34 
he will miss two most valuable sources of help 
for his lectures. The first was written in 1868, 
and instantly achieved a most remarkable popu- 
larity, being translated into French, German, 
Russian, Swedish, Italian, and Japanese, besides 
being revised and adapted for English readers by 
Church; the second appeared two years later, 
and was almost equally successful. Neither book 
is ever likely to get out of date, because each 
deals so fully with the fundamental experiments 
carried out by men who were laying the founda- 
tion of what has since become a great subject. 
The book before us gives an account of the 
life of the writer of these books, and incidentally 
throws much interesting light on the opening 
chapters of the history of agricultural chemistry. 
Samuel William Johnson was born in 1831 at 
Kingsboro, in what was then the new country 
of Northern New York State. In 1849 he had 
saved enough to justify his entering Yale to study 
chemistry under Prof. J. P. Norton; from the 
outset he took a special interest in agricultural 
chemistry. Four years later (in 1853) he went to 
Leipzig to work under Erdmann, and then in 
1854 to Munich to study under Liebig. He then 
came to England for a short time to study gas 
analysis at the Owens College, Manchester. On 
his return to New Haven he did a good deal of 
missionary work among farmers to demonstrate 
the enormous value of chemistry to the agricul- 
turist, and became appointed chemist to the Con- 
necticut State Agricultural Society in 1857. After 
eighteen years of work, the first agricultural ex- 
periment station in the States was founded; in 
the spring of 1875 the Legislature of Connecticut 
State passed a measure securing 700 dollars a 
quarter for two years for the maintenance of a 
laboratory placed at their disposal by the Uni- 
versity at Middletown. 
The history of these pioneer days is well told 
in Johnson’s letters. and they make very inter- 
esting reading. The editor is to be congratulated 
on the way the material has been collected and 
arranged. Eos}: RUSSELE. 
The Cancer Problem: a Statistical Study. By 
C) E- Green; “Third edition: -Pp. 93 plates. 
(Edinburgh and London: William Green and 
Sons, 1914.) Price 5s. net: 
Tuis book belongs to the all too numerous class 
of harmful publications on the subject of cancer. 
The author frankly states he is not a qualified 
medical man, but this fact will have little weight 
with the lay public. The sub-title, “A Statistical 
Study,” conveys an entirely erroneous impression 
as to the scope of the book. It is in reality a 
plea for the infective nature of cancer, and of the 
active intervention of coal-smoke as an augmenter 
of the frequency of the disease. The alleged 
parasite is likened to the well-known Plasmodio- 
phora brassicae, which causes finger and _ toe 
disease or club-root in turnips and ‘cabbages. 
This vegetable parasite is not ‘almost unknown 
to pathologists,” but has had its alleged claims 
to resemble a supposed cancer parasite discussed 
ad nauseam by pathologists and botanists of the 
NO. 2319; VOL. @3)| 
NATURE 
[APRIL 9, 1914 
highest repute. The author argues that coal- 
smoke manures the soil for this “cancer para- 
Siteny 
The error of likening cancer to finger and toe 
disease has been often exposed. As for statistics, 
none are contributed by the author. His figures 
state the number of deaths from cancer as a per- 
centage of deaths from all causes, and he marvels 
that 1 in 7 is from cancer in the Strand district, 
but only 1 in 54 in Stepney. This statement is 
illuminated by photographs of the roofs of these 
two districts. No mention is made of Charing 
Cross Hospital being situated in the Strand 
district. 
The statements as to the cure of cancer are 
deserving of severe condemnation. Only the harm 
the book may do has justified any notice being 
taken of it. It is with regret that the reviewer 
feels obliged to judge thus harshly what the 
perusal of the book proves has been a labour of 
love, carried out with the best intentions; but 
the pursuit of a hobby ought not to be encouraged 
to the public danger. EJ. Be 
The Socialized Conscience. By Prof. J. H. Coffin. 
Pp. vili+247. (Baltimore: Warwick and York, 
1913.) Price 1.25 dollars. 
Pror. CorFIN’s purpose in this interesting book 
is to suggest, using modern psychological and 
sociological terms, a moral criterion by means of 
which the different types of moral situations may 
be met with consistency by ordinary human 
beings. He applies the criterion to a_ great 
variety of questions, including personal relation- 
ships, educational agencies, the State and the 
Church. His chapters are stimulating and 
thought-impelling. 
Descriptions of Land: a Text-book for Survey 
Students. By R. W. Cautley. Pp. 1x+8o. 
(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913.) 
Price’ 4s. 6d. net. 
ALL students of surveying in Canada before secur- 
ing official recognition are required to pass an 
examination on “descriptions of land,’ which is 
one branch of conveyancing. Many lawyers in 
all countries are ignorant of the elementary prin- 
ciples of surveying, and few surveyors are able 
to understand the intricacies of a complicated 
title. Mr. Cautley has written on the subject in 
a way which should be useful, not only to 
students of surveying, but also to acting lawyers 
and surveyors everywhere. 
Elementary Commercial Geography. By Dr. 
H. R. Mill. Revised by Fawcett Allen. Pp. 
xli+215. (Cambridge University Press, 1914.) 
Price 1s. 6d. net. 
Dr. MILt.’s primer of commercial geography was 
published first in 1888, and is well known to all 
teachers of the subject. It is sufficient to say of 
the latest edition that it has been revised 
thoroughly by the aid of the latest official publica- 
tions, and is enlarged by additions to part i., and 
by more detailed descriptions of countries which 
have shown recent commercial development. 
mn neta erate 
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Ee, Se Mme 
