NATURE 



[August 17, 191 1 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Art of the Goldsmith and Jeweller: a Treatise on 

 the Manipulation uj Hold in the Various Processes 

 of Goldsmith's Work, and the Manufacture of Per- 

 sonal Ornaments, &-c, <5rc, for the Use of 

 Students and Practical Men. By T. L>. Wigley, 

 assisted by J. H. Stansbic. Second edition, revised 

 and enlarged. Pp. xii + 204. (London: C. Griffin 

 and Co., Ltd., 191 1.) Price ys. 6d. net. 

 The work of the goldsmith and the jeweller, like that 

 o. c many other craftsmen, has undergone a striking 

 change of late years. Formerly the goldsmith was 

 an artist making his own designs, and working- them 

 out with infinite patience and cunning, but seldom 

 finding himself bound down to routine. He served an 

 apprenticeship and was taught the various branches 

 of the craft. Now that vast quantities of cheap 

 jewellery of all sorts are manufactured, largely by the 

 use of machinery, the workmen, even if something 

 more than mere machine-minders, are engaged on 

 some one special branch and learn no other. Such a 

 system, of course, threatens the artistic side with 

 extinction, and the establishment of technical schools 

 and the production of such books as this one under 

 review, revealing- the mysteries of the ancient craft, 

 become a necessity. 



Mr. Wigley, with his long experience as headmaster 

 of the Jewellers' and Silversmiths' .Association Tech- 

 nical School, has the advantage of knowing what 

 teachers and students require, and has written a very 

 useful book. It is not detailed enough for students 

 without demonstrations, but for the same reason it 

 would not be painfully tedious to practical men, and 

 would be by no means out of place in the workshop. 



Details, however, are not lacking. Students are 

 warned against certain pitfalls with almost meticulous 

 care. As an instance, there may be cited the remark 

 on p. 36, in dealing with the' preparation of gold 

 alloys : — " In adding decimal quantities together it is 

 important to keep the decimal points under each 

 other." On the other hand, some workshop know- 

 ledge is assumed, as on n. 70, where we are told 

 that a lathe may be used for "turning pillars and 

 small fittings, milling bezels, knurling edges of stud 

 backs, sawing off joints, &c," none of these terms 

 being explained. 



The book does not give an accurate picture of the 

 industry as it exists to-day, as it leaves out of account 

 most of the labour-saving machines and large-scale 

 manufacturing methods. Moreover, the artistic side 

 is not so persuasively presented as in Wilson's "Silver 

 Work and Jewellery," and little space is devoted to 

 historv, but the book seems exactly adapted for those 

 preparing for the technological examinations of the 

 City and Guilds of London Institute, and thus it 

 thru-, .uglily justifies its existence. 



The Adventures of James Capen Adams, Mountaineer 

 and Grizzly Hear Hunter of California. By Theo- 

 dore II. I lit tell. Pp. x ;'ii + 37 ,. (London: T. 

 Werner Laurie, n.d.) Price 6s. not. 

 As we learn from the introduction, this bonk- has .1 

 somewhat remarkable history. It first saw the light at 

 Boston, U.S.A., so long ago as i860, but, on account 

 of the breaking out of the civil war, only a compara- 

 tively small number of copies appear to have 1 



d, and Ik publication was soon discontinued alto- 

 r. The presenl issue is an exacl replica of the 

 original, and is thus out of date in the matter of typo- 

 graphy and illustrations: indeed, in the case of the 

 this is self-apparent, as they are in a distinctly 

 "prehistoric" style. The remarkable history oi lie 

 book is, however, by no means exhausted l>v the above, 

 J l8l, VOL. 87] 



lor Mr. T. II. Hittell, who took down the narrative 

 from the lips of J. C. Adams in the autumn of 1856, is 

 still alive, and has acted as editor of the present issue. 

 In saying that the book is a replica of the original, it 

 might have been mentioned that the introduction and 

 1 postscript are new. The latter gives an account of 

 the last days of Adams, who joined Barnum's exhibi- 

 tion, and appears to have died soon after i860, if not, 

 indeed, at the close of that year. 



Such interest as the book possesses for the naturalist 

 is to be found in the circumstance that it relates to a 

 period when the big-game fauna of North America 

 still retained a considerable share of its original abund- 

 ance ; and it is specially noteworthy to find Adams 

 describing how he once "rounded up" a herd of 

 prongbuck (antelope), and actually killed some half- 

 dozen with his knife. But Adams, although he had a 

 try at game of every kind, appears to have devoted 

 special attention to grisly bears, which he not only 

 killed, but captured and tamed to such degree that 

 they were used for carrying baggage on the march. 

 The book is thus well worthy of the attention, not 

 only of those devoted to sport, but also of those 

 interested in animal-taming. R. L. 



A New Law of Thought and its Logical Bearings. 

 By E. E. Constance Jones. With a preface by 

 Prof. Stout. Pp. viii + 75. (Cambridge: Univer- 

 sity Press, 191 1.) Price 2s. net. 

 Miss Jones's object in this brief essay is to propound 

 "a certain analysis of categorical propositions of the 

 forms S is P, S is not P, to show that this is the 

 onlv general analysis which it is possible to accept, 

 and to indicate its bearing upon logical science." We 

 need propositions of these forms for significant asser- 

 tion, and without them no satisfactory statement can 

 be given of the three fundamental laws of thought. 

 The first two of these are commonly formulated as 

 (1) A is A. (2) A is not non-A, and the third some- 

 times as .1 'is either A or non-A. Desperate efforts 

 have been made by logicians to give a valuable mean- 

 ing to A is A; but if .4 is A, interpreted as A is A, is 

 retained as the first fundamental law, there is no pos- 

 sible passage from it to .4 is B. Lotze then-fore gives 

 up (theoretically) S is P. A is A tells us no more 

 than A is A, and if we begin with it, we must also 

 end with it, if we are to be consistent. We must, 

 then, not begin with it, but with a law of significant 

 assertion — assertion of the forms 5 is P. S is not P. 

 If we start with the principle that every subject of 

 predication is an identity (of denotation) in diversity 

 (of intension) this law and the laws of contradiction 

 and excluded middle do furnish a real and adequate 

 and obvious basis and starting point of "formal'" 

 logic. 



Miss Jones illustrates and applies her contention 

 iii a concise but interesting way, and Prof. Stout 

 thinks that she makes out her case. 



Electricity in locomotion: an Account of its Mechan- 

 ism, its Achievements, and its Prospects. By Adam 

 G. Whyte. Pp. vii+14.;. (Cambridge: University 

 Press, 1911.) Price is. net. 

 The author gives in a ven concise form a brief history 

 of the first tramways and railways, and proceeds to 

 show hov. ile- development of electric tramways has 

 taken place in spile of great opposition from the 



aesthetic point of view, and also from causes arising 

 oul ol the Tramways Acl of 1N70. The various 

 systems ol electric traction are carefulh considered 

 and the advantages of each fully discussed, further 

 chapters deal with the trolley omnibus, accumulator, 

 electric traction, and regenerative control. The cai 

 of failure- of the accumulator-driven vehicle an- ade- 



