December 24, 1908] 



NA TURE 



213 



aggregate effects, the experimental results being used 

 to illustrate and develop the argument. 



These criticisms do not depreciate the value of the 

 volume as a record of serious, useful experimental 

 inquiry. It is expressly to be commended to managers 

 and workers in the mill, who will find in it much to 

 stimulate obser\'ation and investigation with imme- 

 diately productive results. 



THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS. 



Liiiiinciis. Door Dr. J. Valckenier Suringar. 



Pp. 106. (s'Gravenhage : Martinus NijhofF, 1908.) 



THE scope of this volume may best be given 

 by a summary of the introduction. The author 

 says that though much has been written about 

 Linnaeus, yet he is but imperfectly known, which 

 is probably due to the fact that the various accounts 

 and addresses only suppiv a very superficial picture 

 of the man. His sexual system and binomial nomen- 

 clature are the warp and woof of his work, and 

 many who are content to regard Linnaeus as a great 

 man are ready to ask if these two achievements are 

 anything out of the common. With the exception of 

 a few volumes of systematic descriptions, Linnaeus's 

 Tjooks are no longer read, for who in these days 

 of rapid work can find sufficient time to read his 

 Latin octavos? 



With a view to remedy this state of things, the 

 author proceeded to study the works of Linnaeus, 

 and the farther he went the more his wonder grew. 

 From the very first, Linnaeus was evidently a giant 

 amongst his contemporaries, and from him a stream 

 of science has flowed and has overpassed its boun- 

 daries, leading with titanic force into new paths. 

 Linnaeus's work may be taken as an example for 

 all time of methodic application and achievement. 

 The year of the festival (1907, when the preface was 

 written) mav be taken as a fitting opportunity to set 

 ■out the result of the inquiries in honour of Linnaeus. 



Very little will be found in this volume of biographic 

 •detail which may readily be found elsewhere. The 

 author's aim has been to display the man and his 

 ideals, so far as practicable, in his own words. In 

 addition to this, the contemporaries and corre- 

 spondents of Linnaeus have been drawn upon, espe- 

 ■ciallv two men of renowned personality, Dillenius 

 and Haller, the latter at once friend and opponent, 

 and so giving a truer notion than by any other means. 

 The author has thus produced a work which in 

 many respects stands alone. Deliberately refusing to 

 suppiv biographic details or speculations, it differs 

 markedly from the admirable volumes of Prof. Fries 

 and the unfinished fragment of the late Prof. Oscar 

 Levertin. Dr. Suringar follows Linnaeus in his pub- 

 lications from early years to maturity. He has scru- 

 tinised the text and any published letters which bear 

 upon them, and has thus succeeded in setting before 

 us the man and his aims, his astonishing powers of 

 work, his poetic imagination, his magnetic attrac- 

 tion, his artless vanity, his real modesty — the modesty 

 of a great worker who has higher aims than those 



\o. 204,-5, vor.. 79] 



attained. Full references are given to the illustrative 

 passages, both in original and in translation. 



Dr. Suringar dwells at some length upon four ideas 

 promulgated by Linnasus in his " Systema Naturae " 

 and the " Genera Plantarum " which soon followed it. 

 These four are : — (i) A clear generic idea, (2) natural 

 description of genera, (3) the sexual system, and 

 (4) generic nomenclature. In each one of these, Lin- 

 n»us so immensely improved upon the notions of his 

 predecessors that his improvements became predomin- 

 ant almost of necessity. Each of these is separately 

 considered and their relative merits weighed. 



We must confess that we should have been grateful 

 if the author could have thrown more light upon the 

 life of Linnseus during those three busy years he 

 spent in the Netherlands. The record is marvellous, 

 even bearing in mind that Linnaeus brought several 

 manuscripts with him, but the cares of proof-reading 

 must have been great. Clifford, though liberal, was 

 keen upon securing full value for his outlay, and the 

 splendid " Hortus Cliffortianus " was entirely com- 

 posed and printed whilst Linnaeus was under Clifford's 

 roof. He confessed in a letter that he was too busy 

 to eat, and still more so to sleep. Small wonder that 

 three such strenuous years should have broken dow-n 

 the strong constitution of the young Swede, and made 

 his longing for home irresistible. Possibly his life 

 was too devoted to natural history to have any note- 

 worthy events. 



No one can read the volume without gaining a 

 better idea of the strong personality and genius of 

 the Smiland curate's son, who, by his genius and 

 powers of work, transformed the whole conception 

 of biology, and established it on a basis and with a 

 nomenclature which permitted of its development ac- 

 cording to modern needs. Everybody who was present 

 last year at the Linnean celebrations in Sweden must 

 have been struck by the deep hold Linnaeus has upon 

 the hearts of his fellow-countrymen. Dr. Suringar 

 has brought together passages from various sources 

 which go very far to justify the pride of the Swedes 

 in their great naturalist. B. D. J. 



PRACTICAL PHYSICS. 



A Manual of Practical Physics for Students of Science 

 and Engineering. Vol. i.. Fundamental Measure- 

 ments of the Properties of Matter and Heat. By 

 E. S. Ferry and A. T. Jones. Pp. xi-l-273. (London : 

 Longmans, Green and Co., 1908.) 



THIS volume is a very sound introduction to the 

 practical measurement of the properties of 

 matter and the more important properties of heat. 

 The book is strictly practical, no attempt being made 

 to discuss theories; sufficient explanation is, how- 

 ever, usually given for a clear and intelligent apprecia- 

 tion of the succeeding experiment. 



The book commences with a consideration of the 

 value of errors, the principles of which are not after- 

 wards given due importance. The section then ends 

 with a somewhat elementary introduction to the 



