404 



NATUKli 



[January 23, [919 



ce to any correction for slight variations in 

 il area, whilst undue prominence is given 

 to the maximum load on section calculated to tons 

 per square inch, which form oi report is 

 doubtful use. 



Dr. Hatfield is to be heartily congratulated on 

 this work as a whole. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 I Modern Pilgrim in Mecca. By Major A. 'J. B. 



VVavell. New cheaper impression. With an 



introduction by Major Leonard Darwin. Pp. 



XV + 232. (London : Constable and Co., Ltd., 



191S.) Price is. €>d. net. 

 Few Christians have been to Mecca, and fewer 

 Still to Medina, or, if they have attempted the 

 journey, have survived to tell the tale. Here is 

 the story of how a young man of twenty-six suc- 

 cessfully accomplished the feat. Major Wavell, 

 travelling in disguise via Beyrout and Damascus, 

 reached Medina by the Hedjaz railway in 1908. 

 After some weeks' stay in that city, where he 

 had one or two narrow escapes from detection, 

 he made his way by camel caravan to Yemba, on 

 the coast, the overland route to Mecca being 

 closed, owing to the rising of the Bedou tribes. 

 From Yemba Major Wavell went by sea to 

 Jiddah, and thence reached Mecca. His stay in 

 Mecca seems to have been safer than in Medina, 

 but not without risks. The pilgrimage to Mina 

 was made before the return to Jiddah and the 

 departure for Egypt. The book is full of informa- 

 tion; many pages glow with colour, and not one 

 lacks fascination. As the author says of himself, 

 he was "never averse to being where anything 

 interesting is taking place." That is the spirit 

 in which he carried out this dangerous enterprise. 

 His two companions were an Arab from Aleppo 

 and a Mombasa Swahili. To avoid the chance 

 of detection, he adopted the expedient of telling 

 Arabs that his language was Swahili, and when 

 he met natives of Fast Africa, of saying he was 

 from Muscat and spoke only Arabic. 



The book has an introduction on the geo- 

 graphy of Arabia, with an account of Moham- 

 medanism. Major Leonard Darwin contributes a 

 short life of this daring soldier, whose brilliant 

 career ended at the age of thirty-four, when he 

 fell in action in Fast Africa at the head of the 

 Arab corps which he had raised. The present 

 edition is a cheap reprint; it has a map, but no 

 illustrations. It is to be hoped that in the rising- 

 tide of war-books this fascinating volume will not 

 be overlooked. 



.1 Junior Course of Practical Zoology. By the 

 late Prof. A. Milnes Marshall and the late Dr. 

 C. Herbert Hurst. Eighth edition, revised by 

 Prof. F. \Y. Gamble. Pp. xxxvi + 515. (Lon- 

 don: John Murray, [918.) Price 12s. net. 

 In the new edition of this well-known and 

 excellent manual amoebae from the soil are 

 mmended lor study as a substitute for 

 NO. 2569, VOL. I02] 



tii r larger species Amoeba proteus, when 

 this is not available, and two types not 

 hitherto included the large trypanosome of 

 the dogfish and a tapeworm- are described. 

 i areful directions are given for prepai ing a 1 ulture 

 of the soil amoebae and for obtaining trypano- 

 somes b\ centrifuging the blood ,,i the dogfish. 

 the trypanosomes present being carried down with 



the blood corpuscles to the bottom of the tube, 



win nre they can be withdrawn with a pipette for 

 examination in a drop of the plasma. 



In the account of the encystation of Amoeba 

 reference is made to the reproductive cysts from 

 which issue "in one marine species at least . . . 

 minute flagellated spores which conjugate in pairs 

 and form amcebuke. " This statement relates, 



however, to a species of Paramceba, and as the 

 account is headed "Amoeba proteus" it would 

 have been better to refer to Miss Carter's observa- 

 tions on the reproductive cyst of this species from 

 which amcebulae were found to issue. 



The kinetonuclear end of the trypanosome is 

 regarded as anterior — a view which is not usually 

 held. Although trypanosomes often move with 

 this end in front when among a mass of corpuscles, 

 the flagellum is usually anterior when free move- 

 ment is possible. 



There is a slip on p. 16, where it is stated that 

 the zygote of Monocystis "divides four times, 

 producing eight sporozoites " — there are, ot 

 course, only three successive divisions — and the 

 statement on p. 33 that some of the buds of 

 Obelia "have no mouth and become medusas" is 

 loose. 



In the section of the work on vertebrates the 

 principal change is the insertion in the text de- 

 scribing the rabbit's skull of a figure of the 

 dorsal, and another of the ventral, aspect of the 

 dog's skull. 



How to Deal with Different Kinds of Fires. Some 

 Hints by Sidney < i. Gamble. Pp. 50. (Lon- 

 don : The British Fire Prevention Committee. 

 1918.) Price $s. 6d. 

 The type of man generally placed in charge of 

 works and property cannot be expected to have 

 either the necessary experience or knowledge to 

 enable him to direct advantageously or deal effi- 

 ciently with an outbreak of fire, especially if the 

 materials are not the ordinary combustibles, but 

 chemicals, forage, coal, and the like. To assist 

 these men and others the British Fire Prevention 

 Commit tee has isstied this Red Book, which is 

 No. 201 of the committee's publications. Mr. 

 Gamble, who until 1918 was second officer of the 

 London hire Brigade, gives in the first part of 

 the book genera] information, and the effect of 

 water, steam, chemicals, and so on, applied from 

 different forms of fire appliances. The second 

 part of the book deals alphabetically with 

 numerous materials and kinds of lire in turn. 

 Useful scientific- data have been added, while an 

 appendix on spontaneous combustion and a list 

 of enactments bearing on the fire question com- 

 plete a very useful compilation. 



