» 



March 2, 1899] 



NA TURE 



41. 



whether half-a-dozen travellers stray into this area in the 

 course of a season. 



Though the book is good throughout, some regions 

 seem to lend themselves more conveniently to topo- 

 graphical treatment than others. Or it may be that a 

 subtle attractiveness in some countries has not been 

 without its influence upon both author and editor. If it 

 be permissible to discriminate, we would mention the 

 chapters devoted to the Dauphine Alps and to the 

 Graians as masterpieces of topographical description, 

 as models of what they should be. At the same time, 

 an occasional omission must be noted. A good deal of 

 space is devoted to the Grivola, but no hint is given of 

 the wonderful nature of the ascent by the south-west face 

 from Valsavaranche — an ascent which cannot fail to 

 impress the traveller as one of the most remarkable in 

 the .Alps. And there is the less excuse for this omission, 

 as space is wasted by a wholly uncalled for foot-note 

 (p. 307J, in which Mr. Coolidge explains that Ball is too 

 enthusiastic in his description of this mountain, as seen 

 from the eastern edge of the Trajo glacier. "Remark- 

 ably stumpy and unimpressive" are Mr. Coolidge's 

 words — to us, after several visits to the spot, the very 

 reverse seems the truth, and we take our stand with 

 I'.all. 



In conclusion, there are numerous ways in which Mr. 

 Coolidge earns our gratitude. Every altitude quoted is 

 given both in feet and metres, a luxury which the climber 

 will not fail to appreciate. Then there is an exhaustive 

 bibliography, and the index is more than satisfactory. 

 Nor has he been unmindful of the historical associations 

 which cling to the mountains. Old traditions, topo- 

 graphical fables, the early ascents of the Fathers of 

 Mountaineering — all these and many kindred subjects 

 are genially yet critically unfolded in the pages of this 

 book. It is hardly necessary to say that blood-curd- 

 ling stories of Alpine misadventure find no place here. 

 The introduction of six new district maps, on a scale i in 

 250,000, specially prepared for the work, also demands 

 recognition. These are unusually clear and easy to use, 

 whilst the circumstances under which they have been 

 prepared are a sufficient guarantee as to their accuracy. 

 The botanical notes, which occur constantly throughout 

 the pages of the original, have been retained, and addi. 

 tions have been made to them. It may be mentioned 

 that the "general introduction" is not included with 

 this volume ; it is to be issued independently in the 

 immediate future. F. W. O. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Psychology in Ihe School-room. By T. F. G. Dexter and 

 A. H. Garlick. Pp. viii 4-413. (London : Longmans, 

 Green, and Co., 1898.) 



The authors describe their book in the preface as an 

 "attempt to apply the laws of mental and moral science 

 to school work." If we can hardly look upon the result 

 of this attempt as an unqualified success, it is because 

 Messrs. Dexter and Garlick are by no means as well 

 acquainted with the principles of " mental and moral 

 science " as they evidently are with the practical require- 

 ments of the school- room. .A psychologist who comes to 

 them solely for practical hints as to methods of teaching, 



NO. 153 I, VOL. 59] 



will find much that is suggestive in their treatment of 

 their subject ; but we should hardly recommend a teacher 

 who wishes to acquire a sound, even if elementary, know- 

 ledge of psychology to take them as his guides. It 

 would, indeed, hardly be going too far to say that 

 " Psychology in the .School-rnom ' is a treatise written by 

 persons who know little psychology for readers who know 

 less. Partly this is due to mere defects of information. 

 Thus the account of the " muscular sense," on p. 63 ft'., 

 must have been written in ignorance of the important 

 researches, fully described in so accessible a work as 

 James's " Principles of Psychology," which have pro- 

 foundly modified our estimate of the psychological 

 significance of these once-vaunted sensations. The 

 account of space-perception given in the same chapter, 

 again totally ignores the "nativistic" doctrine of such 

 eminent authorities as Hering, Stumpf, and James. It 

 may be, as the authors say (p. 81), that "distance is 

 inferred, not seen " ; but, in the present state of the 

 controversy, it is a gross piece of presumption to make 

 the statement without explaining that it is denied by many 

 of the best modern authorities. Still more unfortunate is 

 the habitual inaccuracy and vagueness of the writers' 

 terminology. They tell us, for instance, repeatedly, that 

 " vibrations " of ether, air, &c., are transmitted to the brain, 

 and there "interpreted" by the mind as sensations of 

 colour, sound, &c. This is, of course, fiction, and fiction 

 of the most misleading kind ; as we are never aware of 

 the "vibrations" at all, it is nonsense to call the 

 sensations, to which they serve as physical antecedents, 

 "interpretations" of them. The way in which, in the 

 chapter on " judgment," judgment is said on one and 

 the same page to be a "higher" process than conception, 

 and to be already involved in conception, the very similar 

 way in which in the following chapter definition is spoken 

 of, first, as having to do with " words," then as concerned 

 with " things," then once more as of " names," the double 

 treatment of what are essentially the same facts, once in 

 Chapter viii., under the head of " Association," and again 

 in Chapter xiii., under the title of " Apperception," are a 

 few instances, from among many, of the authors' inability 

 to form consistent views of their subject, and to express 

 those views with precision. Such looseness of thought 

 and language is intolerable in any work, however 

 elementary, that professes to describe the principles of a 

 science. A. E. T. 



Physical Chemistry for Begi/mers. By Ch. M. van 

 Deventer. Translated by R. A. Lehfeldt. Pp. xvi 

 -H 146. (London : Arnold.) 



In a preface written by Prof. J. H. van 't Hoft' the object 

 of this work is stated to be the presentation of physical 

 chemistry to medical students in such a fashion as to 

 avoid putting their physical and mathematical accom- 

 plishments to too severe a proof. The fundamental laws 

 of combination are dealt with concisely and clearly, 

 prominence being given to the experimental basis for 

 each law. Chemical formukc, however, are introduced 

 so abruptly into the second chapter, that it is clearly the 

 author's intention that the remarks given are to be con- 

 sidered as supplementary only, either to lectures or a 

 text-book of systematic chemistry. The succeeding 

 chapters deal with the behaviour of gases, thermo- 

 chemistry, solutions, photo-chemistry, and the periodic 

 system. In the chapter on the properties of gases, 

 normal temperature and pressure are defined as 15' C. 

 and 760 mm. of mercury, although later on in the same 

 chapter the more usual o' C. and 760 mm. are frequently 

 used. The definition of atomic weight as obtainable 

 from the experimental results is very clearly stated, an 

 uncommon feature in an elementary text-book. The 

 section dealing with thermo-chemistry occupies one-half 



