28 



NA TURE 



[November io, 1898 



ational attractions in the same mass at different points 

 of tlie earth's surface. The account of the effect of the 

 flattening at the poles leaves much to be desired, and 

 the effect of centrifugal force is not even mentioned. 



.■\gain, on p. 21 we have "unit acceleration as in scien- 

 tific calculations, usually i centimetre per second. In 

 many practical calculations it is i foot per second." 

 Whatever may figure in practical calculations, it is cer- 

 tain that neither of these is scientifically an acceleration 

 at all. Also, though we have no wish to be hypercritical, 

 there is something quaint about the equation 

 " 150 X 25 = 3750 poundals. " 



When Mr. Biggs comes to electrical matters he is 

 happier. His descriptions of hydrostatic analogies may 

 help some readers, e.g. the inquiring town councillor, to 

 form an idea of " electrical pressure," though we fear the 

 notion may linger that it is really a kind of pressure. 



But when he gets to Ohm's Law, Mr. Biggs says, after 

 arriving at the result C k E R, "In the early part of this 

 century. Prof. Ohm proved more than this with steady 

 continuous currents, not only that C kE R ,but that 

 C = E R, or expressed numerically in practical units, 



amperes = y?l!5.-- How Prof. Ohm "proved" this Mr. 



ohms 

 Biggs has not divulged, and it would be interesting to 

 know. We had thought, innocently, that the equality of 

 C to E R was an affair of choice of units, and not of 

 proof at all. 



The cuts in the book are numerous, but, except a 

 few here and there, are badly printed. The figure, 

 on p. 185, of a long thin gentleman (in a rather modern 

 dress) e.xtended along a rod inside what looks like a stone 

 coffin several sizes too big for him, at first sight startled 

 us. Underneath, in black type, was the legend, '' A Stretch 

 of the Imagination " ! but this, we found, referred to the 

 following paragraph, which, curiously enough, deals with 

 elastic threads. 



The latter and really practical part of Mr. Biggs' book 

 may be of service to some readers. It contains a good 

 deal of useful information, conveyed in Mr. Biggs' genial, 

 if a little conscious, style. But we should counsel a 

 really earnest student, and especially a beginner, to 

 choose a te.\t-book in which a more serious attempt is 

 made to grapple with the real diflficulties of the subject. 

 Medical Diseases of Iti/anev and Childhood. By Dawson 



Williams, M.D., F.R.C'.P. (Lond.;, Physician to the 



East London Hospital for Children, Shadwell. Pp. 



xiv -I- 634. Plates 18 ; figures 18. (London : Cassell 



and Co., Ltd., 1898.) 

 The book before us, which is correctly described by the 

 author as a handbook, is intended "to act as a guide to 

 clinical study '•' to young practitioners of medicine, and 

 those who have not previously paid much attention to the 

 subject. .After introductory chapters treating of growth, 

 clinical examination and food, the author proceeds to 

 consider (he individual diseases of children, and to in- 

 dicate how the pathological processes, and their accom- 

 panying clinical phenomena, are different in children and 

 adults. It would, of course, be impossible in a short 

 notice like the present to give an account of the varied 

 and practical information contained in Dr. Williams's 

 book. Under the heading of diphtheria, the results of the 

 antitoxin treatment, as culled from the statistics of the 

 .Metropolitan Asylums Board and the .-\merican Pediatric 

 .Society, are given, the author rightly observing that the 

 statistical figures are actually less favourable than the 

 reality. The interesting subject of the effect of the anti- 

 toxin treatment upon the complications of diphtheria, so 

 often of such importance in children, is also discussed. 

 Cretinism and its treatment by administration of the 

 thyroid gland is considered. Hepatic disease in children, 

 often a subject of considerable difficulty to the practi- 

 tioner, is well treated. A list of prescriptions, a few 



NO. I 515. VOL. 59] 



invalid cooking receipts, and a good index conclude the 

 volume. The book will unquestionably be of use to the 

 general practitioner and the student, and, while not 

 capable of replacing the larger text books on the diseases 

 of children, will form a most valuable supplement to the 

 various treatises on general medicine. F. W. T. 



A Text-book of General Botany. By Carlton C. Curtis, 



A.>L, Ph.D., Tutor in Botany in Columbia University. 



Pp. viii -1- 359. i Xew York, London, and Bombay: 



Longmans, Green, and Co., 1897.) 

 Dr. Curtis has added another to the existing long list 

 of intermediate botanical text-books. His book is read- 

 able, and on the whole a fairly good one, and the number 

 of new illustrations it contains at once impress the reader 

 in its favour. Opening with a general account of anatomy, 

 he devotes the second chapter to physiology. But the 

 great bulk of the book (p. 87-340) is given up to system- 

 atic and morphological matters. A very short sketch of 

 paheobotany, together with an index, conclude the work. 

 The general treatment is based on the type system, and 

 Dr. Curtis has done well in showing how this much 

 abused method lends itself in reality very well to a 

 connected exposition of the taxonomic parts of botany. 

 Unfortunately, perhaps inevitably, the text is rather 

 scrappy in many places, although this is partly atoned 

 for by the fulness of the many laboratory exercises 

 which are distributed through the book. 



We have noticed a rather considerable number of 

 misprints scattered through the pages ; these will doubt- 

 less disappear in a future edition, which is almost sure to 

 be called for, since the book, if used as an adjunct to the 

 laboratory in the sense intended by its author, supplies 

 a distinctly felt need for a guide suitable for intermediate 

 students. 



Domestic Hv^ene. By Arnold W. Williams, M.B. 



CM. (Edin.), D.P.H.'(Lond.). Pp.175. (London: 



George Bell and Sons, 1898.) 

 The Teacher's Manital of Object Lessons in Domestic 



Economy. Vol. ii. By V'incent T. Murch^. Pp. viii 



-1-334. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 189S.) 

 Lessons in Domestic Science. Part ii. By Ethel R. 



Lush. Pp. 77. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 



189S.) 

 These three volumes all deal worthily with matters 

 included in the science of health, and they will all assist 

 in extending a knowledge of the laws of life. Dr. 

 Williams's manual contains the substance of lectures 

 delivered by the author at many rural and urban districts 

 on the causes and prevention of disease and co-related 

 subjects affecting the public health. The book will be 

 found of service to technical instruction classes and 

 others of a similar kind. 



Mr. Murche's book is "adapted to meet the require- 

 ments of the Education Department in the Class Subject 

 of Domestic Economy as laid down in the Code for 1898." 

 It contains notes and hints for teachers who have to teach 

 domestic economy to .Standards III. and \\ . of public 

 elementary schools. In the former standard, the children 

 are expected to know something of the materials used in 

 clothing and the materials used in washing ; in the latter 

 standard, they are taught simple facts concerning the use 

 and sources of food, the hygiene of clothes, and laundry- 

 work. Mr. Murche's books have all been received by 

 favour with teachers engaged in elementary schools, and 

 the present volume will doubtless have the same welcome 

 extended to it. 



Domestic science is a new subject recently adopted by 

 the Education Department. It diflfers from domestic 

 economy in the fact that principles rather than processes 

 are dealt with. The parts of the subject included in Miss 

 Lush's booklet refer to the functions and preparation of 

 food, and the dwelling. .-X course such as t provides 

 educates as well as interests the pupils. 



