SEPTEMBER 28, 1916] 
NATURE 
67 
Even genius must begin its scientific career 
with education; and facilities for education, which 
include the beginnings of research, afford an 
opportunity for discouraging genius that is not in 
line with national prejudice. Science cannot dis- 
regard the prejudices of men of science, and. these 
essays show to what disastrous conditions the 
neglect of that fact has led. 
While we in this country were priding ourselves 
upon our institutions for higher education untram- 
melled by any consideration except money, and the 
petty rivalries of corporate bodies, without any 
formal co-ordination or collective responsibility 
for meeting the country’s requirements, the Ger- 
man State provided ample facilities for education 
which necessarily attracted students from all 
countries not so well provided—our own, France, 
the United States, Japan, and everywhere else. 
Like the French, we regarded these facilities as 
an admirable example of magnanimous self- 
interest and public spirit. We have made a mis- 
take; and our national educational authority, 
when we get one, would do well to take note of 
the contribution to the history of science which 
these nine-and-twenty brief essays provide. 
STAR-BEARINGS FOR NIGHT-MARCHING. 
(1) Steering by the Stars for Night-flying, Night- 
marching, and Night Boat-work between Lati- 
_ tude 40° N. and 60° N. With Sketch-maps and 
Directions for finding the Selected Stars. By 
Gewie D. White. Pp. 32.. (London: J..D. 
Potter, n.d.) Price 1s. 
(2) The Stars as Guides for Night-marching in 
North Latitude 50°. By E. Walter Maunder. 
Pp. 72. (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1916.) 
Price 2s. net. 
Meeet persons who spend any considerable 
time out in the open during the night not 
only may at times admire the splendour of the 
vault of heaven on a clear night, but also learn to 
recognise the principal features of stellar distribu- 
tion, and even gain familiarity with the effects of 
the diurnal and annual apparent motions. Such 
first-hand knowledge may perhaps be somewhat 
vague, but a little tuition can render it precise 
and useful. The necessities of the present time 
have emphasised one practical application. The 
heavens encircle the sky-line as with a vast com- 
pass-card that with a little skill he who runs may 
read. We have before us two little books, both 
written with the identical intention of facilitating 
the employment of this compass. The only difh- 
culty arises in middle latitudes from the rotation 
of what is termed in old books the oblique sphere. 
This difficulty is surmounted in both in the same 
way, namely, that recently ‘advocated by Lieut.- 
Col. Tilney, which requires that the progressive 
true bearings of a few selected conspicuous stars 
shall be provided. The two books present the 
data very differently. 
(1) In “Steering by the Stars” the true bear- 
ings are tabulated for twenty guide stars for five 
NO. 2448, VOL. 98] 
different latitudes, and for each hour of sidereal 
time linked to G.M.T. by.an auxiliary table. The 
bearings are given in whole degrees clockwise 
from N=o° to 360°. By some curious accident 
the bearing of Spica at setting is twice given 
incorrectly (pp. 17 and 23). The sketch-maps 
showing the selected stars are too small to 
be useful, but probably those whom this very 
practical book may assist already know the 
stars. 
(2) In “The Stars as Guides” the data, pre-. 
pared solely for latitude 50° N. and referred to 
local time, are introduced in descriptive text, 
gathered in tables, and, again, shown in map, 
form, always subdivided in a way to help assimi- 
lation. Separate tables for the eight chief com- 
pass bearings give the day of the month for each 
hour of the night at which the guide stars come 
on the bearing. The twenty-four maps are the 
chief feature of the book. The stars are boldly 
shown in white on a black ground, plotted on 
bearings (both compass-card and angular). The 
year is divided into six bi-monthly periods on six 
series of maps. Each series contains four maps 
showing the stars in the N., E., S., and W. The 
apparent paths of sixteen guide stars are repre- 
sented, with hourly positions marked. The use 
of the maps is straightforward and is explained . 
on one page of the book. We have noticed only 
a single slip. Aldebaran is not at the point of 
the Hyades. 
The theory is simple; accidents of topography 
are complications even on the best starlit 
nights. There is no doubt that a continent might 
be crossed with the aid of the stars, but a night- 
march from, let us say, Balham to Fulham might 
be fraught with unpleasant surprises if sole re- 
liance were placed on stellar guidance. 
H. E. Goopson. 
GENERAL CHEMISTRY. 
(1) A Senior Experimental Chemistry. 
A. E. Dunstan and Dr. F. B. Thole. 
By Dr. 
Pp. xiii+ 
522. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1916.) 
Price 5s. : 
(2) A Class-book of Chemistry. By G. C. Don- 
ington. Part iv., Metals. Pp. vii+4or to’534. 
(London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1916.) 
Price 2s. 
(3) Physical Chemistry for Schools. By Dr., 
Henry Hortsman Fenton. Pp. viii+215. 
(Cambridge: At the University Press, 1916.) 
Price 3s. 6d. net. 
(1) Gare another text-book of inorganic chemis- 
try! This one is intended for “boys in 
the upper forms of secondary schools and students 
in technical institutes.” It will be found’ useful 
by many others also. It is difficult nowadays to 
present a systematic course of inorganic and 
general chemistry with any novelty, nor is the 
ground covered by the present book very different 
from that covered by others. What is charac- 
teristic is the experimental nature of the treat- 
