August 24, 191 1] 



NATURE 



245 



difficult genus. Mr. Maiden has the advantage of 

 the results of the investigations of his predecessors, 

 and he has fully availed himself of it, even to the 

 extent of visiting Europe to study the types of the 

 species described by the earlier botanists. The value 

 of his classification can only be estimated after the 

 practical use of it in the determination of new mate- 

 rial. The figures in the parts under review are 

 mostly of leaves attached to a small piece of the axis, 

 detached inflorescences, and mature seed-vessels, the 

 originals of all the figures being carefully recorded. 



It may be mentioned, however, that the same author's 

 " Forest Flora of New South Wales," so far as issued, 

 contains figures of thirty-eight species of Eucalyptus, 

 figures of larger branches, in flower and fruit, thus 

 supplementing those of the "Revision." Of the 

 latter, fifty-six plates have been published, illustrating 

 fifty-nine species. Details of the economic value and 

 the popular names are fully given only in the forest 

 flora. The usefulness of Mr. Maiden's important 

 work must remain comparatively limited until its 

 completion ; therefore any acceleration in its publica- 

 tion would be welcome. But it is to be feared that 

 the author's arduous duties as director of the Sydney 

 Botanic Garden and State botanist leave him little 

 time for original research. Since the foregoing was 

 written we have heard from the author that he had 

 been laid up for two months and was only slowly 

 recovering from a severe surgical operation. 



W. BOTTING HeMSLF.Y. 



AIRMEN AND AVIATION. 

 The Aeroplane, Past, Present, and Future. By 

 C. Grahame-White and Harry Harper. Pp. xv + 

 319. (London : T. Werner Laurie, 1911.) Price 155. 

 net. 



THIS is one of those books which may be classed 

 as ephemeral — that is to say, it is written for 

 to-day and only for to-day; to-morrow it will be obso- 

 lete. The title is misleading, for throughout the 

 book there is no general description of the machine 

 or explanation of the principles of its actions. It is 

 a curious circumstance that, although purporting to 

 be written by a well-known aviator and a journalist 

 who has specialised in the subject, yet out of the 

 fourteen chapters which the book contains no fewer 

 than ten of them are put down to the authorship of 

 other writers. 



The three anonymous chapters on " Flights and 

 Records," "The World's Airmen," and "Aeroplane 

 Fatalities" arc but amplified lists such as may have 

 been culled from the daily papers, and are already 

 becoming somewhat out-of-date. A short chapter cm 

 "The Fascination of Flying" is presumably by Mr. 

 Grahame-White, and gives a pleasant sketch of 

 reminiscences. 



Of the other chapters, that by Colonel Capper on 

 "The Aeroplane in Warfare" is probably quite the 

 most important; but this, of course, cannot be more 

 than a series of suggestions. Although not new, it 

 may be of interest to note that Colonel Capper firmly 

 believes that the systematic use of aeroplanes "may 

 revolutionise the tactics of the battlefield," but he 

 NO. 2182, VOL. 87] 



wisely adds that in order to obtain such important 

 results " no haphazard aggregation of individual 

 machines and pilots, on the outbreak of war, can be 

 relied on." 



Mr. Howard T. Wright's chapter on "The Power 

 Unit of Aeroplanes " records in simple language manv 

 interesting facts concerning engines and propellers. 

 Mr. Henry Farman writes on "The Constructional 

 Future of Aeroplanes," in which he says : " Personally, 

 judging from what I know of the possibilities of the 

 situation, I estimate that the maximum speed which 

 will be reached during the year 191 1 will be 150 kilo- 

 metres an hour;" We have not arrived at this yet, but 

 there is time. Mr. Roger Wallace summarises some 

 points on "Aerial Law." The chapter on "Sporting 

 and Commercial Possibilities of the Aeroplane," by 

 Louis Bleriot, is somewhat disappointing, as is the 

 " Future of Flying," by Louis Paulhan. 



While the book is readable and interesting, it tells 

 us little that is new 7 or really instructive. Throughout 

 it gives one the idea of having been rapidly put 

 together and hurriedly produced, without careful plan- 

 ning or proper supervision. There is a profusion of 

 excellent illustrations from photographs ; in fact, there 

 seem almost too many, since some of them, such as 

 that of "Captain Dickson describing an aerial recon- 

 noitring trip," might well have been omitted. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 La Haute-Loire et le Haut-Vivarais . Guide du 



Touriste, du Naturaliste, et de I'Archeotogue. By 



Marcellin Boule. Pp. viii + 366. (Paris: Masson 



et Cie., 1911.) Price 4.50 francs. 

 In our own islands we have few guide-books pre- 

 cisely of the type of those edited by M. Boule. 

 Praeger's guide to County Down comes first to mind, 

 a book in which scientific considerations associate 

 themselves with the choice of summer quarters and 

 hotels. M. Boule has had the help of specialists in 

 the description of the flora, commerce, archaeology, 

 and inhabitants of the picturesque region of which 

 he treats ; but the routes by road or footpath are 

 known to him as a geologist, and he rightly loves 

 the contrasts of " les froides et tristes planezes 

 vellaves " and the " chaudes et riantes vallees viva- 

 raises." He points out the perfectly preserved craters 

 of the chain of the Velay, piled above a fissure sixty 

 kilometres in length, which broke through an upland 

 of old granite, and the fantastic relics of earlier erup- 

 tion-, like those on which St. Michel d'Aiguilhe and 

 the high castle of Polignac stand. The country is 

 certainly one for lovers of the unusual and the remote. 

 Roman traditions remained in the municipal govern- 

 ment of Le Puy down into the fourteenth century (p. 

 115), and the struggle of the commonwealth against 

 the prince-bishops, who were supported by the kings 

 of France, was as stubborn as the basaltic theatre in 

 which the tragedy was played. 



Le Puy, one of the most romantic towns in Europe, 

 forms the natural centre for the district; but M. 

 Boule guides us into the gorges of the Allier, where 

 the railway forms in places the only foothold, and 

 eastward across the broad volcanic upland, set with 

 columnar " orgues," until we reach at Le Cheylard 

 the rivers running to the Rhone. The upland itself 

 has something fascinating, something not quite 

 realised among the burtons of Auvergne. Fay-le- 

 froid, in the grey light of a summer dawn, seems 



