446 
NATURE 
[FeBRuaRY 8, 1917 _ 
tect’s drawing of a wrought-iron lock in Bedding- 
ton Manor House. Both were made for the pur- 
pose of record; the differences are surprising, 
and the superiority of the photograph is obvious 
at a glance, and still more so on a detailed 
examination, 
Those who have not considered the matter 
would be surprised at the variety of subjects that 
are dealt with. The following is a table of the 
“main classes” given, each of which is to be 
interpreted very broadly :—Topography, art, litera- 
ture, geology, paleontology, zoology, botany, horti- 
culture and agriculture, architecture, antiquities, 
meteorology, passing events; and space is left 
for other classes. : 
Although the work is as yet only in its early 
stages, about fifty thousand photographs have been 
deposited and catalogued for reference in various 
public libraries and museums. The authors give 
as complete details as they have been able to obtain 
of the extent of the work which has alréady been 
done and is now going forward, with the methods 
adopted in various places for classifying and stor- 
ing the records, and many.valuable suggestions 
as to ways of popularising the work (for so far 
it has been done almost entirely by amateurs as a 
labour of love). They treat also of those little 
differences in manipulation that add much to the 
value of the record and little, if anything, to the 
trouble of making. it, such as the indication of the 
scale of the photograph, the time of day, etc. 
We recommend a study of the volume not only 
to those who are already interested in record 
work, but to photographers in general, whether 
professional or amateur. Gy J. 
OUR BOOKSHELF. 
Fertilizers. By the late Prof. E. B. Voorhees. 
Revised edition by Prof. J. H. Voorhees. 
Pp. xv+365. (New York: The Macmillan 
Co. ; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1916.) 
Price 6s. 6d. net. 
Tue first edition of this book was issued in 1898; 
since then it has been reprinted no fewer than 
sixteen times, and now it is revised by Prof. 
J. H. Voorhees and re-issued. The second edition 
is rather larger than the first, but not much, 
the subject-matter having been left very much as 
it was before, with a few additions to bring the 
book up to date. Thus, some illustrations have 
been added which increase the interest of the 
book, and a new chapter has been put in on farm- 
yard manure and green manuring. 
The treatment is general rather than special, 
and only few references to original papers or bul- 
letins are given. We think this ought to be 
remedied; even an elementary student ought to 
be put into touch with the sources from which 
the information «presented to him is derived. 
Modern books show an increasing tendency in 
this direction, which, of course, is wholly good. 
Some of the newer work is not dealt with as 
one would like, the treatment of the new syn- 
thetic nitrogenous fertilisers, calcium cyanamide 
NO. 2467, VOL. 98] 
and calcium nitrate, being very brief. Further, 
the only mineral phosphates described are those 
of the United States; no mention is made of such 
important substances as Gafsa phosphate or 
Algerian phosphate. In the chapter on farmyard 
manure, also, we note that gypsum, rock phos- 
phate, kainit, and acid phosphate are all recom- 
mended as conserving agents, although many 
experiments have shown that their action is very 
small. 
One other point ought to be remedied: the 
factors for converting nitrogen into ammonia, etc., 
are given to four places of decimals; two are 
usually sufficient, and more than three are never 
wanted. 
The book retains its distinguishing features and 
will no doubt prove helpful to the type of student 
who used the previous edition. 
Australia. By Prof. J. W. Gregory. Pp. 156.. 
(Cambridge: At the University Press, 1916.) 
Price 1s. 3d. net. 
AUSTRALIA is sometimes represented as a fringe 
of inhabitable land round a useless desert, with 
a stagnant population, an easily exhausted soil, 
a national debt of more than 601. a head—in sum, 
as a country tending to inevitable bankruptcy 
under the incompetent rule of envious demagogues- 
Such is the view of Australia which Prof. J. W. 
Gregory has found |jttle difficulty in proving un- 
tenable in this small book. Within its limited 
compass he has provided considerable informa- 
tion; for example, in the case of Western Aus- 
tralia he shows that the rainier half of that State 
has already been settled by pastoralists, and con- 
tains a rich cattle-breeding country; again, in a 
convincing chapter on the Government of Aus- 
tralia, he shows that the Labour Party in Australia 
is misunderstood in Britain, and is led by capable 
statesmen. With reference to the policy of 
“White Australia,” it is demonstrated that the 
employment of white labour to displace the 
Kanakas—one of the most daring of all Australian 
industrial experiments—has resulted in consider- 
able progress in the cultivation of sugar-canes in 
Queensland. 
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.] 
The Aurora, Magnetic Storm, and Sun-spot of 
January 4. P 
Tue Aurora Borealis of January 4, 1917, described 
by Mr. Denning and Dr. Rambaut in Nature of 
January 18, was also observed by Mr. Alfrel Noél 
Neate, at Carlisle. He has kindly sent me the 
following description of the display :—‘‘I observed a 
very great display of aurora on Thursday evening, 
January 4. The principal display was observed by me 
at about 10.45 p.m., but I had seen a lesser one at 
5-45 p-m. Notwithstanding the advanced phase of 
the moon, the whole northern half of the hemisphere 
