DECEMBER 6, 1906 | 
NATURE 
125 
represented proves to be the Divine afflatus that lifts 
the human race out of selfish individualism into 
socialism understood in its finest sense. The struggle 
for existence and the survival of the fittest no longer 
express operations of natural law, and the world 
becomes a place where the prevailing spirit is ‘“‘ all for 
all and each for each.’’ Love is transfigured, hate 
perishes, war and all other manifestations of our 
animal nature are rendered unthinkable after the 
earth has passed through the comet. The change 
which evolution can scarcely anticipate in the distant 
future is brought about in a single night. 
The idea is a noble one, and Mr. Wells has dealt 
with the phenomenal and sociological aspects of the 
transformation in a masterly manner. What is the 
destiny of the human race cannot yet be foreseen, but 
what man might become when ‘‘a new heaven and a 
new earth’? have been created is a worthy subject of | 
speculation; and when the theme is developed, as it is 
in this book, with scientific knowledge, prophetic 
insight, lofty purpose, and human sympathy, it almost 
persuades us that the gospel it conveys points the way 
to the millennium. The message may not be under- 
stood, but the story in which it is presented cannot 
fail to excite interest and stimulate thought. 
The Elements of Chemical Engineering. By Dr. J. 
Grossmann, with a preface by Sir W. Ramsay, 
KGB RS: Pp. viii-+-152. (London: C. 
Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1906.) Price 3s. 6d. net. 
Ir can scarcely be said that our system of technical 
education is satisfactory, so far as chemical technology 
is concerned. Our technical colleges and universities 
turn out annually a large number of students who 
have received a fairly good training from the theoreti- 
cal point of view, but have very little knowledge of 
apparatus or processes as conducted on the manu- 
facturing scale. It is obviously impossible for teachers 
who have not themselves been engaged in factories 
to teach chemical technology successfully. Our Ger- 
man competitors have fully realised this, and some 
of the larger chemical manufacturers have combined 
and founded an institution specially devoted to the 
education of teachers, all the operations being carried 
out on the manufacturing scale. In the absence of 
some educational establishment of this kind we must 
assume that the education of most of our students 
is defective from the practical point of view, and 
means must be found to convey the requisite know- 
ledge before they can be entrusted with the super- 
vision of manufacturing operations. 
Dr. Grossmann’s book has been specially written 
with this end in view, the object of the author being | 
to make the student familiar with those factory ap- | 
pliances which are the equivalents of the apparatus 
used in the laboratory. To render the comparison 
still more easy, the plant described is classified ac- 
cording to the supposed laboratory appliance which it 
represents. It is not always easy to ensure parallel- 
ism under such an arrangement; for instance, the 
chapter on ‘‘The Funnel and its Technical Equiva- 
lents ’”’ deals mainly with filtration, which is not the 
primary function of a funnel. The remarks on the 
materials used in chemical engineering are practical, 
and will be of great use to students, whose knowledge 
on this subject is usually very defective. 
Among the useful features in which this work differs 
from similar manuals may be mentioned the price list 
of chemicals, which will be of great service to be- 
ginners, although, as Dr. Grossmann rightly remarks, 
the prices are liable to frequent fluctuations. How 
great these fluctuations may be is shown by the fact 
that copper is now twice and antimony three times the 
price quoted in the list. The price given for amyl 
acetate, 4l. 14s. 6d. per lb., is evidently an error. 
NO. 1936, VOL. 75 | 
As Sir William Ramsay says in his preface, the 
author has given a simple and lucid statement of the 
difficulties that a student may expect to meet with, 
and the book may be recommended as an introduction 
to the practical work of the factory. 
Crystal Gazing. Its History and Practice, with a Dts- 
cussion of the Evidence for Telepathic Scrying. By 
Northcote W. Thomas. With an introduction by 
Andrew Lang. Pp. xlvii+162. (London: Moring, 
Limited, 1905.) Price 3s. 6d. net. 
Tue practice which gives its name to this book is only 
one of a number of devices which have been employed 
to assist the appearance of visual hallucinations. Mr. 
Thomas gives a popular account of the various methods 
which have been used in classical, medizval, and 
modern times, and describes the practices of various 
savage or barbarous peoples, such as the use of blood 
by the Maories and Pawnees, of quartz by the people 
of Sarawak, and of mirrors by the members of more 
advanced races. 
The Subject has two distinct aspects. One deals with 
the nature of the psychological processes involved in the 
appearance of the visions, and, treated from this point 
of view, crystal gazing is brought into line with other 
psychological processes, such as visual imagination, 
hypnogogic and hypnotic illusions and hallucinations, 
&e. 
The other aspect deals with the question whether the 
visions of the scryer provide any evidence in favour of 
telepathy. On this aspect Mr. Thomas gives accounts 
from many sources, and concludes that, though frag- 
mentary and unsatisfactory, the evidence is, on the 
whole, in favour of telepathic crystal visions. It must 
be pointed out, however, that his data provide per- 
haps equally strong evidence in favour of prophetic 
scrying. The book has an introduction in which Mr. 
Andrew Lang gives an account of the circumstances 
which first led him to take an interest in crystal gazing 
and of many experiments with which he has had to do. 
Mr. Lang regards his own ventures in this field as 
those of an amateur, and he appeals to professed psy- 
chologists to undertake the further investigation of the 
subject. His own attitude, however, is so eminently 
judicial that it is a matter for regret he cannot himself 
give more attention to this line of work, for the judicial 
mind is not too common either in the more academical 
or the more amateur students of this field of research. 
The History of the Collections contained in the 
Natural History Departments of the British 
Museum. Vol. ii., Separate Historical Accounts 
of the Several Collections included in the Depart- 
ment of Zoology. Pp. 782. (London: British 
Museum, 1006.) Price 30s. 
In this volume officers of the various sections of the 
Zoological Department have given accounts of the 
collections under their respective charge, tracing the 
evolution of each from small beginnings to its present 
condition. Each account is complete in itself; but a 
remarkable degree of diversity is noticeable in regard 
to the amount of space occupied by the different his- 
tories, the notice of the bird collection far exceeding 
all the others in length. At the end of each account 
is a biographical list of the various donors and col- 
lectors who have contributed to the section. This 
involves a large amount of repetition, and some 
discrepancies are noticeable when the different lists are 
collated. In many portions of the volume the editorial 
blue pencil might have been used freely with great 
advantage, and in some places the prolixity is so great 
that it is exceedingly difficult to winnow out the grain 
from the chaff. Nevertheless, the volume contains a 
great mass of valuable information with regard to 
