January 28, 1909] 



NATURE 



h^l 



The introduction of the term premyelocyte (p. 49) 

 for the non-j^ranular cell with basophil cytoplasm 

 which gives rise to the myelocytes is most regrettable, 

 first because too many names have been given to 

 this cell already, and. secondly, because the very 

 similar word promyelocyte has already been in use 

 for some time to describe cells like those in plate i., 

 Fig. 8, Nos. 3, 4, 5, i.e. early myelocytes with granules 

 in a still basophil cytoplasm (Pappenheim). Likewise 

 the term intermediate myelocyte is both clumsy and 

 unnecessary when the word metamyelocyte is already 

 s\ell established (Pappenheim). 



From what the author says on pp. 40, 48, 62, and 

 his figure on plate xii., it is obvious that he confuses 

 the Reizungsformen with the large mononuclears. 

 They are absolutely distinct cells, only differing from 

 the voung megaloblast in that the narrow rim of 

 cvtoplasm is extremely basophil and free from 

 hemoglobin. 



The most valuable thing in this book is the series 

 of plates illustrating the author's macrosconic bone- 

 marrow preparations. These are jewels of a patho- 

 logical museum. Taken as a whole, the book con- 

 tains very little that is new, and is not a serious 

 contribution to science. 



PROGRESS OF CLIMATOLOGY. 



Haiidbuch clcr Klimcilologic. By Dr. Julius Hann. 

 Band i., .-Mlgemeine Klimalehre. Dritte wesentlich 

 umgearbeitete und verniehrte Auflage. Pp. xiv + 

 394. (Stuttgart : J. Engelhorn, Bibliothek geo- 

 graphischer Handbiicher, 1908.) 



ANEW edition of Prof. Hann's well-known hand- 

 book of climatology will be greeted with pleasure 

 bv geographers and meteorologists alike. The second 

 edition has been rendered accessible to English readers 

 h\' Prof. De Courcy Ward's translation. The present 

 edition has been largely extended and revised, and 

 much recent work has been incorporated in it. The 

 numerous references to original papers, a feature 

 which the book shares with its fellow, the " Lehrbuch 

 der Meteorologie," are specially welcome. They render 

 the work no mere text-book, but a veritable encyclo- 

 paedia to which the student will turn as a matter of 

 course to ascertain what has been accomplished by 

 others in the field in which he proposes to work. 



In external features the book has gained consider- 

 ably from an increase in the size of the page which 

 makes it possible to set out tabular matter in more 

 coinprehensive style. The more detailed subdivision 

 of the material into books, chapters and sections is 

 also of great assistance to the reader. 



A comparison of the two editions is of the nature 

 of a survey of the progress of climatology in the past 

 decade. Perhaps the most striking development lies in 

 the greater prominence given to the question of radi- 

 alion, which finds expression in an introductory section 

 <in solar radiation and in a considerable extension of 

 (he chapter on the solar or mathematical climate. 

 I nngley's work on the distribution of energy in the 

 s<ilar spectrum and the researches on the determination 

 of the amount of radiation received from the sun, 

 NO. 2048, VOL. 79] 



which are associated with the name of .Angstrom, are 

 dealt with, and open what is |jractically a new chapter 

 in the science of climatology. The question of cyclical 

 changes of climate has also come to the forefront in 

 recent years, and the chapter thereon, with its numer- 

 ous references, forms a useful summary of the present 

 state of our knowledge of this question and of the 

 allied one of the dependence of variations of terrestrial 

 climate on solar phenomena. In this connection a 

 bibliography of series of observations extending over 

 long periods, many of them to the second half of the 

 eighteenth century, is of great value. Prof. Hann 

 endorses the generally accepted view that all available 

 meteorological records show no permanent change of 

 climate. On the wider question of a change of climate 

 within historic times he preserves an open mind, and 

 considers the usual statement that our climate is not 

 changing to be a no more justifiable deduction from 

 known facts than the reverse opinion. 



Increased space is devoted to the consideration of 

 methods of computing averages for temperature and 

 rainfall from incomplete or short series of observations 

 which shall be comparable with those deduced from 

 long periods, a question which is of great importance 

 in forming an estimate of the climatic factors of re- 

 gions which have only recently been opened to 

 civilisation. Finally, we mention an entirely new 

 chapter on the great climatic zones of the globe, which 

 gives a concise summary of the main features of the 

 climate of each of the regions into which the earth's 

 surface may be divided. We look forward with in- 

 terest to the appearance of the second and third 

 volumes of the book, which are to deal with the 

 climates of special regions in greater detail. 



R. G. K. L. 



SOME NEW TEXT-BOOKS OF INORGANIC 



CHEMIST R Y. 

 (i) Cours de Chimie inorganique. By F. Swarts. 

 Pp. iv4-7o6. (Paris : Librairie scientifique A. Her- 

 mann, 1908.) Price 15 francs. 



(2) A Text-hook of Inorganic Chemistry. By A. F. 

 HoUeman. Issued in English in cooperation with 

 H. C. Cooper. Pp. viii + 502. Third English edition, 

 partly re-written. (New York : J. Wiley and Sons ; 

 London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1908.) 



(3) General Chemistry for Schools and Colleges. By 

 Dr. Alexander Smith. Pp. xiii + 529. (London: G. 

 Bell and Sons, 1908.) Price 6s. 6d. net. 



(4) The New Matriculation Chemistry, specially 

 adapted to the London University Matriculation 

 Syllabus. By Dr. G. H. Bailey. Pp. viii + S28. 

 Sixth impression, fourth edition ; revised by H. W. 

 Bausor. (Cambridge : University Tutorial Press, 

 Ltd., igoS.) Price 5i;. bd. 



(i)'T^HE " Cours de Chimie," so the author states in 

 J- the preface, is a reproduction of his course on 

 general chemistry. Theoretical questions are discussed 

 as they happen to occur, and, it may be added, these 

 theoretical questions are treated in a manner which few 

 f^rst-vear students of an English University would grasp. 

 It speaks well for the previous training in mathe- 

 matics and physics of the Belgian schoolboy that on 



