i5« 



NATURE 



[April 20, 191 6 



curative properties of fabulous stones, and of the 

 mysterious bezoars, which were thoug'ht to have 

 originated in the eyes of deer, in the liver of 

 various animals, or in similar strange ways. The 

 use of precious stones in religious ceremony goes 

 back to a very early date, and still prevails. The 

 instance of the High Priest's breastplate of the 

 ancient Jews is well known, and identification of 

 the stones composing it has given rise to much 

 interesting discussion. A long chapter is devoted 

 to the description of amulets in ancient and modern 

 times, and in the concluding chapter ' Dr. Kunz 

 has collected many strange stories about precious 

 stones. As an unusually brilliant imaginative 

 effort we may select the old Burmese legend of 

 the origin of the famous ruby mines : " In the 

 first century of our era three eggs were laid by 

 a female naga, or serpent; out of the first was 

 born Pynsacoti,a king of Pagan; out of the third 

 came an Emperor of China ; and out of the third 

 were emitted the rubies of the Ruby Mines." 



The book is superbly illustrated and well 

 printed, and contains an adequate index. 



A BIOGRAPHY OF EDISON. 

 Thomas Alva Edison. By F. Rolt-Wheeler. 



Pp. ix + 2oi. (New York: The Macmillan 



Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1916.) 



Price 2S. net. 

 TN this hfe of Thomas Alva Edison, the author 

 ^ has given a very interesting description of 

 the childhood, youth, and manhood of America's 

 • — one might almost say, the world's — greatest 

 living inventor. We learn that, as a boy, Edison 

 proved unsatisfactory under school routine, but 

 was a great success under his mother's private 

 tuition. He incessantly asked questions on and 

 about everything, and insisted on an answer or 

 wanted to know the reason "why." He also 

 showed, from the earliest records, that he was a 

 keen thinker, worker, and planner on all work 

 which interested him, but under " routine " of 

 any kind he was a complete failure. 



The account of Edison as a newspaper boy on 

 the Grand Trunk Railroad, and his original 

 methods of disposing of his papers, as well as 

 the description given of his services as a tele- 

 graph operator, illustrate the extraordinary in- 

 genuity of the youth. He seems to have an 

 uncanny foresight or "guessing power," as he 

 calls it. He is no mathematician, and declared 

 "he could guess a good deal closer than they 

 could figure." In later years, as he developed 

 his inventions one by one, he collected a number 

 of valuable and enthusiastic assistants. He 

 inherited from his father an exceptional power 

 of gaining the confidence of people in his work 

 and their financial support. 



Edison's first important invention was the vote- 

 recorder, which he placed before Congress men, 

 who examined and acknowledged that it was a 

 great success, but thought it was not required. 

 This was a severe shock to the inventor, who 

 at the time was hard up for money and hoped to 

 MO OAOC \Tnr nil 



make something out of it. But it taught hiir 

 lesson ; " for there and then he made up his mi 

 never to waste time in inventing things whi 

 were not wanted." Later he became mana^ 

 of the Law Gold Recording Company, and 

 vented many improvements on their instrumen 

 At this time he married, but he denies the stc 

 that "he forgot his wife an hour after his w( 

 ding." He later became connected with t 

 Western Union Telegraph Company, which ga 

 him every help in completing his inventioi 

 Among these are the duplex and quadruplex te 

 graphy, also the telephone carbon transmits 

 and numerous other inventions well known to z 

 On one occasion Edison was asked, "What 

 a genius? " and his answer is well worth repe; 

 ing. "A genius is about 2 per cent, inspirati 

 and 98 per cent, perspiration." His part in t 

 construction of the carbon filament lamp (whi 

 was not entirely his work, for the late I 

 Joseph Swan had much to do with it) is w 

 known, as also in the production of the phor 

 graph, which may be considered the most wond( 

 ful of all his inventions, and will always be as* 

 ciated with his name. Of his recent inventior 

 the storage battery is of enormous importan( 

 especially to England at the present time, 

 is impossible to give more than a rough impn 

 sion of his wonderful energy and enthusiasm a 

 his determination to master all problen 

 America and the world are richer and wiser 1 

 his genius ; and though he is now sixty-sev 

 years of age, we hope that he will not only rea( 

 but also pass, in activity, the great ages of 

 father and grandfather. S. G. Bro\v> 



THE DESIGN OF DIESEL ENGINES F 

 MARINE PURPOSES. 



\i) Land and Marine Diesel Engines. By 

 Supino. Translated by Eng. Lieut. -Comn 

 der A. G. Bremner and J. Richardson. Pp. x 

 309. (London: C. Grifiin and Co., Ltd., 19 

 Price 125. 6d. net. 



{2) Diesel Engines for Land and Marine W 

 By A. P. Chalkley. Fourth edition, revised 

 enlarged. Pp. xvii + 368. (London: Const.fe 

 and Co., Ltd., 1915.) Price 85. 6d. net. j 



JUDGED from the titles given above, it mUt 

 be supposed that these two recently ]> 

 lished treatises on the Diesel engine covered le 

 same ground, but a careful perusal will show at 

 the ideas of the authors are by no means ident,il» 

 and as a result it may be predicted that althcl''' 

 both volumes will appeal to all engineers i" 

 others who have to do with internal combu.'po 

 motors and motive power for the propulsio 01 

 ships, the first of the above two books is one a^ 

 will find its way into the reference departmei o' 

 every drawing office where Diesel engines o'' 

 marine purposes are being designed, whilst h^ 

 second book, by means of its description ol he 

 gradual development of the Diesel engine fror Jie 

 early experimental engines of Dr. Rudolph Ejse 

 down to the modern practice of to-day, will a ca' 



