November 2, 1905] 



NA TURE 



detail. The proportion of the area to be occupied by 

 the public thoroughfares, promenades, avenues, and 

 private gardens is fully discussed. By a most 

 ingenious and original plan of allotment, each house 

 in the city stands in its own ground without being 

 unduly overlooked or interfered with by neighbouring 

 dwellings, but at the same time fitting harmoniously 

 into the whole. Instead of the usual oblong or 

 rectangular arrangement, the author subdivides the 

 ground into polygonal or, more precisely, hexagonal 

 plots. This he shows preserves a uniform frontage 

 length, and at the same time admits of great elasticity 

 as regards the size of the allotments which different 

 inhabitants may desire. 



The city proposed by the author would consist of 

 three separate areas, viz. the city proper, the village 

 with its industrial zone, and the agricultural fringe. 

 Each department is so arranged and laid out that the 

 maximum amount of comfort and utility is combined 

 with the minimum amount of expense. The city as 

 a whole is so designed that it shall be self-supporting. 

 All needless expense and extravagance are scrupulously 

 avoided. The artisan's dwelling is made for the 

 artisan, and the same applies to the housing of every 

 grade and class of society. All are suitably provided 

 for. Public buildings and offices, railway stations, 

 &c, are grouped together within easy access of each 

 other in the centre of the city. 



The sanitary and hygienic conditions of every kind 

 are treated in an able and scientific manner. Every 

 health-promoting device that ingenuity can suggest 

 is brought forward in i ts proper place. It is 

 beyond the scope of a review to mention these in 

 detail. Suffice it to say that nothing is suggested 

 which cannot be easily put into practice ; and, further, 

 many of the author's valuable and common-sense 

 suggestions might with great advantage be adopted 

 in our present cities. 



The sociological aspect of garden cities is treated 

 in a rational and scientific manner. The doctrine of 

 " equality " which was urged by some when the site 

 of the first garden city was acquired is relegated to 

 its proper place by the author, who reminds his 

 readers that the outcry for equality has proved the 

 curse of industrial England, and points out the 

 absurdity of ranking the " loungers — the quasi-inert 

 and industrially passive atoms — as of equal national 

 value to the active workers or energy-imparting unit." 

 Ihi- decentralisation of industry is one of the great 

 objects of garden cities — hence the authorities can 

 deal with nothing below the industrial unit. 



Under the heading " Charity " the problem of deal- 

 ing with the poor and infirm is discussed. The 

 various pitfalls and dangers attendant upon in- 

 discriminate charity are shown by actual examples. 

 The problem is a serious one ; but in this, as in other 

 1 ises, the author finds a way of overcoming the 

 difficulty, especially as regards garden cities which 

 are untrammelled by established practice or tradition, 

 and where methods such as the Elberfeld system, so 

 successfully adopted in the town of that name and 

 in Leipzig, and which the test of time — half a century 

 ko. 1879, VOL. J2>] 



— has proved to be sound in principle, might quite 

 easilj lie' put into prai tice. 



The work contains a wonderful amount of valuable 

 information written in a readable style, while the 

 illustrations are numerous, well chosen, and admirably 

 re produced. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Elementary Experimental Chemistry. By A. E. 

 Dunstan. Pp. viii+173. (London: Methuen and 

 Co., 1905.) Price 2s. 

 So many books on elementary chemistry have been 

 published within the last few years that it is rather 

 difficult to imagine why any more should be written, 

 unless there is something strikingly novel in the style 

 or matter of the book. For anything novel we search 

 in vain in the little book before us. 



After being introduced to the metric system, in 

 chapter ii. the student is supposed to find out the 

 difference between chemical and physical changes by 

 having to note the effect of heat upon sulphur, lead, 

 magnesium, and sugar, and at the end of each experi- 

 ment he has to state whether the change is physical 

 or chemical. Chapter iii. deals with air, chapter iv. 

 with active air. In chapter x. we come to solution, 

 which to our mind would have been better treated 

 earlier. 



Formula? are not mentioned until p. 130, and on 

 p. 131 the union of atoms to form molecules is shown 

 in a diagrammatic manner which we venture to 

 think will leave the student very little wiser than 

 before. Almost all through the book the equations 

 are written in words and not expressed in symbols, 

 as, for example, zinc + sulphuric acid = zinc sulphate + 

 hvdrogen. This is not necessarily objectionable in 

 an elementary book, but to formulate all the equations 

 which occur in the course of the book in an appendix 

 is simply wasting tvpe, because the student will never 

 look at them. Furthermore, will the student under- 

 stand the action of nitric acid upon copper by writing 

 the equation in this manner? 

 I 2NO ) 



zHNOj H„0 + 3Cu= } 2NO + ILO + 3CUO. 

 ( 3"0 \ 



It is then explained that the copper oxide is acted 

 upon by a further quantity of nitric acid, &c. 



Some of the experiments which the student is sup- 

 posed to carry out are more for the lecture table than 

 for the laboratory. For instance, on p. 121 the 

 student has " to find the proportions in which oxygen 

 and hydrogen combine to form water." Dry 

 hydrogen and oxygen have to be collected in a eudio- 

 meter over mercury and then sparked. On p. 122 a 

 similar experiment has to be carried out, but in this 

 case to show the volume of steam formed. These are 

 not experiments for elementary students, and we doubt 

 whether the author himself allows his students to 

 carry them out. 



The book is very fully illustrated, and some of the 

 exercises are undoubtedly good, but for the book to 

 be really useful to the student will require a consider- 

 able amount of discrimination on the part of the 

 teacher as to what experiments the student can him- 

 self be trusted to work out. 



Wayside and Woodland Blossoms. By Edward Step; 

 with coloured pictures by Mabel Step. First series, 

 pp. xiii+176+127 plates. Second series, pp. xv + 

 171 + 127 plates. (London: Frederick Warne and 

 Co., 1905.) Price, each volume, 6s. net. 

 About ten years ago Mr. Step prepared two handy 

 little volumes which many country ramblers have 



