I/O 



NATURE 



[August i i, 1910 



masterly and exhaustive critique of the subject from 

 an analytical point of view, and his discussion of 

 Helmholtz's axioms is particularly instructive. 



The third part of the tract consists of two notes- 

 one developing the metrical formulse of elliptic geo- 

 metry, and the other dealing with planetary motion in 

 elliptic space, with a law of attraction expressed by 



the formula 'P =^ ^-,zo%^z^ ''- where fc is the absolute 



constant of the space considered. The results are, in 

 some respects, curiously analogous to the Newtonian 

 ones; but there are also striking differences — for in- 

 stance, the uniform description of areas about the 

 centre of force does not hold good. 



Mr. Frankland's critique de.serves a wide circula- 

 tion, and will doubtless do much to make the general 

 public more familiar with what is, after all, a matter 

 of great philosophical interest, that can be e.xplained, 

 apart from demonstration, to any intelligent person. 

 There is no reason at all why a schoolboy, who has 

 made some progress in geometry, should not be made 

 acquainted with the main characteristics of the three 

 possible systems, and realise, to some extent, the 

 transformation so recently undergone by the oldest of 

 the sciences. G. B. M. 



FOREST FLORA OF THE BOMBAY 



PRESIDENCY. 



Forest Flora of the Bombay Presidency and Sind. 



Vol. i., Ranunculaceae to Rosacese. By W. A. 



Talbot. Pp. vi+508 + xxvi. (Poona : Printed by 



Government at the Photozincographic Department, 



1909.) 

 T N 1894 Mr. W. A. Talbot issued a useful " List of 

 ^ the Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Climbers of the 

 Bombay Presidency." A new and improved edition of 

 this " List " appeared in 1902. In the present work 

 Mr. Talbot has supplied what is essentially a more 

 complete and considerably enlarged edition of the 

 " List," with full accounts of all the species included, 

 and illustrations of the more important ones. Those 

 using the "List" will find full accounts of the 

 species it includes in Dr. T. Cooke's " Flora of the 

 Bombay Presidency " ; the main purpose of this 

 " Forest Flora " we may, therefore, assume to be the 

 provision of an illustrated work of reference for Bom- 

 bay comparable with the " Flora Sylvatica " which 

 Col. Beddome prepared for Madras forty years ago. 

 If this assumption be correct, the provision of yet 

 another series of plant descriptions, marked as they 

 are by all the care and accuracy which characterise 

 Mr. Talbot's work, cannot be said to be supereroga- 

 tory. 



The quarto size seems to have been adopted in 

 order to render the "Flora" uniform with the corre- 

 sponding work for southern India rather than be- 

 cause of the nature of the illustrations, only two of 

 which occupy the whole of a page. It seems, there- 

 fore, doubtful whether Mr. Talbot is right in think- 

 ing that the size of the work has been kept as 

 small as possible, or justified in hoping that it may 

 not prove too unwieldy for transport in the baggage 

 of a forest or district officer. 

 NO. 2128, VOL. 84] 



The text is clearly and carefully printed, but the 

 glazed paper used is heavy, unpleasant to handle and 

 to look at, and does not promise to be durable in 

 damp localities. No doubt this type of paper has 

 been chosen on account of the process employed in 

 the reproduction of the illustrations, which, unfor- 

 tunately, as matters stand, are the least pleasing por- 

 tion of the work. The drawings made use of have 

 not lent themselves at all well to reproduction by the 

 process adopted, a statement of fact which involves 

 no reflection either upon the process or upon the 

 drawings. These, indeed, one can readily imagine to 

 have been pleasing in their original form, though 

 they have the disadvantage of falling short of what 

 is desirable in a work of this kind, since for the most 

 part they do no more than display the habit of the 

 species illustrated, and rarely include analyses of the 

 flower. 



APPLIED CHEMISTRY. 

 Chimica Generate e .Applicata all' Industria. Vol. ii. : 

 Chimica Organica. By Prof. Ettore Molinari. 

 Parte i. : pp. xvi + 416; parte ii. : pp. xii + 417 to 979. 

 (Milan : Ulrico Hoepli, 1908-g.) Price 21 lire the 

 2 vols. 



THE volumes with the above title form a supple- 

 ment to the treatise on inorganic chemistry by 

 the same author, already reviewed in Nature (vol. 

 Ixxi., p. 339). The same general plan has been 

 followed in these later volumes as was adopted in the 

 case of inorganic substances, the treatise differing 

 from nearly all other smaller treatises on organic 

 chemistry in giving very full details of industrial 

 operations. The book is not, however, a treatise on 

 technology in the narrower sense of the word, the 

 theoretical side being by no means neglected. A very 

 great deal of thoroughly up-to-date information of 

 processes and plant is imparted, but at the same time 

 there is due regard to the theory of the operations. 

 The work is excellently illustrated with cuts of the 

 latest kinds of machinery. An idea of the character 

 of the work may be conveyed by stating that sixty-five 

 pages of small print are devoted to the manufacture 

 of sugar, and that the processes involved are described 

 clearly but concisely, the illustrations being very well 

 chosen. Such a work must necessarily prove of good 

 service to students who intend to devote themselves to 

 industrial chemistry and are desirous of becoming ac- 

 quainted with general manufacturing operations. 

 There are many signs that the author has spared no 

 pains to make himself acquainted with the latest facts 

 and processes, references in some cases being given to 

 results brought before the recent International Con- 

 gress of Applied Chemistry in 1909. 



It is nowadays obviously impossible for any one 

 individual to give an authoritative account of all the 

 different branches into which industrial chemistry is 

 subdivided, and in such a work as that under review- 

 it would, no doubt, be easy for specialists to detect 

 several errors. Thus, for example, the 1898 Golden- 

 berg process of analysis of tartaric acid material de- 

 scribed on p. 451 was superseded by the 1907 process. 



