368 
NATURE 
[AuGusT 14, 1902 
duties which the author has learned to enjoy as well as 
to fulfil. In the midst of much that he and others regard 
as revolutionary in educational theory, and of many 
importunate claims on the part of “ modern subjects” in 
schools, it is useful for us all to be reminded, as in this 
book, of what may be done in connection with the 
traditional discipline of the great public schools, when 
the work is undertaken by men who, though standing 
honestly sufer vias antiguas in regard to the staple of 
school teaching, are nevertheless profoundly conscious 
of the needs of our own time, and who look on scholar- 
ship, not as an end in itself, but mainly as a means to 
the higher end of Christian manhood and honourable 
citizenship. 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
The Dictionary of Photography. By E. J. Wall, 
F.R.P.S. Revised and brought up to date by T. 
Bolas, F.C.S., F.I.C. 8th edition. Pp. iv + 656. 
(London: Hazell, Watson and Viney, Ltd., 1902.) 
Price 75. 6d. net. 
THE fact that the eighth edition of this dictionary is 
now published is the best of all evidence of the apprecia- 
tion that it continues to receive. And this appreciation 
is deserved, whether one regards the work of the author 
or the reviser. So far as we have been able to examine 
the work, the information it gives is sound and useful. 
Mr. Bolas states that he has added nearly a hundred 
new pages of subject-matter, as many fresh headings 
and many new diagrams, but by a process of concentra- 
tion and elimination has not increased the bulk of the 
volume so far as to render it unwieldy. 
The great difficulty in compiling a book that aims at 
being something more than a simple guide for beginners 
and something more handy and less costly than a treatise 
that aims at approximate completeness, is to satisfac- 
torily apportion the available space to the various 
subjects. As the needs of no two readers are exactly 
alike, a very wide margin must be allowed for the dis- 
cretion of the compiler, but we notice a few cases in 
which the reviser might with advantage have extended 
his work of adding to the original, even if it necessitated 
still more “concentration and elimination.” The page 
and a third devoted to “amphitype,” for example, might 
well have been spared, while the six or seven lines 
devoted to “hypo-eliminators ” might profitably have been 
expanded to a couple of pages. The getting rid of 
sodium hyposulphite is a problem that has to be attended 
to in the production of every negative and silver print, 
and even if all “eliminators” are regarded as useless, 
some are still on the market, and every thinking photo- 
grapher wants to know something as to their mode of 
action, advantages and drawbacks. 
Acetylene is very unfairly treated. After it has been 
in use for so many years as it has, and has proved to be 
so convenient, effective and safe, it must be a prejudiced 
view of it that leads to its consideration in less thana 
page, half of which is devoted to its endothermic and con- 
sequently supposed dangerous character, and the other 
half to its history and a statement that the “great 
hopes” concerning it have not been realised ! 
In the selected bibliography of photography some 
hundred and twenty books are mentioned, ranging from 
apparatus makers’ pamphlets and beginners’ guides to 
the most comprehensive works ; but of the few books 
recommended for students by the City and Guilds 
examiners, presumably because of their educational 
value, we have counted nine in English, including three 
on general photography, that are not mentioned. This 
NO. I711, VOL. 66] 
difference can hardly be dismissed as due to the exercise 
of a wise discretion. 
These are examples of the cases in which the reviser 
might have gone even further than he has in his 
additions, concentrations and eliminations. Doubtless 
he will do so when the next edition is called for. 
Die Entwicklung des Gesichtes; Tafeln zur Entwick- 
lungsgeschichte der aeusseren Koerperform der Wirbel- 
thiere. By Carl Rabl. Part 1, Das Gesicht der 
Saeugethiere. WNith 8 plates. (Leipzig: Engelmann, 
1902.) Price 12s. 
THIS, the first of four parts of a comprehensive work, 
deals with the development of the external form of the 
head-region in rabbit, pig and human embryo, How 
many different vertebrate animals the author proposes to 
make use of for the purposes of the research is not stated, 
but it may be recognised that the net is cast widely 
enough when within its meshes so lowly an animal as the 
lamprey is to be contained. The figures of the eight 
folio plates, drawn by the author, are certainly exquisite, 
quite unique, indeed, of their kind. From others 
previcusly published they differ in two important respects. 
While the former rarely exceed a magnification of five 
diameters, the present ones possess three times this, and 
—a very important point—they are the first series of the 
kind to be lithographed by the firm of Werner and 
Winter. This is a sufficient guarantee that full justice 
has been done to the originals by the lithographer’s art. 
In fundamental features the drawings, perhaps, hardly 
reveal anything not already visible in the well-known 
pictures of pig and human embryos published by His and 
Keibel. Possibly novelties may be looked for in subse- 
quent parts of the work. Tothe figures extant of normal 
human embryos, those here given will form additions 
welcome to the anatomist and the embryologist alike. 
As to the others, the one noticeable deficiency is that they 
stop short of and do not at all cover the period when, for 
instance, the pig-embryo first becomes unmistakably a 
member of the genus Sus, a representative of the species 
Sus scrofa, and a pig with a particular individuality of its 
own. That is to say, the author ignores what His has 
termed the period of the passage of the embryo into the 
fcetus, the point when the unfolding of the embryo is 
about finished. 
The work, which with so large a number of fine plates 
is remarkably cheap, is being published by the aid of the 
Imperial Academy of Sciences, Vienna. 
Les Fleurs du Midi. By P. Granger. 
(Paris: J. B. Bailliére et Fils, 1902.) 
THE vast quantity of early flowers which reaches this 
country in the early spring from the Mediterranean 
region might lead one to suppose that the conditions of 
the climate there are entirely favourable to the forcing 
and rapid development of plants. A perusal of this book 
indicates that the gardeners of the littoral do not find 
circumstances by any means so propitious, for the east 
wind causes drooping of the leaves and withering of the 
flowers, while the mistral coming from the north-west at 
times blows with such force that trees are uprooted and 
shelters overthrown. 
The various protective devices, whether hedges or 
trees, glass frames, straw mats, &c., are fully described 
and illustrated, together with the conditions under which 
they may advantageously be employed. Then follows a 
discussion of various details, such as manures, insecti- 
cides, the best methods of gathering and packing, and the 
cost of freight. The main bulk of the book treats of the 
plants which lend themselves to cultivation during the 
winter, with an enumeration of species and varieties 
which are suitable to the climate and likely to yield a 
remunerative return for time and money expended in 
their production. The book is essentially practical and 
represents the outcome of several years’ experience. The 
Pp. viii+371. 
