7' 



NA TURE 



[November 23, 1905 



Mr. Deerr sets out with the object of "presenting 

 consecutive whole a general view of the carle 

 sugar industry," and it may I" 1 said at once that he- 

 achieves this object fairly successfully. 



The arrangement of the volume coincides with the 

 sequence of operations in the production of sugar, 

 thi earlier chapters dealing with such subjects 

 as cam- varieties, cultivation, influence of soil and 

 climate, manuring and so on, and the later chapters 

 with the harvesting of the cane, its transport to the 

 factory, the extraction of the sugar, processes for the 

 preparation of the commercial varieties of sugar, the 

 disposal of molasses, the analysis of sugar products, 

 and so on. 



The objection might 1"- made thai some of these 

 later chapters, notably those relating to the use of 

 the polariscope, the estimation of " glucose," and 

 tin analysis of sugar-cane products are not sufficiently 

 detailed to enable a novice to carry out the operations 

 described, and yet are so full as to be tedious to any- 

 one merely desirous of grasping the general principles 

 upon which the processes are based. 



The book will, however, be found useful by 

 planters and sugar-estate managers who desire t" be 

 mi courant with the progress made on the scientific 

 side of their industry. 



The volume is well illustrated — in this connection 

 particular mention may be made of the coloured 

 plates showing stems oi some of the principal varie- 

 ties of cane — and the text is remarkably free from 

 errors, which is perhaps to be attributed to the fact 

 that the book " was seen through the press " by the 

 publisher, Mr. Norman Rodger. 



My Strange Pets, and other Memories of Country 

 Life. By R. Bell. Pp. vi + 308. (Edinburgh: 

 Blackwood and Sun-. 1905.) Price 6s. 

 ■" It is well known that the emu is a native of 

 Australia, where on its vast plains they might have 

 been seen in vast numbers " (p. 2). " The kick of 

 an emu is a serious it not a dangerous one. . . . 

 When sporting they spring up in the air, kicking side- 

 ways." Sentences like the above occurring close 

 together at the beginning of a volume, and followed 

 later by others of the same type, make one wonder 

 whether the publishers or their printers keep a proof- 

 reader on their establishments. But grammatical 

 slips of this nature are not the only faults by which 

 the work is disfigured, and the classically educated 

 reader will scarcely fail to experience a severe mental 

 shock when he finds the statement on p. 51 that 

 "'lemur,' in the language of Madagascar, means 

 ' night-wandering ghost.' " 



Apart, however, from blemishes, Mr. Bell's book 

 contains much interesting information with regard to 

 the ways of main kinds of foreign creatures — from 

 emus and rheas to jerboas and snakes — in confine- 

 ment, accompanied by valuable hints as to the best 

 manner of keeping them in health. The author, 

 indeed, claims to have been the first to breed emus 

 in Scotland, and it is perhaps a little characteristic 

 •of his nationality to find that the experiment under- 

 taken for amusement turned out a financial success. 

 The subject of foreign " pets " forms, however, only 

 a portion of the volume, and the author records a 

 number of more or less commonplace observations 

 regarding the animals of his own country. As he 

 appears to be an experienced angler, the statement 

 of hi- disbelief in the theory that fresh-run salmon 

 never habitually feed while in the rivers is worthy 

 the I, est attention of the officials of the Scotch Salmon- 

 Fishery Commission. 



Throughout his life the author appears to have been 

 specially interested in travelling menageries, and in 



NO. 1882, VOL. 73] 



a chapter on this subject he reproduces a long extract 

 from the Scotsman of April 10, 1872, describing the 

 sale of Wombwell's menagerie in that year. In this 

 extract Wombwell is stated to have purchased the 

 first rhinoceros and the first pair of giraffes ever 

 imported into this country. As regards the former 

 animal this statement is not strictly true, as witness 

 the Indian rhinoceros described by Dr. Parsons in 

 the early days of the Royal Society. If the state- 

 ment with regard to giraffes be trustworthy, the fact 

 has been generally overlooked by writers, George the 

 Fourth's giraffe, received in 1S27, and the four young 

 animals obtained by the London Zoological Society 

 in 1836, being generally regarded as the earliest 

 importations. Wombwell's giraffes, it is stated, died 

 before they were publicly exhibited. Although con- 

 taining little that is absolutely new, the book is dis- 

 tinctly readable and entertaining. R. L. 



Simple Lessons mi Health h<r the Use "/ the Young. 



By Sir Michael Foster, K.C.B., M.P., &c. Pp. 



vii+114. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.; 



New York : The Macmillan Company, 1905.) 



Price is. 

 Maw writers have tried their hands at the produc- 

 tion of a small v -ork which shall suitably present to 

 a child's mind those elementary facts of healthy living 

 which, as now generally recognised, should form an 

 essential part of education ; but it must be said that 

 hitherto no one has wholly succeeded. Many have 

 failed from an unnecessary elaboration of scientific 

 detail, and others from a faulty presentation of the 

 subject-matter. 



Sir Michael Foster's manual makes no pretence at 

 covering the whole of the necessary ground. He 

 makes it clear in the preface that his object is to 

 show how the reasons for some of the rules which 

 ought to guide us in the physical conduct of life 

 may be explained even to the very young. The sub- 

 jects dealt with are : — fresh air. food and drink, light 

 and cleanliness. The physiological basis of certain 

 health principles could not be more happily expressed ; 

 but as to how the individual can best meet his 

 hygienic needs in his daily life and circumstance the 

 writer has little — far too little — to say. With this 

 reservation it may be said that Sir Michael Foster's 

 little book is a model of what simple lessons on 

 health to the young should be, and that, as an illus- 

 tration of how these matters should be presented to 

 young children, it is unequalled by any other book 

 with which we are acquainted. For this reason, if 

 for no other, all those who are likely to have the 

 important duty cast upon them of instructing the 

 young on these vital matters should carefully study 

 its simple, clear, and wholly satisfactory method of 

 treatment. 



Actualitis scientifiques. By Max de Nansouty. Pp. 



^65. (Paris: Schleicher Freres, 1905.) Price 3.50 



francs. 

 Such a collection of short readings in French as is 

 here provided will prove of service to young students 

 of science who are either learning French or are 

 desirous of keeping up their knowledge of the 

 language by reading which will not take them far 

 from their serious work in science. There are eighty- 

 four popular essays, each of three or four pages, 

 divided into seven groups dealing respectively with 

 physics and chemistry, astronomy and meteorology, 

 electricity and its applications, agriculture, hygiene, 

 psychology and physiology, and applied sciences. 



The volume may appeal to a few general readers 

 interested in popular accounts of progress in pure 

 and applied science There are no illustrations. 



