August 31, 19 16] 



NATURE 



539 



Velocity of Reactions and Catalysis; Fixation of 

 Atmospheric Nitrogen; Glass, Soda, Soap; Elec- 

 tricity and Chemistry ; the Colloidal State ; Mole- 

 cular Structure ; and Synthetic Chemistry. 



The mere enumeration of the titles of the 

 several chapters will serve to show the range and 

 method of treatment of the subject-matter of the 

 book. Prof. Findlay, it will be observed, carried 

 his hearers, and will carry his readers, far beyond 

 the stock subjects of ordinary lecturers on the 

 utility of chemistry. He has not hesitated, in 

 fact, to deal with some of the most recondite 

 problems of modern science, and has given 

 amongst his illustrations many of the most strik- 

 ing and characteristic achievements of the present 

 time. In so doing he has acted wisely. He has 

 not only added thereby to the interest and merit 

 of his book, but he has conferred upon it a 

 measure of permanency which it might other\vise 

 not possess. 



The work is a distinct and valuable addition to 

 the popular literature of science, and it is well 

 vorthy of a place in the library of every secondary 

 school. No more appropriate gift-book to the 

 youthful tyro could be given, for it is admirably 

 calculated to awaken the aspiration and quicken 

 the enthusiasm of the boy or girl who has any 

 latent faculty for science. Even if it does not 

 impel them towards a scientific calling, it will at 

 least furnish them with a stock of facts and ideas 

 which cannot but tend to widen their intellectual 

 horizon and enlarge their mental outlook. If 

 books of this kind were more generally read and 

 digested we should have less cause to complain 

 of that apathy which has hitherto characterised 

 €ven the cultured classes in this country in regard 

 to the claim of physical science to be an essential 

 part in the scheme of our national education. 



T. E. Thorpe, 



ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY. 



Commerce and Industry. By Prof. J. R. Smith. 

 Pp. viii + 596. (New York: H. Holt and Co., 

 1916.) Price 1.40 dollars. 



'X'HIS book is for the most part an abridgment 

 -*- and rearrangement of the matter composing 

 same author's "Industrial and Commercial 

 graphy," reviewed in Nature of February 26, 

 .1914 (vol. xcii., p. 707), though this fact is dis- 

 Iguised, to some extent, by the titles given to the 

 ;i sections and chapters. Part i. is entitled "The 

 United States," but the chapters are, for the most 

 part, the same, even in title, as those which come 

 under the general heading, " Industrial Geo- 

 graphy," in the earlier and larger work, but with 

 the omission or transference to another part of the 

 ibook of paragraphs which do not properly come 

 I under the head of "The United States." The 

 jsecond part is entitled "Foreign Countries," and 

 jhere comes in most of the new matter; but even 

 here so much is made up of paragraphs derived 

 from the source just indicated that it requires a 

 ver}' close comparison of the two volumes to 

 ascertain how much altogether is new. A third 

 vn '> A A A \rm n*;"! 



part is entitled "World Commerce," and this is 

 entirely composed of chapters abridged from the 

 corresponding chapters of either part i. or part ii. 

 of the "Industrial and Commercial Geography." 

 A statistical appendix is added, containing tables 

 transferred from the body of the earlier work, 

 brought up to date where necessary, in addition 

 to a few others, these latter including elaborate 

 and useful international comparisons. 



From the account just given it will be under- 

 stood that though the title of the present volume 

 does not profess to offer us a geographical text- 

 book, the contents are even more geographical in 

 form than those of its predecessor. Different 

 countries, or sometimes regions, are the subjects of 

 the chapters in the part, comprising just 200 

 pages, bearing the general heading " Foreign 

 Countries." In the arrangement of these chapters, 

 as well as in the allotment of space to the different 

 countries, the American point of view is naturally 

 dominant. The first six chapters are devoted to 

 American countries outside the United States, 

 and take up one-fourth of the space given to the 

 whole of this part. The descriptions of countries 

 are necessarily brief. They do not go into details 

 of regional geography, but everywhere they show 

 the author's well-known penetrating intelligence. 

 They are admirable summaries from the view- 

 point indicated in the title of the book. They 

 provide teachers with much food for thought as 

 to the geographical causes explaining or con- 

 tributing to explain the actual state of industrial 

 and commercial development and course of trade, 

 as well as those which afford grounds on which 

 to base reasonable estimates for the future. .And 

 in this respect the text is well supplemented by 

 illustrations (many new to this work) of striking 

 significance. 



One defect of the larger work is illustrated in 

 this book also. The author does not seem to be 

 a very good proof-reader. On p. 132, title of 

 illustration, we have "countries " for "counties "; 

 p. 476, "Cerea" for "Ceara"; p. 480, "Mas- 

 samedes " for " Mossamedes " ; p. 482, "Beiro" 

 for "Beira." In the last table of the book, a 

 reproduction of that given on p. 100 of the earlier 

 work, the obvious mistake of "1*65" for "i6"5" 

 as the percentage of protein in sirloin steak is 

 repeated. In the legend to the wheat map of 

 Russia on p. 400 one is obliged to ask, i per cent, 

 of what? G. G. C. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Geodetic Surveying. By Prof. Edward R. Cary. 

 Pp. ix + 279. (New York : John Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 

 1916.) Price 105. 6d. net. 

 Under the title of " Geodetic Surveying " this 

 book deals with the determination of positions of 

 points with the aid of which topographical surveys 

 can be controlled and combined to form a con- 

 sistent whole. The methods described are those 

 which have been developed by the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey of the United States, and their pub- 

 lication in the present work provides a convenient 



