July 20, 191 1] 



NATURE 



75 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Notes on the Use of the Portable Reversible Transit 



Instrument and the Method of Calculation of the 



Observations. By Captain C. E. Monro. Pp. 60. 



(London: J. D. Potter, 1911.) Price 3s. 

 This excellent little handbook is written to serve as a 

 practical guide for the use of beginners with the transit 

 instrument. After a very slight amount of personal 

 instruction, the learner will find a sufficient aid in 

 this book, which gives ample directions for securing 

 the best possible determinations of time. The notes 

 are written in a thoroughly practical manner ; the 

 whole procedure to be adopted in setting up the in- 

 strument and in making and reducing the observations 

 is explicitly set forth. 



Captain Monro is well qualified by experience for 

 compiling such a handbook, having taken the prin- 

 cipal part in the important longitude determination 

 Greenwich-Ascension-Oape in 1907; but bevond his 

 own observations, he has drawn largely on the accu- 

 mulated experience of Greenwich observers during the 

 series of fundamental longitude determinations made 

 by the Royal Observatory. These notes may, in fact, 

 be regarded as embodying in the main the practice 

 actually employed at Greenwich. In one respect, how- 

 ever, a deficiency is apparent, namely, with regard to 

 the observations which depend on the use of the Right 

 Ascension micrometer. This is presumably owing to 

 the author having gained his experience near the 

 equator, where slow-moving polar stars are almost 

 unobservable ; in consequence, he t himself would have 

 little occasion for using the micrometer screw. To 

 this we attribute the fact that there is no explanation 

 of how to determine the value of the screw, a very 

 important instrumental constant in time determina- 

 tions under ordinary conditions. Further, the example 

 given of the reduction of a slow-moving polar involves 

 an extravagant amount of arithmetic, and an exces- 

 sive number of decimal places are employed. It may 

 also be remarked that the wire intervals are better 

 determined from special observations of two or three 

 polar stars than by the laborious process of reducing 

 some hundreds of equatorial transits. 



Apart from this the book contains all that is neces- 

 sary for the most refined work with the type of in- 

 strument described. The appendix, containing 

 specimens of computing forms for the reduction of the 

 observations, is a useful feature. Another appendix 

 contains an elementary account of the theory of the 

 Corrections for azimuth and level. A. S. E. 



Elements of Zoology; to accompany the Field and 



Laboratory Study of Animals. By Dr. Charles B. 



Davenport and Gertrude C. Davenport. Revised 



edition. Pp. x+=Co8. (New York: The Macmillan 



Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1911.) 



Price 5.?. 6d. net. 



This attractive work was issued ten years ago by 



Dr. and Mrs. Davenport, and it has now passed into 



a revised edition. In the interval the author has taken 



charge of the Carnegie Institute for Experimental 



Evolution and of the Brooklyn Institute Laboratory at 



Long Island, and he is consequently well qualified to 



introduce changes in the work that reflect to some 



extent the advance of zoological knowledge so far as 



it affects an elementary text-book. The chief feature 



of the work is the abundance and excellence of the 



illustrations: Scarcely less striking than the figures 



are the suggestive and interesting remarks on the 



habits and behaviour of the examples selected. There 



is Httle plan or sequence in the chapters. Each of 



them consists of an isolated studv of some particular 



topic associated with a given form of animal life. By 



NO. 2177, VOL. 87] 



some curious oversight only one-half of the selected 

 forms are figured, though illustrations of related forms 

 occur in abundance, and there are, in addition, photo- 

 graphs (.1 the localities in which the chosen animals 

 may be found. The work is so attractive and will 

 be so useful to teachers who wish to organise nature- 

 study courses that we are loth to point out the few 

 blemishes that we have noticed. Darwin, however, 

 would object to be quoted as saying (p. 171), or rather 

 writing "mold" for mould, and "plow" for plough. 

 The Ranidaei occur over Africa, and are not limited, 

 as suggested on p. 348, to the northern hemisphere 

 and East Indies. The spotted salamander figured on 

 p 333 is called "A urode," a name which is certain 

 to cause trouble and misunderstanding, as are many 

 other curious vernacular names, such as "sow- 

 bug" for Oniscus, "basket-fish" for branched 

 Ophiuroids, "tumble-bugs" for the large dung- 

 beetles, the "underwing" for Catocala, "spring 

 azure" for blue Lvcaenas, and many others. Probably 

 in the States these difficulties will not occur. We can 

 heartily recommend this book. 



Modern Industrial Chemistry, from the German of 

 H. Biucher. Translated by J. P. Millington. Pp. 

 xvi + 77Q. (London: Gresham Publishing Co., 

 191 1.) Price 30s. net. 

 This work is an attempt to survey the field of chemical 

 technology and to bring the results within the com- 

 pass of about 800 pages of well-leaded type. It is, 

 lexicographically arranged, fairly well illustrated by 

 " process " cuts', and plentifully interspersed with ad- 

 vertisements,' or with references to the many adver- 

 tisements between which the book itself is sand- 

 wiched. As might be anticipated from its origin, it 

 deals mainly with German technology, and is 

 especially rich in references to German patent litera- 

 ture. Another feature in which it differs from the 

 ordinary run of such works is the prominence it gives 

 to the : nostrums and drugs with which modern 

 chemical manufacturers, more especially in Germany, 

 have flooded the markets of the world. Many of 

 these are only of the most ephemeral interest, and 

 certain of them are no longer in use, either because 

 they have been found to be baneful, or because they 

 have been superseded by others more convenient in 

 use. As their names are to be found in modern 

 pharmacological literature, and are presumably of in- 

 terest to medical men, a catalogue of them, arranged 

 alphabetically, may possibly be of some service. _ It 

 must be admitted, however, that the information 

 vouchsafed in the case of many of them is very 

 meagre and not always authentic. Indeed, many of 

 the titles in the book seem to be introduced for no 

 other purpose than to direct attention to a trade 

 advertisement. 



The book may be of use in the counting-house of 

 a manufacturer," but would be- of very limited value 

 to the specialist or the student of chemical technology. 

 Practical Plant Physiology. Bv Prof. F. Keeble, 

 assisted by M. C. Ravner. Pp. xvi + 250. (Lon- 

 don: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1011.) Price 3.?. 6d. 

 Botanical physiology is one ol the most instructive 

 branches of 'science', because it provides an ex- 

 cellent test of a student's capabilities and is 

 particularly suitable for inculcating the spirit of 

 original research. Both these objects are kept 

 in view bv the author of this practical text- 

 book, where they supply the main undercurrent flow- 

 ing below the more obvious stream of information 

 conveyed in the text. The course outlined is also 

 thorough and complete, as the student is led systematic 

 ally bv argument and experiment through the 

 sequence of problems connected with plant nutrition. 



