342 
of a spiral spring occur the following :—“ What quanti- 
ties included among the above results are stresses and 
what are strains? State the relation between the elonga- 
tion of the spiral and the stretching force. Does it 
appear that the elasticity of the spiral is perfect? State 
the relation between the force of elasticity and the 
elongation ; also the relation between the elasticity of the 
spiral and the stretching force. State the relation be- 
tween the strain and the stress.” 
We like better the instruction given in regard to the 
performance of the selected experiments, much of which 
appears excellent and should prove very useful to the 
teacher. It is a school-book, and we therefore notice 
with pleasure an adequate paragraph on “significant 
figures” and another on the plotting of curves. The 
book, although a second edition, is by no means free from 
mistakes and obscurities, some of which will be briefly 
mentioned. The standard metre is not the one preserved 
in the Archives of Paris, but one of those at the Inter- 
national Bureau at Sévres. In connection with the 
barometer, ‘The same rise in temperature has caused 
the metal scale and tube to expand so that the observed 
height is too small.” The expansion of the tube does not 
matter. On p. 136 we find, ‘‘ Heat is a physical quantity 
in the same sense that force is a quantity,” while on p. 73 
it is stated that “force is not in itself a physical entity.” 
In the former, did the author mean “energy” in- 
stead of force? The signs in the formule for lenses 
on p. 185 are very confused. “It is important that the 
principal axis of the lens should lie parallel with the line 
joining the centres of object and image, and be as near 
to that line as possible” (p. 186). Page 193, explanatory 
of electric capacity, is bad ; while in the same chapter 
the phrase ‘“‘touch B to bring its charge to zero” occurs 
twice, when potential, not charge, is meant. Lines of 
magnetic force are said on p. 197 to form closed circuits 
through a magnet, although such a line has been defined 
as giving the direction in which a north pole would be 
urged. 
Such statements as these will mislead a teacher who 
is not very clear himself, and work the usual havoc. 
But a good man will receive a large number of useful 
hints from the book, and to such we commend it. 
A. W. P. 
The Journal of the Iron. and Steel Institute General 
Index. Vols. xxxvi.—lviii., 1890-1900. Edited by 
Bennett H. Brough, Secretary. Pp. 511. (London: 
E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd., 1902.) 
IT is impossible to over-estimate the value of collective 
indexes to the transactions of scientific societies as an aid 
to research. The new general index to the twenty-three 
octavo volumes of the Journal of the Iron and Steel 
Institute published during the years 1890 to 1900 in- 
clusive is of special value, inasmuch as it contains 
references, not only to the authors and subjects of papers 
contributed to the Institute, but also to those of papers 
relating to iron and steel and cognate subjects published 
in other journals at home and abroad of which abstracts 
have been printed by the Institute. These abstracts are 
systematically arranged and constitute a valuable feature 
of the Institute’s Journal. They indicate the great 
amount of activity at present exhibited in research and 
investigation connected with iron and steel. In 1900 no 
less than 1507 papers dealing with iron and steel, written 
in various languages, were abstracted. The general 
index furnishes, therefore, a useful means of reference to 
the whole field of recent literature of iron and steel. 
The volume also contains an interesting introduction 
tracing the history of the development of the Institute. 
From its foundation in 1869 to the end of 1900 it had 
published 581 original memoirs, and its Journal had 
covered 29,105 pages, with 1124 plates. This introduc- 
NO. 1710, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[AucustT 7, 1902 
tion is illustrated by full-page portraits of the sixteen 
past presidents, the seventh Duke of Devonshire, Sir 
H. Bessemer, Sir Lowthian Bell, W. Menelaus, Sir W. 
Siemens, E. Williams, J. T. Smith, Sir B. Samuelson, 
Dr. Percy, D. Adamson, Sir J. Kitson, Sir F. A. Abel, 
E. Windsor Richards, Sir David Dale, E. P. Martin and 
Sir W. Roberts-Austen. 
Zur Metaphysik des Tragischer. By L. Ziegler. Pp. ix 
+104. (Leipzig: Diirrschen Buchhandlung.) Price 
Mk. 1°60, 
A PLEASANTLY written little pamphlet on the spirit of 
tragedy and its philosophical implications. Mr. Ziegler’s 
main contention is that the object of tragedy is to exhibit 
the absolute domination of the-whole personality of the 
tragic hero by a single impulse or purpose. The tragic 
catastrophe affords, as it were, an ocular demonstration 
of the “illogicality” or “guilt” of any finite purpose 
which sets itself up against the totality of the world- 
process. This thought is then affiliated by the writer to 
the central idea of von Hartmann’s doctrine of the 
unconscious, the “redemption” of the “cosmos” from 
itself. As in duty bound, Mr. Ziegler exhibits all the 
intellectual prejudices of the sentimental-romantic school 
to which he belongs. He is, of course, anti-semitic, and 
is quite sure that ‘““we Germans” are the metaphysical 
salt of a degenerate world. Also he prefers Richard 
Wagner to Shakespeare as an exponent of the tragic 
idea. From his somewhat sentimental point of view he 
has some interesting criticisms of ancient and modern 
tragedy. This is not the place to discuss his theory in 
detail, but one question may perhaps be put to him. On 
his view, so long as the tragic hero wills something 
passionately, it must be a matter of indifference what he 
wills. Richard III. or, for the matter of that, Bluebeard 
is as good a hero as Antigone or Othello. Now does 
not this position, to say the least of it, require some 
substantiation? With more reverent study of the great 
masters of tragedy and less rhetoric about the defects of 
the Jews and the superhuman excellences of the German 
genius, he may in future make a more valuable contribu- 
tion to aesthetic theory. AsEeaie 
Hygiene for Students. By Edward F. Willoughby, 
M.D.Lond. Pp. xx+563. (London: Macmillan and 
Co., 1901.) Price 4s. 6d. 
TuIs book, which is a fourth edition of the “ Principles 
of Hygiene,” although designed for the examinations 
of the Board of Education, covers a wide field, 
and should be of considerable value to medical prac- 
titioners and others who wish to gain a general know- 
ledge of, without going deeply into, the subject. An 
excellent account is given of various dietetic substances, 
wines, tea, coffee, bread, meat, butter, &c., their actions, 
uses and adulterations. Some good advice is given 
respecting sleep and its attainment, but the suggestion 
that 5-10 grains of chloral may be taken in extreme cases 
of insomnia is decidedly one that shoul& have been 
omitted. Ventilation and heating are dealt with more 
fully than is usual in books of the size; and there is a 
good account of drainage and sanitary appliances. 
Chemical methods for the disposal of sewage are con- 
demned, while a concise account of the various bacterial 
systems is given. The author adopts a classification of 
his own of the specific infective diseases, which has many 
points to recommend it ; and the information given seems 
to be well up to date, e.g. the transmission of malaria and 
of yellow fever by the mosquito. Altogether, the book is 
one which may be recommended, not only to the beginner, 
but also to the advanced student, for much information is 
introduced which is usually only met with in the larger 
text-books. Ro Pa He 
