











May 12, 1923] 
“no inconsiderable interest to archeologists and students 
of Roman Britain. His criticism of Mr. Belloc is that, 
while an adept in map reading, his lack of familiarity 
with the principles of surveying for map construction 
has led him into numerous errors in tracing the align- 
“ments of Stane Street from Chichester to the site of Old 
London Bridge, sixty yards east of the modern bridge. 
_ Mr. Belloc’s theory is that there were four great 
limbs or sections covering respectively the ground from 
‘Chichester (east gate) to Pulborough Bridge, from 
Borough Hill to Leith Hill, from Leith Hill to Juniper 
Hill, and from Juniper Hill to the southern end of 
London Bridge. Capt. Grant examines each of these 
‘in detail and demonstrates the errors, while in a 
further chapter he indicates the true alignments and 
discusses the general principles upon which Stane 
Street would appear to have been planned. Capt. 
Grant is commendably precise in his criticisms, and in 
two appendices gives long lists, with references, of 
“Errors due to carelessness or Printers’ Errors,’ and 
“Errors due to Miscalculation and mis-statements 
arising therefrom.” 
British Museum. Guide to the Maudslay Collection of 
Maya Sculptures (Casts and Originals) from Central 
America. Pp. 94+8 plates. (London: British 
- Museum, 1923.) 1s. 6d. net. 
To the small but select band of Americanists in this 
country it has always seemed little short of a scandal 
that the Maudslay Collection of Maya Sculptures, after 
being on exhibition for a short time at the Victoria and 
_ Albert Museum, should have been consigned to store, 
where it has remained for thirty years. Its rescue and 
display in the galleries of the British Museum pays a 
tardy tribute to Dr. A. P. Maudslay’s pioneer researches 
and his enthusiastic efforts to preserve a faithful record 
of the remarkable artistic skill and culture of the 
ancient inhabitants of Central America. This collec- 
tion of casts and originals was made by Dr. Maudslay, 
entirely at his own expense, between the years 1881 and 
1894, when he made no less than seven journeys to 
Central America, visiting the principal sites in Yucatan, 
Honduras, and Guatemala. 
The preparation of the guide to the collection has 
been in the competent hands of Mr. T. A. Joyce, who, 
_in addition to a detailed description of the exhibits, has 
written an introduction dealing with the main character- 
istics of Maya culture and, in particular, with their 
hieroglyphic and chronological systems. It contains 
exactly the information necessary to enable the un- 
instructed visitor to the gallery to appreciate the most 
striking features of this ancient semi-civilisation. 
Flora of the Presidency of Madras. By J. S. Gamble. 
Part 5: Ebenacez to Scrophulariacee. (Published 
under the authority of the Secretary of State for 
India in Council.) Pp. 769-962. (London: Adlard 
and Son and West Newman, Ltd., 1923.) ros. net. 
Tue present part of Mr. Gamble’s Madras flora is on 
the same lines as previously issued parts. The family 
Ebenacee is completed, with an enumeration of the 
24 species of Diospyros, several of which are large 
treatment of the families of gamopetalous dicotyledons 
follows in the sequence usually adopted in the British 
NO. 2793, VOL. 111 | 
NATURE 
trees yielding a black heartwood, or ebony ; and the. 
631 
Colonial floras. The principal families are Apocyn- 
ace, Asclepiadacee, and Convolvulacee, and the part 
concludes about half-way through Scrophulariacee. 
Solanace is poorly represented, but in this family, as 
in Apocynacee, several South American genera, in- 
troduced in cultivation, have run wild. Mr. Gamble 
enumerates eight species of Strychnos, including Nux 
vomica, the source of strychnine, and another species, 
the seeds of which yield the alkaloid brucine ; a third 
species, S. potatorum, derives its name from the fact 
that the seeds are used to clear muddy water. Of 
the Convolvulacee, the genera Argyreia and Ipomcea 
supply many showy-flowered climbers; J. Batatas, 
sweet potato, is in common cultivation as a vegetable. 
Coal and Allied Subjects: a Compendium of the First 
Ten Bulletins issued by the Lancashire and Cheshire 
Coal Research Association. By F. S. Sinnatt. Pp. 
yt+2o05. (London: H. F. and G. Witherby, n.d.) 
155. net. 
Mr. Sinnatr and his collaborators have prepared a 
compendium of the first ten bulletins issued by the 
Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Research Association, and 
the intention of the publication is “to enable those 
engaged in the Coal Industry and others to share the 
knowledge gained in carrying out the work.” The 
bulletins have been well worth collecting and issuing 
together in this form, which ‘will facilitate ready refer- 
ence. They vary in content from such a general 
subject as ‘‘ Notes of Ten Introductory Lectures on 
Organic Chemistry, with Special Reference to Coal ”’ 
(condensed into 32 pages) to the highly specialised brief 
bulletin on ‘‘ Heo Cannel.” One of the most interesting 
describes the examination of the inorganic constituents 
of coal which deals with those ash inclusions known as 
ankerites, while “Coal Dust and Fusain ” indicates 
another line of work with which Mr. Sinnatt has 
identified himself. No very fundamental problems of 
fuel technology have been attacked, and some of the 
matter is not original, being simply collected in the 
bulletins for the convenience of the Research Associa- 
tion, but it is a record of useful work. js Woe 
The Phase Rule and its Applications. By Prof. Alex- 
ander Findlay. (Text-books on Physical Chemistry.) 
Fifth edition. Pp.xvi+298. (London: Longmans, 
Green and Co., 1923.) ros. 6d. net. 
Tue fifth edition of Prof. Findlay’s book on the 
phase rule differs from previous editions in that 
the whole volume has been re-set, so that in spite of 
containing additional matter there is a substantial 
reduction in the number of pages. In the new edition 
the iron-carbon diagram has been altered in order to 
include the 6 form of iron which appears when the 
pure metal is heated to 1400° or to a somewhat higher 
temperature in presence of carbon; the f# form of 
iron has also been eliminated as differing only in 
magnetic properties from a-iron or ferrite. New 
material has also been introduced in connexion with 
the allotropy of sulphur and phosphorus, in view of 
the fact that these elements can give rise to pseudo- 
binary systems. In the later chapters of the book, 
additional space has been devoted to the mineral- 
forming systems, including both the aqueous deposits 
of the Stassfurt salt beds and the igneous calcium 
aluminium silicates. 
