APRIL 8, 1915] 

NATURE 
145 

group: they may have been cast in Ceylon, but 
as a group they are allied to the school of South 
India. Their existence may represent a Tamil 
occupation of the island, but it is possible that 
both Buddhist and Hindu cults may have been 
contemporaneous. Siva here is found performing 
his orgiastic dance, and he is accompanied by his 
Sakti, or female energy, the Mother of the 
Universe, source of power and fertility. [Finally 
come the local deities, like Pattini, patron of 
chastity and guardian of disease, who was a deified 
woman executed on a false charge of stealing the 
anklet of the Queen of Madura. The bronzes thus 
represent a complex of cults: Buddhism, Brah- 
manical Hinduism, and the worship of local 
deities, all combined by the eclectic tendencies 
of modern Hinduism. Those who are interested 
in Ceylon will welcome the promised publication in 
this series of monographs on the local archeology, 
ethnology, and botany. 
A Text-book of Practical Assaying, for the use of 
Mining Schools, Miners, and Metallurgists. By 
Prof. J. Park. Pp. xii+342. (London: C. 
Griffin and €o., Ltd., 1914.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 
Tuts capital little book is a welcome addition 
to the lengthening list of treatises on assay- 
ing which are available in this country. It has 
already appeared in New Zealand, where it 
has been used for the last ten years as a text-book 
in many class-rooms. It is arranged as a course 
of instruction for students, intended to be spread 
over two years, beginning with the easier opera- 
tions and gradually leading up to more difficult 
ones. 
The book contains a comprehensive course, and 
in his zeal for completeness the author towards 
the end so far diverges from his own definition of 
assaying as to include the analysis of soils, 
manures, sugar, and milk. Nevertheless, it must 
not be assumed that everything is fair game which 
comes into the net of this well-known professor 
of mining. There is little which could be omitted 
with advantage. It will readily be believed, how- 
ever, that one of the merits of the book is con- 
ciseness, and in some sections strength would be 
gained by expansion and the addition of a few 
more details, as, for example, in the assay of 
copper by electrolysis. 
The book is also commendable in its accuracy, 
and it will be prized by students who are familiar 
with it after they have passed out into the works 
laboratory. 
The directions for arithmetical computation of 
results are perhaps unnecessarily full and ex- 
plicit for university students, and such a remark 
as the following might be omitted :—‘‘ Suppose 
one gramme of copper ore yielded 0'46 gramme of 
copper, then the percentage is equal to 46.” 
Some other directions in the book are similarly 
elementary, but teachers of classes in secondary 
and technical schools will not object to it on that 
account. For these classes it is an eminently 
suitable book. A few more illustrations of appara- 
tus would not be amiss. MRIS 1. 
NO. 2371, VOL. 95| 
| partially effective 

New “‘ Acribo’’ Sectional Pads. 
a pad with cover. (London: 
Price of each pad, 2s. 6d. 
Fifty sheets in 
W. H. Harling.) 
Mr. Hariinc’s new pads of squared paper are 
printed in grey with a view to obviate eye strain 
and to ensure prominence for the curves plotted. 
Three rulings are available: inches and eighths, 
inches and tenths, and centimetres and _ milli- 
metres. The size of the ruled portion of each pad 
is 10 in. by 8 in. or 26 cm. by 20 cm. The paper 
is excellent, the ruling is accurate, the pad is con- 
venient, and the production is British throughout. 
The Counties of Clackmannan and Kinross. By 
J. P. Day. Pp. viiit+145. (Cambridge: At the 
University Press, 1915.) Price 1s. 6d. net. 
The Counties of Moray and Nairn. By Charles 
Matheson. Pp. x+139. (Cambridge: At the 
University Press, 1915.) Price rs. 6d. net. 
THESE recent additions to the series of Cambridge 
County Geographies maintain the high standard of 
attractiveness and utility to which attention has 
been directed in the case of many previous 
volumes. The books should become popular 
guides for tourists, who will appreciate the in- 
teresting style in which they are written. 

MODERN SUBSTITUTES FOR BUTTER. 
NTIL the last few years the word margarine 
was usually associated, in the mind of the 
British public, with poverty; but now, under the 
new name of ‘“‘Nuts and milk,” with which adver- 
tising enterprise has made us familiar, it is 
becoming freely used in the kitchen, and is even 
found on the breakfast table in many households. 
On the continent, where the general standard of 
luxury is not so high as here, butter substitutes 
are used far more generally; and the demand for 
the raw materials from which they are made has 
increased to such an extent as to cause a note- 
worthy increase in their cost. In most cases the 
legislation affecting butter substitutes has been 
influenced by vested interests, so that, whilst only 
in preventing fraud, it has 
checked the development of the industry. Taking 
into account also the universal prejudice against 
margarine which prevailed formerly, it is very 
remarkable that the industry should have made 
such advances. It is of interest, therefore, to 
examine its development in some detail, more 
particularly from the scientific point of view; for 
it is desirable at the outset to emphasise that the 
margarine industry is essentially scientific in 
character, and that considerable technical skill 
is demanded in its manufacture. 
The finished margarine must be satisfactory in 
taste, odour, and texture; this necessitates that 
the fats composing it shall be entirely free from 
fatty acids, and show no tendency to become 
rancid. Much depends on the texture of the fat, 
which the user expects to be the same as that of 
butter. The margarine maker so blends his raw 
materials that the mixture has the same melting 
