226 
is epithelium which has acquired malignant pro- | 
perties . . . have so far lacked the experimental 
support which enables them to rank as theories 
in contradistinction from hypothesis or specula- 
tions,” the critical reader will again wonder if he 
reads aright, because there is absolutely nothing 
new in the particular “experimental support ” 
adduced, namely, the results of subcutaneous 
injection in the ear of the rabbit. The appear- 
ances obtained are duplications of those described 
for the same site after the same procedure by 
Fischer as long ago as 1906, and by many other | 
authors since. Furthermore, these appearances 
have been the subject of years of discussion among 
pathologists, who are agreed they have nothing 
to do with cancer. 
As regards “adenomatous nodules produced 
de novo,” the description of nodules in the ducts 
of the mammary gland of goats is most super- 
ficial and imperfect; but it recalls the papillomata 
in the bile ducts of the rabbit, found in associa- 
tion with coccidiosis, another familiar appear- 
ance having nothing to do with cancer. 
The whole superstructure is raised on the basis 
of the authors’ assumption that they made poly- 
morphonuclear leucocytes divide on a microscopi- 
cal slide in 1909; the result described does not 
separate the cover glass from the slide by its 
surprising amount and rapidity, but only amounts 
to an increase of 10 per cent. of the number of 
leucocytes. This, even if correct, is but a sorry 
achievement when it is sought to explain normal 
or malignant growth, and it is forgotten that 
bacteria add 1000 per cent. to their weight in a 
few hours, and the embryos of rabbits and other 
mammals and birds grow at least 1000 per cent. 
daily, without the assistance of the results of 
researches into induced cell proliferation. 
Bagi s7Be 
PURE AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS. 
(1) A Textbook of Elementary Statics. By Prof. 
R. S. Heath. Pp. xii+284. (Oxford: Claren- 
don Press, 1913-): Price 4s. 6d: 
(2) A Shorter Algebra. By W. M. 
A. A. Bourne. Pp. viii+320+lix. 
G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1913.) 
(3) Key to “A New Algebra.” 
and J. M. Child. Vol. ii., containing parts iv., 
v.. and vi. Pp. 447-915. (London: Mac- 
millan and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 8s. 6d. 
(4) Practical Surveying and Elementary Geodesy. 
By Prof. Henry Adams. Pp. xii+276. (London: 
Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 4s. 6d. 
net. 
(5) Practical Science for Engineering Students. 
NO. 2323, VOL. 93| 
Baker and 
(London : 
Price 25. 6d: 
By S. Barnard 
NATURE 
[May 7, 1914 
By H. Stanley. Pp. vii+166. (London: 
Methuen and Co., Ltd.; nid-) > Pricesss- 
(6) Bell’s| Outdoor and Indoor Experimental 
Arithmetics. By H. H. Goodacre, and E. F. 
Holmes, C. F. Noble, Poo steers diirsi ieee. 
Course (Standard /im.),, pp.. 30) - Price: 3d and 
4d. Second Year’s Course (Standard iv.), pp. 
32. Price 3d. and 4d, Third Years Course 
(Standard v.), pp. 39. Piice 3d. and 4d. Fourth 
Year’s Course (Standard vi.), pp. 39. Price 4d. 
and 6d. Fifth Year’s Course (Standard viii.), 
pp. 48. Price 4d. and 6d. (London: G. Bell and 
Sons, Ltd., 1913). 
(1) HIS is a delightful book that will rejoice 
the heart of the students of Birming- 
ham and of many another university. No longer 
have we the problem of the elephant balancing 
upon a ball, the ball a foot in diameter and the 
elephant of negligible mass. In place of the old 
artificial kind we have, all the way through the 
| book, entrancing problems from everyday life. In 
method of treatment also Dr. Heath’s sympathies 
are of the widest. We find the link-polygon freely 
used, and that useful lettering device of Bow’s not 
despised. We find graphical methods given their 
due place; we find bending moments duly treated ; 
we find so many good thing's that the book, though 
apparently designed for the pure mathematician, 
ought to be adopted by the engineer also. 
One suggestion we offer for the next edition, 
that kinetic friction, as in a journal (p. 208), should 
be distinguished from static friction, as in the 
freewheel friction clutch (p. 201). 
(2) The Shorter Algebra is a good book of the 
old style. It gets all the tools ready first, begin- 
ning with seven pages of definitions and similar 
fundamentals. The preparation of the tools takes 
six chapters, formal equations come in chapter vil., 
and the first contact with life is found in 
chapter ix., in the application of equations to 
problems. 
The method of this book is quite a good one for 
the able pupil who grasps the rules and enjoys the 
game. We fear it is valueless for the mediocre 
pupil, who does not see that it is a game and can- 
not understand the rules. He learns only to think 
himself a fool, which is often not the case; even if 
it is the case it is a mistake to let him think so. 
Constant contact with life is the only successful 
way to teach an abstruse subject like algebra to 
the mediocre bey. 
The authors sternly refuse, while dealing with 
algebra, to recognise the existence of geometry. 
Two results dropped from the sky appear on 
page 103; do the authors hope to conceal their 
geometrical origin? If the pupils have even a sus- 
picion, the watertight bulkheads are seriously 
