NATURE 



[December 12, 1918 



place of the well-established fiaccidum. In Lepto- 

 gium microphyllum the well-Jcnown specific name 

 is altered to fragrans, a name which has been 

 rejected by many authors on account of its in- 

 appropriateness, Lichen fragrans being merely 

 an accidental Fragranl stair. Ii is difficult to 

 understand why aeruginosa (Chsenotheca, p. 8) 

 displaces stemonea, since iii the accompanying list 

 of synonyms the fust dale assigned to aerugino- 

 siim is (813, whilst that for stemoneum is [810. 

 Naturally then' are man} alterations in the status 



Of a plant according to the personal views of the 

 author. 



For the distribution and frequency of the species 

 too close a dependence is placed on the specimens 

 in the Museum, and too little regard is paid to 

 independent investigations. Cumberland is given 

 as "the only British locality" (a phrase of too 

 common occurrence) for the frequent Pertusaria 

 wulfenii var. rugosa. Lecanora pallida (albella) 

 cannot he considered "rather rare," and Pla- 

 cynihium nigrum form trisepiatum is not "rare." 

 Schisofna lichinodeum occurs not only on Ben 

 Lawers, "the only locality," but also on the 

 neighbouring Killin hills; and Synalissa intricata 

 is found in more than one locality. 



The iodine reactions for the Collemas are not 

 always rightly stated; both C. pulposum and 

 G. multifidum give a negative reaction, and not 

 a reddish one. 



A he figure on p. xv represents a biatoroid 

 rather than a biatorine apothecium. The spores 

 of Acdrospora squamulosa on plate 52 are given 

 as almost spherical and approximately 7x6 ;t, 

 whereas the text (p. 333) rightly give's them as 

 8-1 2 x 4-5 11. 



Considering the magnitude of the work, such 

 discrepancies are few, and the author can have 

 the satisfaction of knowing that it is the most 

 useful work on British lichenologv which has 

 hitherto been published. \Y. \\'. 



IMPERIAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES 

 AND THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 

 Telegraphy, Aeronautics, and War. By Charles 

 Bright. Pp. xvii + 407. (London: Constable 

 and Co., Ltd., 1918. ) Price 16s. net. 

 "PHIS volume comprises seventeen addresses 

 and articles on inter-Imperial communication 

 given before the London Chamber of Commerce, 

 tlu Royal Society of Arts, etc., and contributed 

 to tin- Quarterly Review, Nineteenth Century, 

 Empire Review, etc. ; Seven memoranda upon 

 aeronautics by the author, presented to Govern- 

 ment Departments; and two popular lectures on 

 the war. These three subjects are correlated, and 

 their treatment, .1, ii were, is brought up to dale, 

 in an introduction of seventy-four pages, which 

 constitutes a valuable adjunct to the collection. 

 The 1 hapters are all of substantial and practical 



interest the forcible expression of the views oi 



a man who thinks vv illi ,1 \ iev to action. Taken 



together, the predominating impression that they 

 give is that Mr. Bright is no pacifisl as regards 

 NO. 2563, VOL. 102] 



either the war or any subject ,,| which he treats. 

 He is so combative that, in reading, one almost 

 feels constrained to lift one's arm to ward off a 

 blow ! You want him to lie on your side ! Then all 

 is well and forcibly pat, and there is a great mass 



of interesting and valuable matter clearly 



expressed. 



Mr. Bright has devoted a large part of his life 

 to the subject of cable communication, and his 

 chapters on that Subject COVei the whole range 

 apart from technical matters, which he has sought 

 to exclude. The paper reprinted from the Navy 

 League Annual. 1911—12, on "The Importance 

 of Inter-Imperial Telegraphy," is a strong plea 

 that in such matters our Government should think 

 imperially. In similar strain he draws a moral 

 from the Atlantic cable system, urging that the 

 allowance of the handing over of the control of 

 British-made and British-owned tallies, even to the 

 United States, \vas unpardonable on any terms. 

 Mr. Bright 's long and strenuous advocacy of 

 "All-British" cable routes for strategic reasons 

 has certainly been amply justified during the Great 

 War. 



While one could not agree without demur to the 

 whole of Mr. Bright's presentment of the scheme 

 for "Administration of Imperial Telegraphs " (as, 

 for example, where he fails ' to realise that the 

 difference in profit from the working of the tele- 

 phone system by the late National Telephone Co. 

 and by the Post Office is due almost entirely 

 to the substantially improved scales of pay 

 awarded to the operating staff), it must be ad- 

 mitted that he shows a masterly grip of the 

 general situation, and his concluding words about 

 ourselves and the Colonies — " surely it is desirable 

 that we should think together, act together, and, 

 if necessary, fight together, in a common cause " 

 — seem now to have more substantial reality than 

 they could have had in April, 1914, when they 

 were spoken. 



It is a little surprising to find so independent 

 a thinker tending to accept the popular view of 

 the Civil Service. The Service is a profession, 

 and you can no more make it "commercial " than 

 you can make the Bar "religious," or the City 

 "scientific." Those who know best realise that 

 the new Government Departments — administered 

 and controlled by "business" men, and infused 

 with "business" ideals — present all the worst 

 characteristics of the Civil Service-, and few ol 

 its merits. The only distinctive merit of the new 

 departments is that ignorance has permitted them 

 to "kick over the traces": but the enlightenment 

 of only three or four years has gone a long wav 

 to neutralise that merit. If the) are 10 extricate 

 themselves from their entanglements, it will be 

 years before they can be demobilised. 



111. Civil Sa'.iu .\ hi: h contiins a fauT, satis- 

 factory proportion of men who possess real busi- 

 ness ability (capable of "running " something much 

 bigger than a 'bus !), must lie diagnosed on quite 



different lines if its ills are ever to be effectively 

 treated. Mr. Bright, however, evidently does to 

 a very appreciable extent understand that the 



