October 19, igi 1] 



NATURE 



will scarcely be won over by the author's attempt to 

 attain a definition more flattering to our self-esteem. 

 A terse definition of reality as "an invariant in the 

 relation between volition and sensations " (p. ioo) ex- 

 presses very aptly the author's point of view. The 

 chapter on the physiological bases of logic brings out 

 clearly the author's ultra-modern methods, and his 

 treatment of non-Euclidean geometry shows that he 

 is not greatly out of sympathy with Poincard's de- 

 mand to regard all postulates, not as fundamental 

 verities, but as mere mutual agreements among philo- 

 sophers. 



The last chapters of the book deal with the root 

 laws of mechanics and physics in a brilliant and 

 entertaining manner, including, of course, the Prin- 

 ciple of Relativity. In the treatment of the latter, it 

 is regrettable that the author stopped at the Fitz- 

 gerald-Lorentz contraction without going on to 

 Einstein's all-important work. His final tour de force 

 is to show that freedom and necessity are not in- 

 compatible, inasmuch as there is a necessity for 

 freedom in biological processes. That, at all events, 

 seems the most concise way of putting his argument. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Book of Buchan : a Scientific Treatise, in Six 

 Sections, on the Natural History of Buchan, Pre- 

 historic Man in Aberdeenshire, and the History of 

 the North-east in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern 

 Times. By Twenty-nine Contributors. Edited and 

 arranged by J. F. Tocher. Pp. xxi + 508. (Peter- 

 head : The Buchan Club, 1910.) Price 10s. 6d. 

 This is a compendium of essays, somewhat on the 

 lines of the Victoria County Histories, dealing with 

 the natural history, archaeology, and history of a dis- 

 trict of north-east Aberdeenshire, known from ancient 

 times by the name of Buchan. The essays, which 

 are published by the local Field Club and edited by 

 its secretary, are of varying degrees of merit. There 

 are excellent essays on the geology of the district by 

 Mr. A. W. Gibb and Dr. T. F. Jamieson. Prof. J. A. 

 Thomson gives an admirable sketch of the fauna of 

 the district and their origin. Prof. Trail deals with 

 the flora in an essay which is chiefly concerned with 

 pointing out the imperfections of the present knowledge 

 of the subject, and urging the local botanists to com- 

 plete the survey which he himself has so well begun. 

 A valuable essay on "Stone Cists in Aberdeenshire" 

 is contributed by Prof. R. W. Reid, to which are 

 added tables of measurements of the skulls and limbs 

 of the remarkable race which inhabited east Aberdeen- 

 shire in the late Neolithic and early Bronze age. Im- 

 portant contributions also bearing on the prehistory 

 of the district at the same epoch are "The Prehistoric 

 Pottery of Buchan," by the Hon. John Abercromby, 

 and " Some Notes on the Stone Circles of Aberdeen- 

 shire," by Sir Norman Lockyer. These essays repre- 

 sent the latest views on these interesting archaeological 

 questions by acknowledged authorities. 



The remainder of the volume deals with the history 

 of Buchan from the beginning of history up to modern 

 times. Some of these contributions show evidence of 

 considerable research and mastery of the subject, 

 notably that on " Life in the Northern Burghs before 

 the Reformation," by Dr. P. Giles, of Cambridge. 



Many of the contributions are, however, not up to 

 the above high standard. We have an essay on Gaelic 

 place-names of a type which usually is produced by 



NO. 2igO, VOL. 87] 



the Celtic scholar with insufficient knowledge of 

 philology, who relies chiefly on picking out words of 

 similar sounds from a Gaelic dictionary. It is not 

 surprising either that the editor, who writes with an 

 air of great authority on nearly all the various sub- 

 jects dealt with in the volume, should sometimes be 

 caught tripping. We find him waxing enthusiastic 

 about the maps of Ptolemy, evidently ignorant of the 

 fact that there is no evidence that Ptolemy ever drew 

 any maps, all the so-called maps of Ptolemy having 

 been drawn by modern geographers from Ptolemy's 

 descriptions. He also ascribes the writings of Bede 

 to the seventh instead of to the eighth century. 



On the whole, however, the volume is a credit to 

 the science and scholarship of Aberdeenshire. 



The Senior Botany. By Prof. F. Cavers. Pp. vii + 



484. (London : University Tutorial Press, Ltd., 



1910.) Price 4s. 6d. 

 Like the three earlier text-books which Prof. Cavers 

 has prepared for this series, the present work is 

 admirably designed to portray the plant as a living 

 entity, to indicate how structure is subservient to 

 function, and to show that conditions and purpose 

 underlie the manifold variations which plants assume. 

 Much of the earlier chapters has appeared in one or 

 other of the former books ; the broad bean plant is 

 selected as the introductory type, and the same satis- 

 factory arrangement of information supplemented by 

 experiment is adopted. Although a chapter is devoted 

 to the microscope and cell structure, evidence requir- 

 ing microscopic examination is generally avoided. 



Photosynthesis is taken as the starting point for 

 explaining metabolism, and the attractive theory, for 

 which, however, further proof is required, of a con- 

 version from light to electrical energy as the crucial 

 operating factor is definitely formulated. Incidentally 

 it is suggested that carbon assimilation is a more 

 suitable expression than photosynthesis, but this de- 

 pends upon the application of the term assimilation. 

 Here, too, it seems desirable to raise a protest against 

 the use of the word " stomate " on the grounds that 

 "stoma" is more correct, and used generally, if not 

 universallv, by the best authorities. Among the various 

 forms of transpiration measuring instruments, the best 

 and simplest is not given ; also it is observed that the 

 interesting subject of soil physics is omitted except 

 to advise reference to agricultural books. 



There is an extensive chapter on ecology, which, 

 with the chapters on flowers, classification, fruits and 

 seeds, dfeserve special praise, as they are all explicit, 

 stimulating, and copiously packed with detail ; a few 

 minor points of criticism arise, notably the description 

 of monocotyledons as a lower class than the dicotyle- 

 dons. 



It should be understood that the qualification 

 "senior" refers to the local examinations of 

 Oxford and Cambridge. The book is well adapted 

 for its purpose, although there is more information 

 than most pupils in schools could assimilate ; in addi- 

 tion, it can be strongly recommended to students in 

 the polytechnics as a sound guide to the study of 

 plant-life. 



Prahtikum der experimentellen Mineralogie mit 



Berilcksichtigung dcr kristallographischen und 



chemischen Grenzgebiete. By Prof. E. Sommerfeldt. 



Pp. xi + 192. (Berlin : Gebriider Borntraeger, 191 1.) 



Price 4.80 marks. 



This little book is a veritable multum in parvo. It is 



astonishing how much information Prof. Sommerfeldt 



has succeeded in compressing into so small a compass ; 



he has covered practically the whole range of physics 



and chemistrv so far as these subjects may be applied 



