78 
NATURE 
[NovEeMBER 26, 1903 
in the jacquerie of the fifteenth century, which was 
the precursor of the revolution. He has much to say 
about the power of the clergy, about the national 
attitude of the Gallican Church followed by its eventual 
submission to the Pope. 
With the revolution we begin to get a glimpse of 
what was in the author’s mind when he gave his book 
its title. Only for a short time do the plebeians 
obtain liberty. Power is soon grasped once more by 
the well-to-do classes. What the revolution gained for 
the working man was the right to work when and 
at what work he chose. It introduced, in fact, free 
competition among individuals. As an individual the 
workman was free, but associations of workmen 
had as yet no legal status. Indeed, in 1791 the 
national assembly forbade combinations, whether 
among workmen or employers, intended to influence 
wages or prices. It is against this free competition 
between individuals that M. de Lanessan preaches. 
So far from bringing the best and strongest to the 
top, this Darwinian struggle for existence, as he 
terms it, causes nothing but misery. But has he any 
understanding of Darwinism? Darwin recognised 
not only a struggle between individuals, but a struggle 
between groups. If France is to hold her own against 
rivals, there must, no doubt, be mutual help among 
her citizens. There is nothing un-Darwinian in this. 
At the opening of the last part of the book, our 
author gives his views upon heredity, and it turns 
‘out that he is so Lamarckian that the struggle for 
existence seems to find no place in his theory of 
evolution; it is only a pest to be put an end to. After 
this, he passes on to the subject of the amount of 
food required by a workman, thence to alcoholism, 
which he attributes mainly to want of proper food, 
thence to the injurious effect of many of the sub- 
stances employed in manufactures, thence to factory 
legislation. With all the main evils from which the 
workman suffers, the Third Republic has made an 
honest attempt to grapple. Before 1870 the policy 
‘of laissez faire was in the ascendant. There is 
much of interest in the book, and the style is clear, 
but ‘‘ The Duties of the State’? would have been a 
better title. Wie El. 
‘Ore Deposits. A Discussion. Pp. go. (New York: 
Engineering and Mining Journal, 1903.) Price 5S: 
net. 
‘GEOLOGISTS and miners will be grateful to Mr. T. A. 
Rickard, the editor of the Engineering and Mining 
Journal, for having reprinted the report of a discussion 
upon ore deposits which took place before the Geo- 
logical Society of Washington in the early part of the 
present year. Many leading American geologists, 
whose names are identified with the study of mineral 
deposits, were present, and took part in the discussion, 
so that the mining engineer now has before him, in 
the form of a small handy volume, a clear and authori- 
tative statement of the views of men well qualified to 
express opinions upon a very difficult subject. 
Geologists are accustomed to frame hypotheses upon 
the origin of rocks, and naturally they are dissatisfied 
with a classification of ore deposits dependent upon 
form, and favour genesis as a basis of arrangement. 
In this spirit Mr. W. H. Weed put forward his 
tentative classification of ore deposits, which occupies 
two and a half pages of the book. He wisely admits 
that ore deposits may have originated in very many 
ways, and says that his six classes ‘have been 
arranged to show gradation from the magmatic segre- 
gation of original igneous rocks to the deposits directly 
or indirectly due to the emanations from igneous rocks 
up to those due entirely to aqueous agencies.’’ 
Mr. J. E. Spurr followed with another classification, 
NO. 1778, VOL. 69] 
and Mr. C. R. Van Hise with a third. ‘‘ Who shall 
decide when doctors disagree? ’’? Until geologists are 
in harmony among themselves, the humble miner will 
probably do well to wait, much as he would like to 
have a purely genetic classification, and rest content 
in the meantime with his old subdivisions according 
to form. Besides, the miner wants something broader 
than a mere classification of ore deposits; he has to 
deal not only with ores, but also with the so-called 
““non-metallic ’? minerals, such as abrasives, borax, 
diamonds, gypsum, petroleum, phosphates, &c., and 
he consequently desires a scheme of arrangement of 
a'l mineral deposits less narrow than will be found in 
a treatise upon ‘‘ Erzlagerstattenlehre.”’ 
Storage Battery Engineering. By Lamar Lyndon, 
B.E., M.E. Pp. viii+382. (New York: McGraw 
Publishing Co., 1903.) Price 3 dollars. 
Tuts book aims chiefly at treating the engineering 
side of storage batteries, such as the design and in- 
stallation of a battery equipment, the precautions 
which have to be taken to maintain such an equip- 
ment in good working order, and the various accessory 
devices which have to be used therewith. The chemical 
side of the subject is treated very briefly; the first 
chapter, of less than a dozen pages, is all that is 
allotted to general theory. In the remaining chapters 
of the first part the characteristics of lead cells are 
considered in detail; the leading types of cell are de- 
scribed, and there is the usual series of illustrations of 
different grids. Considering that the book makes no 
pretence of being a complete treatise on accumulators, 
we think that much of the matter here included might 
with advantage have been omitted, and the material 
sifted with more discrimination. There are also 
several instances of carelessness; for example, the 
author speaks of forming Planté plates in a solution 
of litharge in potassium, a mistake repeated three or 
four times in a couple of pages. The treatment of the 
electrical and mechanical sides is less open to objection, 
and many useful suggestions are given as the results 
of actual experience. ar 
The second part of the book is devoted to auxiliary 
apparatus; it is concerned with the use of accumu- 
lators in connection with distribution systems. The 
author describes at length the use of end cells or 
counter E.M.F. cells for voltage regulation, and the 
most suitable types of switches, hand regulated and 
automatic, to employ with them. The use of boosters 
and methods of wiring are considered at considerable 
length. On the whole the book should prove of value 
to the practical engineer, as it deals with an aspect 
of the storage battery which has not hitherto, so far 
as we are aware, received much systematic consider- 
ation. M. S. 
Edited by Alexander S: 
Cassell’s Popular Science. 
t (London: Cassell and Co., 
Galt. Pp. viii+576. 
Ltd., 1903.) Price 12s. 
Tuts handsome volume is a worthy attempt to 
popularise the physical, chemical, biological, and geo- 
logical sciences. As the editor remarks, popular science 
has too often been synonymous with inexact science, 
and any attempt to show that scientific knowledge may 
be presented in an interesting manner, and be at the 
same time correct, is to be welcomed. The book is 
profusely illustrated and contains a well-selected series 
of brightly written essays on various subjects of pure 
and applied science. The volume may be recom- 
mended as a suitable present to boys and girls, who 
will probably by its means be led to study more deeply 
one of the many branches of science of which some 
of the methods and results are described. 
