April 6, 191 6] 



NATURE 



119 



theory that the gods of Homer were manifesta- 

 tions of nature powers adapted to the local geo- 

 graphy and the traditional history. This was 

 followed in more recent times by the suggestion 

 that the Iliad represents a reflex of combats 

 fought, not in the Troad, but of tribal battles in 

 Asia Minor between Euboean-Boeotian colonists 

 and Locrians or South Thessalians, or between 

 Locrians and Bceotians on the Greek mainland. 



Such speculations Dr. Leaf has little difficulty 



confuting. He has now carried out an exhaus- 

 tive sur\-ey of the text mainly on the basis of geo- 

 graphy, and from this inquiry startling results 

 emerge. In his last book on the subject he con- 

 fined himself mainly to the Trojan side of the 

 ■question. He proved that the Catalogue of the 

 Trojan forces was a historical document of the 

 highest value. Following Thucydides in his preg- 

 nant remark that wars in ancient as well as in 

 modern times were based on trade rivalry, he 

 made it at least highly probable that the war of 

 Troy represented an attempt by the Achaean 

 <jreeks to gain possession of a great commercial 

 entrepot controlling the trade routes to the Black 

 Sea and the hinterland of Asia Minor. The war 

 Avas therefore a historical event, fought, not by 

 faded survivals of nature deities, but by living 

 soldiers and their generals. 



The second important document in the Iliad is 

 the Catalogue of the Greek ships, which is now 

 found to stand in a very different position from 

 that of Troy. It is full of discrepancies, such, for 

 instance, as the fact that the Bceotians who figure 

 largely in it were still in Thessaly in the time of 

 the Great War. Besides this, the unsuitability of 

 Aulis as a rendezvous for a fleet acting against 

 Troy, and the impossibility of reconciling the 

 domains of the Achaean princes with geographical 

 facts, are now clearly demonstrated. The docu- 

 ment, in short, was an attempt by a later hand to 

 make its contents correspond with an altered 

 >ndition of Greece. 



This fruitful survey of Homeric geography and 

 Greek tradition makes it possible to link the world 

 of Homer with Gnossos and Mycenae as they have 

 been revealed to us by the excavations of Sir A. 

 Evans and Schliemann, and the review of the 

 l?istorical and geographical situation which forms 

 the introduction to this fascinating work is 

 perhaps its most interesting feature. 



We have no space to deal with the new light 



hich Dr. Leaf has thrown on the problem of the 

 Odyssey. He shows clearly that while the 

 eastern .-Egean was familiar to the Achaeans, the 

 west was a land of mysterv, the home of a series 

 of folk-tales, and he follows Dr. Dorpfield in his 

 ' markable demonstration that the modern Thiaki 

 - not the Ithaca of Odysseus, whose home was 

 Leucas. 



^^'e have said enough to show the importance 

 <>f Dr. Leaf's work. The book is a course of 

 lectures intended to be delivered at the North- 

 western L'niversity, Evanston, Illinois, a project 

 which fell through on the outbreak of the war. 

 They are now published by the courtesy of the 

 XO. 2423; VOL. 9;] 



Xorman Wait Harris Lecture Committee. To 

 use Dr. Leaf's words: "It may at least ser\e 

 as a protest, faint and feeble enough, against the 

 extinction of intellectual interest in the flood of 

 barbarous materialism which has been let loose 

 upon Europe." It is much more than this, a 

 statement of the problem defined with logical pre- 

 cision and grace of style, which commend it not 

 only to the trained scholar, but to all who are 

 interested in one of the most vital questions of 

 literature. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



A Manual of Soil Physics. By Prof. P. B. Barker 

 and Prof. H. J. Young. Pp. vi + ioi. (Lon- 

 don: Ginn and Co., 1915.) Price 35. 

 Profs. Barker and Young have done well to 

 collect the laboratory exercises which for the past 

 ten years have been in use in the College of Agri- 

 culture of the University of Nebraska. In this 

 region, where soil physics is so important, one 

 may feel reasonably certain that survival for ten 

 years is a sound test of value, and therefore 

 teachers who are trying to introduce the subject 

 into their courses will welcome the book. 



All agricultural courses are modified by their 

 surroundings. Nebraska is fortunate in possess- 

 ing considerable areas of loess soil well provided 

 with all the elements of fertility, biit apt to suffer 

 from drought at critical times. There is, however, 

 sufficient rainfall to supply the needs of the plant 

 if it is properly husbanded, and this is done by 

 maintaining a fine layer of earth on the surface 

 of the soil to act as a non-conductor and protect 

 the bulk of the soil from the sun's rays. The 

 study of the water relationships of soil forms a 

 great part of soil physics, and in one form or 

 another comes into a large proportion of the 

 exercises here. 



The authors have modestly had the book 

 turned out in the form of a biflex binder note- 

 book, so that loose pages can be taken out. This 

 makes it difficult to handle, and it deserves some- 

 thing better. We hope that in later editions it 

 will appear in proper book form so that it can 

 be kept for permanent use. E. J. R. 



The Journal of the Institute of Metals. Vol. xiv. 

 Edited by G. S. Scott. Pp. ix + 289. (London : 

 Institute of Metals, 1915.) Price 215. net. 

 This volume contains the papers which were read 

 at the autumn meeting of the Institute of Metals 

 in 191 5, an account of which has already ap- 

 peared in the columns of Natlre, together with 

 the discussion and written communications. So 

 far as these papers are concerned, the chief place 

 in technical importance must certainly be given to 

 that by Mr. Parker on specifications for alloys 

 for high-speed superheated steam turbine blad- 

 ing, which drew an important contribution from 

 the president, Sir Henry Oram, the engineer-in- 

 chief of the Navy. One of the special merits of 

 this paper is that it makes a point of stating what 

 are the chief requirements in modern specifications 



