320 



NATURE 



[June 15, 1916 



literary evidence is possible of iron being earlier 

 in India than in Europe, as the oldest works, the 

 Vedas, are, in their present form, centuries later 

 than iron was known in Europe. So far as in- 

 ternal evidence goes the copper axes are closely 

 like those of the copper age in Italy, while the iron 

 tools have much affinity with those of the Roman 

 period. Thus, in the absence of any evidence of 

 position, we are thrown back on the suggestion 

 that the iron is later than that of Europe, and 

 succeeded the use of copper. That stone tools 

 continued in use until iron was made, and so are 

 found contemporaneously with it, is what is known 

 in other countries where copper and bronze long 

 preceded iron, without ousting the use of stone. 



It will be seen, then, how the whole basis of 

 Indian prehistory needs clearing up and defining 

 by strict evidence fully recorded. In a land 

 where the wealth of historic buildings far exceeds 

 the provision for archaeology, it is a reproach to 

 the Government and not to the archceologist that 

 the prehistory is left unsettled. We need first a 

 firm basis of record of all that is contemporary 

 with finds of Roman coins and early buildings, 

 and before that a series of stages of groups (linked 

 together by their resemblances in pottery, stone, 

 and metal work) which could be projected one 

 beyond the other into the unknown. 



Some details will be of general interest. The 

 palaeolithic tools are of quartzite, the neolithic of 

 traprock (p. 17). There are no perforated celts 

 (p. 18). The stone axes are set through wooden 

 handles, secured from splitting by iron ferrules 

 (plate, p. 60). Amazon stone is found in veins in 

 granite (p. 23), as in the Egyptian source, the site 

 of which is unknown. W. M. F. P. 



WOMEN AND THE LAND. 

 Women and the Land. By Viscountess Wolseley. 

 Pp. xi + 230. (London: Chatto and Windus, 

 1916.) Price 5s. net. 



ONE of the characteristic features of the nine- 

 teenth century was the movement from the 

 country to the city, and now in the twentieth 

 century the process is being reversed, and there is 

 a strong tendency to move back once more to the 

 land. As yet it is only in the tentative stages; 

 people go out into the country to retire, to keep 

 a poultry farm, or to set up a fruit farm, and there 

 is much to be learned, and still more to be done, 

 before the movement becomes sufficiently well 

 organised to make it a really potent factor in the 

 national life. It is quite clear that women must 

 take part in it, and perhaps the most notable 

 feature in the whole business is the way in which 

 they are organising themselves for the purpose. 

 We may take it that, once being organised for 

 the exodus, they are not likely to disorganise for 

 the settlement, and the new rural community will 

 therefore be very different from the old. The 

 basis of the women's organisation is educational, 

 and therein it differs from the ordinary man's 

 "back to the land " movement, the basis of which 

 is mainly political. It is this that makes it so 

 full of portent for the future. 



NO. 2433, VOL. 97] 



Having found the agricultural colleges, with one 

 or two exceptions, barred against them, some of 

 the more enterprising and far-seeing spirits pro- 

 ceeded to set up colleges of their own. Amongst 

 them is Lady Wolseley, who founded the institu- 

 tion at Glynde some fourteen years ago, and in 

 the book before us she sets out the results of her 

 experience and makes various suggestions for the 

 future. 



Lady Wolseley does not contemplate that 

 women shall be the labourers, but rather the 

 leaders, in the new community. She considers 

 them well fitted for two classes of work : super- 

 visory or advisory work for educated women be- 

 longing to the middle and upper classes ; and light 

 manual work connected with the dairy, poultry, 

 bees, fruit, the house, etc., for the village girl. 

 Facilities for training the advisers already exist, 

 but little has yet been done towards teaching the 

 more manual work. 



The author maintains, however, that it is not 

 sufficient merely to turn women into the country ; 

 some sort of common tie must be kept up, and 

 for this purpose the best arrangement is con- 

 sidered to be a colony on co-operative lines, 

 where it would be possible not only to make good 

 business arrangements for buying and selling 

 materials, produce, etc., but where also oppor- 

 tunities for social life would be afforded. The 

 details are discussed in successive chapters. The 

 most striking feature of the book is the serious- 

 ness with which the whole subject is taken, and 

 the clear recognition that a second education is 

 the only sure basis for success. E. J. R. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



The Chemists' Year-hook, igi6. Edited by 

 F. W. Atack. Vol. i., pp. 354. Vol. ii., 

 pp. 355~990- (London and Manchester : 

 Sherratt and Hughes, 1916.) Price 10s. 6d. 

 net. 

 This handy book belongs to a type of chemical 

 literature which is more common in Germany than 

 with us. Such examples of it as we have hitherto 

 possessed have been mainly translations from the 

 German, and have been prepared for simultaneous 

 issue in both countries, usually at the beginning 

 of each year. Almanacs and year-books are com- 

 mon enough in all grades of business, but it is 

 only within recent years that they have been 

 adapted to the requirements of professional 

 chemistry. They are essentially designed to meet 

 the wants of practising chemists and public 

 analysts, to whom it is a great convenience to 

 have numerical tables, mathematical constants, 

 and useful memoranda arranged for them in a 

 handy and easily accessible form. 



Mr. Atack 's compilation is a much more com- 

 prehensive production than is usual in a work of 

 this kind, and includes quite a remarkable body 

 of information ranging from a list of notable dates 

 in the history of chemistry to the pharmaceutical 

 names of synthetic compounds and trade names 

 of drugs, together with analytical tables, conver- 

 sion tables for weights and measures, five-figure 



