172 



NA TURE 



[December 21, 1905 



corresponds exactly with Galton's assertion that the 



two parents between them contribute one-half of the 



total heritage of the offspring." There is surely a 



screw loose here. Dr. Saleeby's vivacious style will 



fascinate some readers and help them over difficult 



themes, but we wish that he had been sometimes less 



conversational, as when he speaks of the Bathmic 



theory of organic evolution as " an amusing piece of 



nonsense." J. A. T. 



The Practical Photographer. Library Series. Nos. 



24, 25, and 26. 24 and 25, Pictorial Printing, 



parts i. and ii. Pp. xx4-64 and xx + 64. 26, 



Artificial Light and Night Photography. Pp. 



xx + 64. Edited by Rev. F. C. Lambert. (London : 



Hodder and Stoughton, 1905.) Price is. net. 



We have before us three more additions to this very 



practical and useful series of photographic handbooks, 



with which most of our photographic readers are 



now well acquainted. The first two are devoted to 



pictorial printing, in which are brought together 



many methods by which the negatives may be 



altered, the print controlled during printing, or 



generally or locally modified according to desire. 



For the most part No. 24 treats chiefly of the 

 employment of one negative only, while No. 25 

 is devoted chiefly to combination printing and en- 

 larging, cloud negatives, and cloud printing. Both 

 numbers are preceded by interesting and well 

 illustrated risumis of the pictorial work of Bessie 

 Stanford and Percy Lewis, which to the beginner 

 should serve as admirable types of high order work. 

 The third number belongs to quite another branch 

 of photography, namely, that in which the incident 

 light on the object is for the most part artificial, 

 such as flashlight, candle light, gas light, acetylene, 

 &c. Here we have a collection of notes by numerous 

 workers, all of whom have secured some interesting 

 pictures by one or other of these methods. As before, 

 the reader is not left to gather his ideas from the text 

 alone, but is introduced to some interesting pictures 

 with notes describing under what conditions they 

 were taken. This number also contains an account 

 by the editor of the pictorial work of J. C. Warburg, 

 with a reproduction of many of his most typical 

 photographs. 



_ These three numbers thus form a welcome addi- 

 tion to those previously published, and will certainly 

 be appreciated by those workers to whom they 

 specially appeal. 



Introduction to the Study of Organic Chemistry. Bv 



John Wade, D.Sc. (Lond.). " New and enlarged 



edition. Pp. xx + 646. (London : Swan Sonnen- 



schein and Co., Ltd., 1905.) Price 85. 6d. net. 



The fact that the present volume has reached its 



second edition points to the public appreciation of 



Dr. Wade's book. This is not surprising. 



The arrangement of the subjects bears evidence of 

 the author's thought, and the immense number of 

 facts compiled speaks eloquently of his industry. 



There are several novel features to which the author 

 directs . attention in the preface, and which possess 

 certain merits. There is no doubt that charts or 

 surveys, which serve to show, in a condensed form, 

 the relation of a variety of compounds, are an aid to 

 lli- mi mory, and the author has introduced them 



freeh . 



The principle of making a thorough studv of a 

 single common substance like ethyl alcohol and then 

 dealing with its more important derivatives before 

 thrusting the student into the tangle of homologous 

 series has very much to recommend it. 



Perhaps the title of the book is a little misleading. 

 One would be inclined to suppose that a student who 



NO. 1886, VOL 73] 



was familiar with these 624 pages of closely printed 

 matter might be regarded as a well informed organic 

 chemist ; but he has only an introductory knowledge. 

 We must express our respect for those who have 

 passed beyond this " introduction," whilst others who 

 may be examined in the information required by Dr. 

 Wade's introductory standard demand our sympathy. 

 The illustrations exhibit rather too plainly the defects 

 of photography applied to glass apparatus, though 

 they possess a realistic character which may appeal 

 to the student. We are glad to notice the author's 

 respect for the traditional spelling of the word radical. 



J. B. C. 

 The Romance of Insect Life. Interesting Descriptions 



of the Strange and Curious in the Insect World. 



By Edmund Selous. With twenty-one illustrations 



by Lancelot Speed and Carton Moore Park. Pp. 



352. (London: Seeley and Co., Ltd., 1906.) 

 The letterpress consists of a series of extracts, 

 derived from a variety of sources, relating to ants, 

 termites, locusts, butterflies, water-insects, fireflies, 

 scorpions, &c. , connected together by general observ- 

 ations on all kinds of subjects. Occasionally the 

 compiler's remarks on the senses of insects or on 

 mimicry are worthy of notice, but they are frequently 

 in bad taste and often inaccurate, which is not sur- 

 prising, as we are constantly told that he is only- 

 quoting his data second-hand, and has not seen the 

 original records. 



This is a pretty book, but otherwise we regret 

 that we have little to say in its praise. The author 

 suggests that the genus of grasshoppers called 

 " Scudderia " were so named because they " scud," 

 though Scudder's name is actually referred to on 

 the opposite page. As an illustration of style and in- 

 accuracy we may quote the following : — " From 1778 

 to 1780 a dreadful curse of locusts, alluded to by 

 Soutliey in his 'Curse of Kehama, ' — or perhaps form- 

 ing the subject of that poem — I really don't know — 

 fell upon the Empire of Morocco." There are tivo 

 lines relating to locusts in the "Kehama," and it 

 is " Thalaba " in which they are noticed at greater 

 length. 



There are really only sixteen page illustrations, some 

 of them being double — i.e. divided in the middle, and 

 thus making up the twenty-one of the title-page. 



Most of our scientific men must be very far behind 

 other people, for Mr. Selous tells us, " Everybody 

 knows nowadays how all the different species of 

 animals and plants, living and extinct, have come 

 into existence," &c, &c. 



Errors in Latin names abound, the worst being 

 Orthoptera for Ornithoptera wherever it occurs. It 

 is a pity that a book intended to popularise natural 

 history should not have been more carefully written 

 and edited. It almost looks as if the compiler thought 

 anything would be good enough for his prospective 

 readers. 

 The Art and Practice of Laundry Work for .\liideuh 



and Teachers. By Margaret Cuthbert Rankin. 



Pp. 191. (London : Blackie and Son, Ltd., 1905.) 



Price 2S. 6d. 

 There is little that is scientific in this book ; it gives 

 the impression, indeed, that even the teachers of 

 laundry work are guided bv empirical rules. It should 

 lie possible to inculcate the broad scientific principles 

 upon which the art and practice are based while 

 teaching girls how to do their laundry-work success- 

 fully. The washing of clothes, and the other pro- 

 cesses through which they pass in the laundry, would 

 then not be matters of rule of thumb, but intelligent 

 applications of scientific principles In particular 

 purposes. 



