334 



NA TURE 



[January 21, 1909 



popliteal nerve (n. tibialis) until it arrives on a level 

 with the heads of the gastrocnemius muscle is not 

 justified by common usage among- anatomists. An 

 error, in the commission of which the author is not 

 alone, is in the spelling " tendo-Achillcs." 



The judicious use of quotations is to be commended, 

 but Mr. Share-Jones is not well advised in the inser- 

 tion of too long quotations. We feel that the work 

 would have lost nothing in clearness, and would have 

 gained something in terseness, had the quotations 

 been condensed into a few lines or omitted altogether. 

 There seems little point, for example, in the views of 

 Percival on " ossific diathesis," quoted by W. 

 Williams and re-quoted by our author. 



The fact that the author treats his subject so largely 

 from the surgical side leads one to examine the 

 surgical paragraphs with even more care than those 

 which are purely anatomical. Surgery certainly is an 

 art, and not one of the exact sciences, and, there- 

 fore, affords great scope for difference of opinion. 

 Mr. Share-Jones, consequently, is entitled to express 

 whatever views he may happen to hold, but he need 

 not be surprised if his readers occasionally disagree 

 with him. It may be doubted, for instance, if it is 

 possible in cases of so-called deferred fracture of the 

 tibia to detect the line of fissure by palpation. It is 

 a matter of opinion whether crepitus can be elicited 

 by manipulation in fractures through the acetabulum. 

 There are those who would say that crepitation can 

 be best produced by movements by the horse himself. 



The professional reader, moreover, may inquire 

 why epiphyseal fractures of the femur of young 

 animals are omitted, or, in fracture of the femur, how 

 the bony fragments are to be retained in position, or 

 what may be the value of periosteotomy in " spavin," 

 and how it is done. On many other points, it is safe 

 to sav, the practitioner will feel irritated at paucity 

 of information, or will dissent, sometimes strongly, 

 from the views expressed. 



From what has been said it is clear that the present 

 part of the " Surgical Anatomy of the Horse " is not 

 without blemish to detract from its numerous merits. 



GLASS DECORATION. 



Decorative Glass Processes. By A. L. Duthie. Pp. 

 xii-l-267. (Lxjndon : A. Constable and Co., Ltd., 

 1908.) Price 6s. net. 



THE book before us contains a minutely detailed 

 account of a number of processes employed for 

 the purpose of producing architectural decorative work 

 in glass. Beginning with an account of the various 

 kinds of glass available for such work, and indulging 

 in a retrospect of glass-working that takes the reader 

 back to ancient Egvpt, Mr. Duthie describes the pro- 

 duction of leaded lights, the technique of glass 

 painting and staining, and the various processes 

 which depend upon the partial obscuring of the glass 

 by means of fluorides or by the action of the sand- 

 blast. Finallv gilding, silvering, mosaic, and a 

 number of special processes are described. 



Mr. Duthie 's account of the varieties of glass avail- 

 NO. 2047, VOl. 79] 



able for decorative work is interesting especially as 

 regards the production of " antique " glass with its 

 intentional " imperfections," such as bubbles, striae 

 and partial devitrifications. On the other hand, th» 

 statement that polished plate glass is made by polish- 

 ing " rough cast plate " serves to indicate that the 

 author is not intimately acquainted with this side of 

 glass manufacture. 



In his detailed account of the technique of the 

 various crafts concerned in the production of decora- 

 tive glass, Mr. Duthie is, perhaps, somewhat unin- 

 teresting to the general reader — the descriptions are 

 too minutely detailed and given in rule-of-thumb 

 manner — while for the practical worker the book may 

 serve as a useful reference for recipes not in constant 

 use, but would scarcely be adequate for the needs of 

 a learner. A larger amount of space devoted to the 

 principles of the technique, even at the expense of 

 some of the detailed directions, would have been pre- 

 ferable. Ideas and principles are, however, only in- 

 troduced in reference to the questions of art involved 

 in the designs for various types of work. This is, 

 perhaps, scarcely the place to discuss these questions, 

 but the fine illustrations with which the author's 

 views are e.xemplified deserve special comment. Some 

 of these, such as Fig. 15 (leaded panel), Fig. 31 (triple 

 embossing), and Fig. 38 (electro-copper glazing), are 

 particularly fine; the latter is also of special interest 

 technically, as it illustrates a very successful applica- 

 tion of an electro-deposition process to glass work. 

 In this work the lead flanges or " calms " are 

 replaced by thin strips of copper laid between the 

 different pieces of coloured glass: upon the projecting 

 edges of these bands ledges of copper are electro- 

 deposited, flanges being thus formed which grip the 

 glass and consolidate the whole panel. 



Scientific readers will be particularly interested in 

 the manner in which the action of hydrofluoric acid 

 and of soluble fluorides is utilised for the production 

 of glass surfaces of various degrees of opacity, ranging 

 from the " dead white " of the pure fluoride to the 

 practically clear glass left by the pure acid. .As Mr. 

 Duthie remarks, however, it is certainly surprising to 

 find this etching process known by the trade term 

 "embossing," a term which rather suggests the 

 products of the pressed-glass factory. The glass in- 

 dustry is, apparently, the victim of a very curious 

 system of nomenclature; thus the term "metal" is 

 always applied to glass, while such curious terms as 

 " ambitty " (spelt "anbitty " in some places in the 

 book), " larrykin " and "cuUett " are found in a short 

 glossary at the end of this book. To the words named 

 in that list Mr. Duthie should, however, have added 

 another, which he employs, apparently, without being 

 conscious of anything unusual — he refers to the 

 process of etching away layers of glass as " adding " 

 the glass — and this can hardly be regarded as a 

 welcome or even a legitimate addition to the lan- 

 guage. Similarly, the continual loose reference to 

 hvdrofluoric acid as " fluoric acid" is not to be com- 

 mended, although no doubt widely incorporated in 

 workshop slang. 



In spite of these criticisms, and some further 



