January 4, 1906] 



NA TURE 



We find no mention in chapter vii. — " Haulage " — 

 of Koppel's hvdroleum steam locomotive, which is in 

 use at some mines in Great Britain and elsewhere 

 for underground haulage, and deserves to be better 

 known. A io-horse-power locomotive costs 2S5Z., and 

 burns on an average iA gallons an hour of crude 

 petroleum, which can be bought for 3d. a gallon. 

 Acetylene hand lamps (p. 544) are also used at some 

 of the mines in Great Britain, while one mine at 

 least has had its pass-byes illuminated for years by 

 30-candle-power acetylene burners supplied from a 

 small generating plant. 



We would warn the mining student not to make . 

 pilgrimage to the Frongoch Mine, mentioned more 

 than once, as, unfortunately, the whole of the fine 

 electrical and dressing plant has passed under the 

 auctioneer's hammer and been dismantled. 



The amount of accurate and up-to-date information 

 contained in this volume is enormous. No mining 

 student at home can afford to neglect it, and it is a 

 library in itself to mining engineers who go abroad. 



The Useful Plants of the Island of Guam. Bv \Y. E. 

 Safford. Pp. 416. (Washington: Government 

 Printing Office, 1905.) 



Diking the last few years there has been a remark- 

 able advance in the application of scientific knowledge 

 to the cultivation of economic products, and as a result 

 there has arisen a demand for authoritative books pro- 

 viding accurate and recent information. The Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in the United States of America 

 has taken the lead with its useful series of bulletins 

 of an eminently practical nature. In addition there is 

 need of handbooks, similar to this volume by Mr. 

 Safford, which give a comprehensive account of the 

 products of a country or colony. Dr. Watt's dic- 

 tionary of the economic products of India is a monu- 

 mental compilation dealing with an area that embraces 

 tropical, subtropical, and mountainous regions, and 

 describes not only indigenous products, but another 

 fifty per cent, of introduced plants; in its present 

 form, size and cost preclude its general use, although 

 it is a valuable work of reference. 



The island of Guam, about 100 miles in circum- 

 ference, is the largest of the Ladrone or Marianne 

 Islands, and passed into the possession of the Ameri- 

 cans alter the late war, while the rest of the islands 

 were sold by Spain to Germany. The author had 

 many opportunities of studying the islanders and 

 different parts of the island, and made excellent use of 

 this advantage, so (hat his information is the result 

 of personal observation and inquirv. The introduc- 

 tion, forming nearly half the book, contains a general 

 account of the history, physical conditions, vegetation, 

 fauna, and ethnology, while in the second part is 

 given an alphabetical list of plants with vernacular 

 names and descriptions. Mr. Safford formed a verv 

 favourable opinion of the islanders. Agriculture is 

 universally pursued, and even the artificers leave their 

 trade from time to time to attend to the rancho. 

 Maize is the principal food crop, rice is grown, but not 

 in sufficient quantity to supply the demand, and taro 

 and yams are cultivated as well as tobacco. Coffee is 

 grown round most of the habitations, requiring little 

 attention, and plantains and bread-fruit thrive luxuri- 

 ously. Although copra provides the only article of 

 export, the number of economic plants that are indi- 

 genous or have been introduced is exceedinglv large, 

 so that the list of plants and the information provided 

 would be useful in many tropical countries. Of fibre- 

 yielding plants twenty-three are recorded, including 

 pine-apple, ramie, kapok, cocoa-nut, plantain, Manila 



no. 1888, vol. 73] 



hemp, Sida and a Pandanus, but the most valued plant 

 is Hibiscus tiliaceus, from which the natives make alL 

 their cordage and cables. The island will produce 

 plentv of citrus and other fruits, and several farin- 

 aceous and oil-yielding plants were observed. The 

 book is lavishly supplied with excellent illustrations 

 and the information is readily obtainable; in fact, the 

 volume supplies a good model for future compilations 

 of a similar nature, the main defect being a somewhat 

 unusual nomenclature, which does not, however, cause 

 any difficulty in the determination of the plants 

 referred to. 



The British Journal Photographic Almanac and 

 Photographer's Daily Companion for 1906. Edited 

 bv George E. Brown. (London: Henry Green- 

 wood and Co., 1905.) Price is. "net; is. 6d. 

 cloth. 

 The present issue of this year-book appears under the 

 direction of a new editor, Mr. G. E. Brown, but 

 the contents in no way suffer from this change. As 

 has always been the case, and still is, this work is 

 a compendium of everything pertaining to photo- 

 graphy, and the photographer would be at a loss il 

 he had not the volume near at hand for ready refer- 

 ence. Under the new guidance, the material brought 

 together is all that could be desired, and in ordei 

 that any particular portion of it can be looked up at 

 once there is a full " contents " and an elaborate 

 index. 



Other features of this annual consist in a capital 

 popular account of photographic copyright as it exists 

 to-dav, a most interesting and varied " epitome of 

 progress," being a survey, logically classified, of the 

 vear's labour in both technical and scientific photo- 

 graphy, and articles contributed by leading writers. 

 The directory of photographic societies, formulas for 

 the principal photographic processes, and other facts 

 have all been secured and brought up to date, render- 

 ing the volume indispensable to the busy photo- 

 grapher. 



Nature in Eastern Norfolk. By Arthur H. Patterson. 



Pp. vii + 352. (London: Methuen and Co., 1905. } 



Price 6s. 

 This book contains some very pleasant reading, for 

 Mr. Patterson is a born naturalist, and writes with 

 freshness and enthusiasm. Not the least interesting 

 chapter is the autobiographical one, in which the 

 author tells the story of his early passion for natural 

 history, his painful struggles to gratify it, and his 

 later misadventures, with much relish and humour. 

 We gather that he has at last settled down to a 

 homely life in his beloved native town, and hope that 

 he may long continue in it. The second chapter, 

 general observations on the fauna, is also very good 

 reading, and here the human species is well re- 

 presented by short but vigorous sketches of old punt- 

 gunners and bird-catchers. The rest of the book is 

 occupied with lists of birds, mammals, fishes, &c. ; 

 these naturally do not offer much that is new in a 

 district that has been so thoroughly worked as easl 

 Norfolk, but they are often enlivened by anecdotes 

 or personal reminiscences. The discovery of the black 

 rat (Mus rutins) as a common species in Yarmouth 

 is extremely interesting, and still more so is the 

 occurrence of a few specimens of .1/. alexandrinus , i(s 

 southern variety. Other contributions of Mr. Patter- 

 son to the natural history of the district are to be 

 found in these pages; most of them are already known 

 to members of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society. 



