October 20, 1904J 



NA TURE 



605 



.4 GEKUAN'S DESCRIPTION OF ITALY.' 



THE volume before us might not inappropriately 

 be called an "Encyclopaedia of Italy." It deals 

 in the first eight chapters with the general geo- 

 graphical and geological features of the country, 

 its shape, its surrounding seas, the relief of its 

 principal mountain ranges, its geological con- 

 struction, its climate, hj'drography, fauna and 

 flora. The next seven chapters deal generally 

 with the Italian people and their life, the 

 subject being classified under the various headings 

 of population, history, products, commerce and trade, 

 political institutions, religion, 

 art, language and science. 

 The si.\tpenlh chapter, which 

 is devoted to " Topography," 

 extends over more than 120 

 pages; in it the various dis- 

 tricts of Italy are taken in 

 turn, and their principal 

 towns, antiquities, rivers, and 

 mountains are dealt with in 

 some detail. 



To write a treatise of this 

 character is no easy task, if 

 the lx)ok is to convey any- 

 thing like an adequate 

 account of the country. To 

 test the completeness with 

 which the author has accom- 

 plished his work we have 

 consulted the book under 

 various headings selected at 

 random, and in few cases 

 have we found any point of 

 real importance or interest 

 missing. The account given 

 of the Italian lakes is very 

 thorough, and contains details 

 of their principal features, as 

 well as information of a 

 statistical character and 

 several illustrations. Still 

 greater interest attaches to 

 the sections dealing with 

 volcanic action and earth- 

 quakes, in which excellent 

 illustrations are given of 

 W'suvius in its various 

 aspects, the Solfatara, Etna, 

 and the Lipari islands ; and 

 the references to the changes 

 of relative level of the land 

 and sea at the Temple of 

 Serapis and the Blue Grotto 

 may be cited. The chapter 

 on " Plants and Animals " is 

 not, perhaps, so fully treated 

 as other parts of the book, 

 and also there are a few slight 

 inaccuracies, probably result- 

 ing from the difticulty of finding exact equivalents for 

 the German words in the English translation. 

 Whether the name " manna " is correctly applied to 

 the sap of the Calabrian flowering ashes (p. 114) is 

 a point on which we are not competent to pass judg- 

 ment; it should, however, be mentioned that " manna 

 of the desert " has been considered to be a lichen. 

 When the fruit of the olive is described as green, 



1 " Italy, a Popular Account of the Counlry, its People, and its Institu- 

 tions (including Malta and .Saidinia)." By Prof W. Deecke. Translated 

 by H. A. Nesbilt. M.A. Pp. xii+485; illustrated. (London: Swan 

 Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd. ; New York : The Macmillan Co., 1904.) 



brown, or red (p. Ii6) the latter term hardly appears 

 suitable. On p. 120 the name " gorse " is applied 

 to Genista hispanica, a plant which, indeed., often 

 takes the place of our English Ulex in Italy, but can 

 hardly be properly called " gorse." 



Again, it is doubtless probable, as stated on p. 122, 

 that fishermen often apply the term " frutta di mare " 

 to shell fish generally, but correctly speaking this is 

 the name of the edible echinus. The large cuttlefish 

 or octopus is too characteristic an article of food at 

 Naples to be omitted from the list, and the Agoni and 

 large trout of the Lonibardy lakes ought to receive 

 some mention. 



NO. 1825, VOL. 70] 



We pass on to the chapter on " Political Institu- 

 tions," where it is particularly interesting to see what 

 a German thinks of the slipshod v.ay things are 

 done in a free country like Italy. Prof. Deecke 

 strongly condemns the abuses resulting from political 

 liberty and local government as practised in that 

 country ; for example, he says (p. 25^) : — 



" The successful working of a liberal constitution 

 and self government presupposes a conscientiousness 

 and disinterestedness among the officials. There is 

 little of these qualities to be seen in Italy. The 

 honorary posts are looked upon as a kind of milch- 



