NOVEMBER 9, 1916] 
OUR BOOKSHELF. 
Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening. By P. H. 
Rolfs. Pp. xviiit+309. (New York: The 
Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and 
Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price 6s. 6d. net. 
Tue Rural Science Series, under the able editor- 
ship of Prof. L. H. Bailey, enjoys a deserved 
reputation for the high standard of excellence 
reached by its constituent volumes, and the one 
before us is no exception in this respect. Those 
whose lot is cast in the hotter parts of the world 
ought to be grateful to Mr. Rolfs for his practical 
and sensible work on subtropical vegetable grow- 
ing. The author is the director of the experi- 
mental station of Florida. In America the ex- 
ploitation of the land is looked on as a proposition 
of chief importance, and much enterprise, brains, 
and money are devoted to the solution of the multi- 
farious problems that confront the cultivator. 
Although Mr. Rolfs’s book is designed primarily 
to meet the needs of the Florida people, it will be 
found, none the less, of great use in other parts 
of the tropical and subtropical belts, and the sug- 
gestive way in which difficulties of all kinds are 
indicated and disposed of should render it good 
reading to the dwellers of temperate zones as well. 
The chapter on irrigation is an example to the 
point, for the water-question is certain to turn up 
in one form or another in all gardens, wherever 
they may be situated. The present writer has 
seen something like the subterranean methods of 
irrigation there described applied with remarkable 
results, even in this country. The cultural notes 
respecting the different vegetables are good, and 
the hints as to suitable manures, as well as the 
accounts of the various pests likely to be 
encountered, will be useful. In fact, the author 
is able to draw on a wealth of experience and 
knowledge which is at his disposal as head of an 
important experimental station, and we have no 
hesitation in cordially recommending the book to 
all whom it may concern, and furthermore in con- 
gratulating the author on the skill with which he 
has discharged his part of the matter. 
Earliest Man. By F. W. H. Migeod. Pp. xii+ 
133. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 
Ltd., 1916.) Price 3s. 6d. net. 
THESE are the musings and observations of one 
who has had long experience of life among primi- 
tive men and wild animals. While resident in 
the Gold Coast Colony the author not only 
devoted himself with well-known success to the 
study of the native languages, but was also 
a keen and thoughtful observer of the various 
tribes and their environment. He is, therefore, 
well equipped by first-hand knowledge for making 
suggestions as to the manner in which the earliest 
men may have gradually acquired the various 
habits and manifestations of intellect which dis- 
tinguished them from their ape-like ancestors. 
Mr. Migeod assumes that “if a creature of 
some species low in the scale of evolution can 
perform certain acts tending to operate on in- 
animate nature, another creature no lower, such 
NO. 2454, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
189 
as Pre-man, cannot be denied the possession of 
the same capacity. Further, if there are natural 
occurrences which can cause lower species to act 
out of their usual habits, and evince undoubtedly 
new mental activities, the same potential capacity 
must also be allowed in the case of Pre-man.” 
He then discusses in order the possible origin of 
man’s primary instincts, the making of imple- 
ments, the use of fire, the beginning of speech, 
and his special social organisation, with the dawn 
of religion. He concludes with an interesting 
observation that when an ordinary monkey dies in 
the forest, the rest of the troop simply leaves the 
corpse and abandons the place, at least for a 
time; while when an ape such as a chimpanzee 
dies, its companions drop the body into a hole 
in the ground if one can be found, and in any 
case cover it with a great heap of sticks and 
branches. 
Some of Mr. Migeod’s conceptions of the laws 
and causes of organic evolution will by no means 
commend themselves to those who are accustomed 
to approach the subject from a wider point of 
view, but the novelty of the circumstances in 
which his little book was written makes it stimu- 
lating and interesting. A. So WwW: 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 
opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 
can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 
the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 
this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 
taken of anonymous communications.] 
A Nomenclature for ‘‘ Resistance Derivatives.”’ 
Ir is evident from Mr. Bairstow’s National Physical 
Laboratory papers that the notion of ‘resistance de- 
rivatives” is likely to play. a permanent part in the 
experimental study of aeroplane motions, as well as 
in the theoretical rigid dynamics associated with them. 
It therefore becomes important to have a uniform 
nomenclature for these quantities which shall be in- 
dependent of the choice of axes, and thus free from 
any possible ambiguity or source of difficulty. 
The following names are used by Mr. Bairstow to 
distinguish the quantities depending on translation 
and rotation respectively :— 
Translational. Rotational. 
Longitudinal. Rolling. 
Normal. Yawing. 
Lateral. Pitching. 
Now, it will be found that a possible word of four 
letters can be made by combining the first two letters 
of any one of these names with the first two of any 
other, and such words are not more objectionable than 
nine-tenths of the names that are introduced to cover 
new inventions. The nine resistance derivatives for 
the longitudinal oscillations will then be designated as 
follows :— 
Lolo Lono Lopi. 
Nolo Nono Nopi. 
Pilo Pino Pipi. 
While the names of the lateral derivatives will be :— 
Lala Laro Laya. 
Rola ~ Roro Roya. 
Yala Yaro 
Yaya. 
