2iS 



NA TURE 



[January 4, 1906 



must have been added as an afterthought, as these 

 pumps do not appear in the table of contents or in 

 the list of plates. This volume should prove valuable 

 in guiding persons requiring pumping machinery, 

 both in the choice of the pump best suited to their 

 requirements, and as to the firms from whom they 

 can be purchased. 



The third volume deals with the machinery em- 

 ployed in the various processes involved in the manu- 

 facture of coal-gas, such as the handling of coal, 

 retorts, stoking, the removal of coke, condensers, ex- 

 hausters, washer-scrubbers, purifiers, gasholders, and 

 various gas appliances, with the names of the prin- 

 cipal makers; but some of the subjects are referred to 

 in a very cursory manner, two pages only being given, 

 for instance, to water-gas plant, and also to the very 

 important economic question of bye-products. The 

 descriptions are illustrated by one hundred and thirteen 

 views of plant and machinery; and following the 

 principle adopted in the earlier volumes, a classified 

 list of British gas-engineering literature is added at 

 the end of the book, and also of British manufacturers 

 of gasworks' plant and machinery, occupying re- 

 spectivelv eleven and twenty-eight pages, amounting 

 to two-fifths of the text of the book. The author holds 

 very optimistic views as to the future of the gas in- 

 dustry, which he considers are borne out by the re- 

 markable success of the recent Gas Exhibition at 

 Earl's Court, and which, in spite of frequent gloomj 

 prophecies of the injurious influence on it of the de- 

 velopment of electric lighting, has more than doubled 

 itself in the last twenty years. 



Everything has been done on the publishers' part to 

 render these volumes attractive, by very well repro- 

 duced illustrations, unusually large and wide-spaced 

 print, good paper, neat binding, and a moderate price; 

 and they may reasonably be expected to be very 

 useful, from a commercial point of view, in making 

 the scope and efficiency of British manufactures and 

 machinery more fully known in the colonies and 

 foreign countries, and thereby extending the range of 

 British trade and engineering. 



.1 STANDARD ATLAS OF ENGLAND AND 

 WALES. 

 The Survey Atlas of England and Wales. .1 Series 

 of 84 Plates of Maps and Pla)is, with Descriptive 

 Text, illustrating the Topography, Physiography, 

 Geology, Climate, and the Political and Commercial 

 Features of the Country. Designed by and pre- 

 pared under the direction of J. G. Bartholomew. 

 (The Edinburgh Geographical Institute, 1903.) 

 Price 2j guineas. 



THIS sumptuous volume, which began to be issued 

 in parts in 1903, is a credit to all concerned 

 with its publication. Mr. Bartholomew and the 

 Royal Geographical Society are to be congratulated 

 on adding a work of great beauty as well as of 

 scientific merit to the resources of all who have to 

 study England and Wales. These are a majority ol 

 the thoughtful members of the community, for " know 

 thy country " is a maxim next in importance in the 



no. 1888, vol. 73] 



modern world to "know thyself." A work which 

 concentrates in one volume the materials For a close 

 Study of its surface anatomy and human settlements 

 and routes, as well as a general survey of its re- 

 sources and activities, is a precious possession, which 

 will increase in value as years pass, for it is the most 

 condensed, yet clear and precise, summary of certain 

 aspects of the material condition of England and 

 Wales at the beginning of the twentieth century which 

 the future historian will find within reasonable com- 

 pass. What would present historians not give for 

 similar records of the England of past centuries/ 



The present work may be divided into four parts : 

 (1) general geographical maps; (2) detailed topo- 

 graphical maps; (3) town plans; and (4) text and 

 tallies. 



(1) The general maps are more complete than in 

 any other atlas, although most of them have be n 

 published previously in another form. The first plate, 

 the oro-bathymetrical map, is a new one, and contains 

 names for the outstanding features of the land which 

 may be regarded as at least semi-official. They wive 

 selected by Dr. Mill and Messrs. Chisholm and 

 Mackinder at the request of the Royal Geographical 

 Society. It is convenient to have such a set of names, 

 and undoubtedly the greater number, even of those 

 which are new or have had an extended significance 

 given to them, will be generally accepted. There are, 

 however, one or two exceptions. The term gap, 

 which has been familiarised to us in recent years, 

 more particularly in American writings, can hardly 

 be applied to the broad lowland between Wales and 

 the Pennines, though it may be used for the valleys 

 of the Tyne and Aire, which afford narrow but easy 

 routes across the Pennines. Norfolk Edge and East 

 Anglian Ridge are other terms which seem to imply 

 more pronounced topographical features than they 

 represent. The Vale of Pickering seems unduly ex- 

 tended into that of York. We fail to discover any 

 very clear rule as to what features should and 

 should not be named. We find the Vale of York, 

 but not the Wale of Trent or Severn; the Yale of 

 Taunton, but not of Pewsey. While it is a pity that 

 something more systematic and complete has not been 

 attempted, some of the names are distinctly happy 

 and will remain. 



The geological map is unfortunately on a smaller 

 scale than that in the companion " Atlas oi Scotland," 

 and hardlv shows sufficient detail unless for the 

 country south of London, which is shown on an inset. 

 A smaller scale map illustrates the distribution oi 

 old, young, and coal-bearing rocks and iron centres. 

 It is ,lear, but coal and iron are shown in greatei 

 detail on a map of mineral products which comes 

 later. .Maps of vegetation, lands in pasture or in 

 crops, afford material for a long chapter in geography 

 and economies. The nexl two sheets show maps of 

 monthlv and annual rainfall and temperature, driest 

 and wettest months, the annual range of temperature, 

 and the annual temperature not reduced for altitude. 

 The subsequent two sheets depict the railways in 

 black, the spheres of influence of the various com- 

 panies being shown by different tints. We welcome 



