June 29, 19 16] 



NATURE 



359 



Next there is a bold attempt to estimate 

 numerically the stage of civilisation reached by 

 different states or nations. This has been done 

 by circular letter to 214 gentlemen, inviting each 

 to assign to every nation under heaven its place in 

 civilisation b^sed upon "its power of initiative, the 

 capacity for formulating new ideas and for carry- 

 ing them into effect, the power of self-control, high 

 standards of honesty and morality, the power to 

 lead and control other races, the capacity for dis- 

 seminating ideas . . . high ideals, respect for 

 law, inventiveness, ability to develop philosophical 

 systems, stability and honesty of g'overnment, a 

 highly developed system of education, the capacity 

 to dominate the less civilised parts of the world, 

 and the ability to carry out far-reaching enter- 

 prises." Having received replies from 138 of the 

 214 correspondents, and opinions from 54, maps of 

 the distribution of civilisation are prepared which 

 are in curious agreement with the distribution of 

 stimulating climate as previously defined. 



It is odd that in enumerating his factors of 

 civilisation the author says nothing about wealth 

 or capital; and yet the maps of distribution of 

 civilisation suggest at once the distribution of 

 wealth more than anything else. In pessimistic 

 moments, having regard to what is happening on 

 this side of the Atlantic and on the other, civilisa- 

 tion seems to be little else than the wealth neces- 

 sary "to 'maxim' other people as a Christian 

 ought to do." A big M seems appropriate to this 

 side, the little m to the other. A stimulating 

 climate without the wealth necessary to protect 

 himself strikes one as a very poor outlook for 

 primitive man. The power to use climate to advan- 

 tage must be very much a question of accumulated 

 wealth. One can imagine a very stimulating 

 health resort in Spitsbergen or Ross Island if it 

 were preceded by sufficient preliminary outlay of 

 capital and associated with some easy mode of 

 producing wealth. 



In presenting his case, therefore, Mr. Hunting- 

 ton has left a number of things for other people 

 to say. The material adduced is solid or interest- 

 ing, sometimes both, but the discussion is by no 

 means closed. The book is, in fact, an invitation 

 to others to take an interest in the subject, and 

 the style, which is lively and unconstrained, makes 

 the invitation still more attractive. 



5.4 LT AND ALKALI. 

 Manuals of Chemical Technology. VL, The Salt 

 and Alkali Industry, including Potassium Salts 

 and the Stassfurt Industry. By Dr. G. Martin, 

 S. Smith, and F. Milsom.' Pp. viii+ioo. 

 (London : Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1916.) 1 

 Price 75. 6d. net. { 



^PHIS book constitutes No. 6 of the series of ! 

 ^ " Manuals of Chemical Technology " which 

 are being issued under the direction of Dr. 

 Geoffrey Martin. In scope and general character 

 it differs in no essential features from its pre- 

 decessors. No matter what may be the relative 

 importance of the subject, the various members of ! 

 NO. 2435, VOL. 97] 



: the series are substantially of the same size. 

 j They are published at a uniform price, and in 

 j return the purchaser obtains with each practically 

 I the same amount of printed matter. It is impos- 

 sible, under such limitations, for the authors to 

 ensure or for the reader to expect that the various 

 subjects shall receive even approximately adequate 

 treatment. We have already had occasion to 

 point out this fact in noticing the preceding 

 manual on sulphuric acid and sulphur products. 

 What was stated in that case applies with even 

 greater force to the present book. 



The editor states that the industries dealt with 

 in this manual are not only among the oldest, 

 I but they are also among the largest and most 

 important of all chemical industries. "They form, 

 so to speak, the basis or groundwork on which are 

 erected most of the great trades of industrial 

 countries." Yet all that we are informed concern- 

 ing these large and most important of chemical 

 industries, including illustrations, diagrams, 

 numerical tables, statistical and bibliographical 

 matter, is comprised within about ninety openly 

 spaced octavo pages. It must be obvious, there- 

 fore, that the descriptive matter can only be of the 

 very slightest character — such, in fact, as a precis- 

 writer might attempt. 



From the fragmentary and jejone nature of 

 the editor's preface it would seem that the book 

 is intended for the general reader. No practical 

 man or student of technology needs to be told 

 how a stoppage in the supplies of salt, and hence 

 of soda ash and salt cake, by interfering with 

 the manufacture of window glass would hamper 

 the buildingf trade. Indeed, apart from the biblio- 

 graphy and the statistical and tabular matter, 

 there is very little in the book of value to the 

 specialist or the student. With one exception, to 

 be referred to hereafter, such a compilation might 

 be put together in a few hours in a well-furnished 

 librarj' like that of the Patent Office by a fairly 

 industrious person possessing bibliographical skill 

 and the requisite flair for good "copy." 



That the book has been compiled under some 

 such conditions is obvious even after a ver\' 

 cursory examination. There are a want of balance 

 and a lack of a sense of proportion in the arrange- 

 ment and distribution of the material. Compara- 

 tively unimportant facts receive undue attention, 

 whereas really vital matters are dismissed in a 

 few words, even when they obtain any notice at 

 all. The subject of the salt industry of the world 

 — which should include descriptions of the various 

 methods practised in England, Germany, France. 

 Russia, Portugal, and America — occupies about a 

 dozen pages. The manufacture of hydrochloric 

 acid is dealt with in less than five pages. Salt- 

 cake is disposed of in about the same space. A 

 general survey of the sodium carbonate industrv 

 occuoies less than three pages. An account of 

 the Leblanc process, including diagrams and a 

 slight reference to the treatment of alkali waste^ 

 is compressed within eight pages. 



The one valuable feature of the work is a de- 

 scription of a form of the ammonia-soda process. 

 This is evidently based upon expert knowledge, 



