

 orographic features as effected by this well known 

 process conveys a far more readable impression to 

 the eye of the nature of the country photographed, the 

 rise and fall of undulations, the gradation of slopes, 

 &c., than any flat photograph can possibly convey. 

 It is a branch of photography applied to topography 

 which has received very considerable attention in 

 France, and it promises to become a very valuable 

 aid in the process of reducing landscape photographs 

 to topographical maps In future. 



Colonel Laussedat has undoubtedly written a most 

 valuable book — one which will be a standard authority 

 for years on the subjects which he treats so ably. 

 Men of science and experts may not agree as to the 

 practical utility of some of the methods discussed; 

 but they are discussed Impartially, carefully, and in 

 almost exhaustive detail, and the reader Is left to 

 form his own conclusions. There are yet many 

 countries In the world which are greatly In need of 

 good topographical illustration of the natural features 

 contained in them. There are still vast areas un- 

 mapped. If not unexplored. Thus Col. Laussedat's 

 book appears at a most appropriate time, when the 

 demand for topography is the first demand of the 

 administrator, and the necessity for utilising every 

 method which promises to effect a saving of time 

 and expense is paramount. It should find a place 

 In every scientific library with any pretension to com- 

 pleteness. T. H. H. 



NATURE STUDY AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT. 

 An Introduction to Nature Study. By E. Stenhouse. 

 Pp. X + 422. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 

 1903.) Price 35. 6d. 



SINCE the attempt was made a year or two ago to 

 Introduce into our rural elementary schools the 

 subject called " nature-study," really such a general 

 Introduction to the science of living things as will give 

 the pupil a means of taking an Interest In his environ- 

 ment, there has been a great lack of adequate books for 

 the teacher. Several men. Dr. Armstrong, Prof. 

 Mlall, and Prof. Lloyd Morgan, for Instance, have 

 spoken about the spirit in which the work should be 

 undertaken, nor are there wanting books which in- 

 dicate the method to be followed, that of experiment 

 and observation. But the ordinary teacher without 

 any particular training in the subject has wanted more 



NO. 1 77 1, VOL. 68] 



systematic guidance, his previous training has been 

 in the wrong direction, and the many text-books 

 that have been hurried on to the market have only 

 tended to confirm his probable original error that 

 nature-study consisted in reading about natural 

 objects or anything bearing on country life. 



At last, however, we have a text-book of the right 

 kind, something that we can unreservedly recommend 

 to the teacher, both as a guide to the method he should 

 follow and as a storehouse of instructions concerning 

 the details of experiments within his reach. The book 

 Is avowedly written to cover section i. of the Board 

 of Education course in general biology; it is equally 

 well suited to the more recent syllabuses In nature- 

 study or the elementary stage in agriculture and rural 

 economy issued by the same department. 



The book opens with a study of the growth of the 

 plant, first describing the elementary experiments 

 Illustrating the structure and development of the 

 seedling, then the function of leaf, stem and flower. 



A little more might have been done to show how 

 many of the experiments can be rendered quantitative, 

 so as to yield exercises in measurement and continuous 

 record keeping; indications also might have been 

 given of how the teaching could be brought home to 

 the country child by illustrations from farm or garden 

 practice. For example, It is easy to carry out experi- 

 ments In the garden on the best depths at which seeds 

 of various sizes should be sown, on the necessity of a 

 good seed bed, or the harm wrought by plastering seeds 

 into wet sticky soil, all of which give practical point 

 to the lessons derived from the experiments in class. 

 Again, the structure of the stem finds many appro- 

 priate illustrations In the various methods of propa- 

 gation by cuttings or layers, buds or grafts, the healing 

 of wounds on a tree, knots and other common features 

 in timber. 



The discussion of plant families and orders is re- 

 freshingly free from technicalities, though here again 

 more might be made of systematic observations from 

 month to month of the development of characteristic 

 structures like tubers, bulbs, corms, &c. 



The animal life section gives first of all some elemen- 

 tary Instruction about physiology and structure, taking 

 the rabbit as a text, and then discusses briefly the char- 

 acteristics of our commoner mammals. The section 

 on birds contains a good chapter on the development 

 of the hen's egg during incubation, followed by an 

 account, brief but suggestive, of a few familiar birds. 

 A chapter on the frog and its development from the 

 egg is followed by one on Insects, dealing with the 

 structure and life-history of one or two common forms. 



The scope of the book is obviously considerable, and 

 it is by no means desirable to use it wholesale, but 

 in the hands of an intelligent teacher who will select 

 the sections most suitable to his conditions, practise 

 himself in the experiments, and then get his pupils 

 to help him to carry out numerous repetitions, who 

 finally will add local illustrations and practical appli- 

 cations, the book will be of the utmost service in 

 systematising his instruction and guiding It along the 

 fruitful lines of experiment and research, 



A. D. H. 



