a a 
JULY 9, 1914] 
NATURE 
477 
but of human existence. The blow was parried 
by the wisdom or the folly of the vast majority 
of mankind, who refused to purchase a chance of 
saving their souls with the certainty of extin- 
guishing the species.”’ 
The substance of ‘Adonis, Attis, Osiris’’ is 
the story of how their faiths provided the machin- 
ery for Christianity. The moral of it is the his- 
torical appraisement of Occidental religion in 
modern culture which the student who runs may 
read. A. E. CRAWLEY. 
HABERLANDT’S PLANT ANATOMY. 
Physiological Plant Anatomy. By Prof. G. Haber- 
landt. Translated from the fourth German 
edition by Montagu Drummond. Pp. xv+ 777. 
(London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) 
Price 25s: net. 
NATOMY, whether of animals or of plants, is 
apt to prove dull reading if treated merely 
from the descriptive point of view. Such. books 
we know; some have even been translated into 
English—it is hard to say why, for they are mere 
repositories of dry facts, and the individual dry 
bones, one would have thought, could well enough 
have been dug out of the original treatises when- 
ever they were wanted. It is only when it is 
related to, or becomes part of, a larger and more 
philosophical scheme that anatomy becomes 
attractive to the ordinary scientifically minded 
reader who is not a specialist in the subject. 
The great charm of Prof. Haberlandt’s book has 
always lain rather in the circumstance that the 
anatomical facts had there been welded into a 
coherent theme of which the leit motiv was Func- 
tion. It is true that speculation sometimes usurps 
the place of proof, and that teleology now and 
then breaks out, cloaked but thinly in the disguise 
of physiology. But it is a great book, and the fact 
that it has passed through four German editions, 
each an improvement on its predecessor, is a testi- 
mony to its intrinsic value. 
Now that it is accessible to the English reader 
who happens to be unacquainted with German, its 
influence will be more widely felt amongst the 
students of botany in English-speaking countries. 
It deserves to be well received, for Mr. Drummond 
has discharged his task with ability, and by de- 
ciding on a somewhat free style of translation he 
has succeeded in producing a very readable volume 
which contains but little trace of its exotic origin. 
In so far as we have tested the translation, we 
have lighted upon remarkably few errors of any 
importance ; but perhaps it is not altogether super- 
fluous to point out one instance in which a closer 
adherence to the text would have been of advan- 
tage. On p. 550, in discussing the relations 
Nene 2332, VOL. get 
| 
existing between the assumed micellar structure 
and differential imbibition, the micella are said to 
“cohere with different intensities in different tan- 
gential planes.” By translating the German word 
richtungen (directions) as planes, the meaning of 
the passage is obscured, and a situation already 
sufhciently complicated is. rendered less intelligible. 
It may be questioned whether any good purpose 
has been secured by placing all the notes at the 
end of the book, instead of grouping them with 
the chapters to which they severally belong, as 
they appear in the German edition. But this is, 
after all, a trifling matter, and at the most de- 
tracts but little from the excellent form in which a 
valuable and indeed classical work has been pre- 
sented to the English reader. vibe 
ELECTROTECHNIES. 
(1) Switchgear and the Control of Electric Light 
and, Power Circuits. By A. .G. Golhs. Pp.rcs- 
(London : Constable and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 
US2 MeL: 
(2) Elementary Theory of Alternate Current W ork- 
By Capt. GL Halli Sep witeagce 
(London: The Electrician Printing and Publish- 
me Cot.) Lid ad.) Puce 3s.7 Gd. net. 
(3) Electricity in Mining. With plans and illus- 
trations. Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works, 
Ltd. Pp. xiv+201. . (London: .C. Griffin:and 
Co;, Lid., 1913:) Price tos. 6d. «net. 
(4) Electric Circuit Theory and Calculations: a 
Practical Book for Engineers, Students, Con- 
tractors, and Wiremen. By W. Perren May- 
cock. Pp. xiv+355- (London and New York: 
Whittaker and Co., 1913.) Price 3s. 6d. net. 
ing. 
(1) TN the preface to this manual the reader is 
referred for further information to the 
author’s larger work on the subject. The present 
book would have been more valuable had it been 
carefully prepared. Some of the diagrams of the 
connections are inaccurate, and it is very difficult 
to make out what they mean. 
(2) This work can be well recommended to 
those who are seeking the elementary theory of 
the subject. It has been compiled with accuracy 
and care, and forms a good introduction to the 
larger works on the subject of alternate current 
working. The latest developments are dealt with, 
and the whole treated in a simple manner without 
the aid of advanced mathematics. 
(3) The novelty attaching to this work lies in 
the fact that it is compiled by a firm of electrical 
engineers. It is not a mere catalogue or descrip- 
tion of electrical apparatus, but goes further, and 
deals with the technical part of the subject. The 
illustrations are good, and the book is well pro- 
duced. 
