January 2, 1902] 



NA TURE 



195 



after the march. The calculation of elimination by the 

 ■skin was made by careful analysis of the underclothing. 

 The average amount was found to be 284 mg. per litre 

 ■of perspiration, and as the perspiration increased the 

 proportion of nitrogen eliminated diminished. Thus 

 2069 grms. of perspiration contained o'3o8 per cent, of 

 ■nitrogen, while 3447 grms. contained only 0243 per 

 ■cent. The number of observations on this point was 

 few, and the results suggest the need of further inves- 

 tigation. 



In estimating the respiratory changes, the authors 

 made use of the '■'■ trel-iverk" a rolling platform worked by 

 machinery so as to move backwards at the same rate as 

 the individual walking upon it moves forwards. In this 

 manner he remains constantly at the spot where the 

 apparatus for measuring the respired air is fixed. The 

 two students marched on this " tret-werk " for si.x to 

 «ight minutes immediately after each march, and for eight 

 to ten minutes during periods of rest, with and without 

 tlie knapsack. The influence of the marches on the 

 respiratory changes was determined by the " respiratory 

 quotient," i.c: the quotient derived by dividing the volume 

 of CO, e.xpired by the volume of O inspired. This quo- 

 tient is equal to unity in the case of herbivorous animals, 

 who obtain their carbon from carbohydrates only and 

 not from hydrocarbons. In carnivorous animals the 

 necessity of using some of the o.xygen for the oxidation of 

 the hydrogen in the hydrocarbons, which they consume, 

 diminishes the volume of COj expired in proportion 

 to the oxygen inspired, and the quotient in their case is 

 consequently expressed by a fraction of unity. The 

 authors make use of this fact and show that the "respira- 

 tory quotient " is a constantly diminishing fraction after 

 heavy marches. In other words, the carbohydrates are 

 very quickly used up, leaving the fats only as energy- 

 producing material. They conclude from this that, in 

 continuous heavy marching, the carbohydrates consumed 

 in the rations are not sufficient to replace the waste, and 

 that a day's rest is required after every three days' 

 marching to enable the body to recover its normal 

 power. 



There are many other points in this volume that are 

 suggestive and of practical importance in military training 

 and in military operations, and it must be regarded as 

 one of the most important works that have been published 

 with reference to several questions that arise in connec- 

 tion with military hygiene. The German military 

 authorities, at any rate, have accepted the conclusions as 

 authoritative, and the regulations bearing upon marching 

 and physical training in Germany are evidently inspired 

 by them. VV. G. M. 



L/VES OF THE HUNTED. 

 The Lives of the Hicnted. By Ernest Seton-Thompson. 



Pp. 360. (London : Nutt, 1901.) Price bs. net. 

 " T IVE.S OF THE HUNTED" is practically a second 



-• — ' volume to the first of three books noticed in a 

 general review of Mr. Selon-Thompson's work lately 

 published in Nature (p. 25), "Wild .'\nimals I have 

 Known.'' When a book has earned a well-deserved 

 success, the temptation to the author to write another on 

 NO. 1679, VOL. 65] 



the same lines is strong. But sequels of the kind are 

 seldom as good as the originals, and this is no exception 

 to the rule. 



Mr. Thompson is so well up in his subjects that 

 nothing that comes from his pen or pencil can be without 

 interest. The full-page illustrations — more particularly 

 those of the bears in the Yellowstone Park and the big- 

 horn ram facing the wolves — are excellent ; but, with 

 some exceptions, neither the letterpress nor the marginal 

 sketches are quite on the level either of the book named 

 above or of the " Biography of a Grizzly." 



Unfortunately, too, the little pitted speck noticeable in 

 his earlier writings — more especially in "The Trail of 

 the Sandhill Stag" — a tendency to a rather sickly senti. 

 mentality, has grown to disfiguring proportions, and in 

 his last production is a serious blemish. 



"The preservation of our wild creatures," to which the 

 book is dedicated, is a worthy object. But it is doubtful 

 whether it is likely to be substantially helped by 

 suggestions, if not actual arguments, which, in spite of 

 Mr. Thompson's assurance that he does " not champion 

 any theory of diet," can only, if pushed to their logical 

 conclusions, mean that mankind is in duty bound to give 

 up eating meat and turn vegetarian. The sneer at "the 

 Saxon understreak of brutish grit, of senseless, pig- 

 dogged pertinacity," which made the old huntsman 

 Scottie stick to the trail of the great ram until the 

 coveted head and horns were his — the race-quality, by 

 the bye, which has helped more, probably, than any other 

 to raise the United States as well as England to the 

 positions they hold among the nations — may appeal, 

 perhaps, to some of his readers, but to others less 

 emotional it may seem a little silly. 



"Wolfish human brute" is rather a "brutal" sum- 

 ming-up of the character of the plucky old stalker, 

 whose actual name is given, to come from the pen of a 

 writer who, according to his own account, was not, in 

 trapping days, foolishly over scrupulous. 



But when he leaves "gush " and sentiment behind him, 

 and, warming to his work, writes in the bright, unpreten- 

 tious style which is more natural to him of the things he 

 has seen and known, Mr. Thompson is well worth 

 reading. 



" Johnny Bear," the third story in the collection, is a 

 simply-written and charming description of the ways of 

 the bears he studied closely in the Yellowstone Park, 

 and even more delightful, perhaps, is the account he 

 gives of the home and habits of the fairy-like kangaroo 

 rat, 



"the loveliest, daintiest fawn-brown little creature ever 

 seen in fur," with " large beautiful eyes . . . innocent 

 orbs of liquid brown ; ears like the thinnest shells of the. 

 sea, showing the pink veins . . . ; hands the tiniest of 

 the tiny, pinky-white and rounded and dimpled like a 

 baby's." 



Sentiment notwithstanding, Mr. Thompson dug out 

 and explored, and in the margin gives a plan of the 

 little creatures' underground establishment, which was 

 safely protected from the attacks of coyottes and other 

 miscreants by the spiked leaves of an overshadowing 

 " Spanish bayonette " bush. It is engineered on much the 

 same general lines as the breeding nest of a mole, with 



