APRIL 22, 1915] 
NATURE 
199 

the part of the crystal penetrated by the rays, 
that is, to consecutive planes, alternate planes, 
and sets composed of every third plane; and from 
the intensity (if present) or absence of, the differ- 
ent orders of reflection most important conclu- 
sions have been derived as to the constitution of 
these several planes of atoms, that is, as to the 
distribution in them of the atoms of the different 
chemical elements present in the crystallised sub- 
stance. Moreover, the actual distances apart of 
the planes, and. therefore of the contiguous atoms, 
have been calculated. 
As regards the crystallographic bearing of the 
work described in this book, it may be unhesi- 
tatingly affirmed to afford ample confirmation 
of the structure of crystals which has been ac- 
cepted during the last decade, as being indicated 
by the combined results of the work of experi- 
mental crystallographers and theoretical geo- 
metricians; this is certainly true so far as that 
structure has been authoritatively stated in such 
works as the latest edition of von Groth’s 
“Physikalische Krystallographie,” Miers’ “ Min- 
eralogy,” or the “Crystallography and Practical 
Crystal Measurement” of the writer of this 
review. It thus proves up to the hilt the solid 
ground-work on which the science of crystallo- 
graphy is now built, while throwing little light 
upon, and giving as yet no countenance to, the 
more speculative theories which are the matter of 
current discussion. It reveals crystallography 
more than ever as the handmaid of chemistry, 
and enhances a hundredfold the necessity for a 
much more universal study of crystals than has 
hitherto been recognised. Crystallographers are 
deeply grateful to Prof. and Mr. Bragg for their 
highly interesting and timely book. 
No 185 Jel; wnarexe 

SIR HIRAM MAXIM. 
My Life. By Sir Hiram S. Maxim. Pp. ix + 322. 
(London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1915.) Price 
16s. net. 
O write in the first person singular is not 
according to the English temperament ; 
even the best autobiographies annoy us, and the 
more we admire a man the sorrier do we feel 
when reading his life. Therefore it is thought to 
be better “form” to let a friend write one’s life. 
But if we are to know Sir Hiram Maxim, we must 
listen to him telling his own story in his own 
way; we must not only bear with him when he 
shows pride in his performances, we must try to 
sympathise with him. He is a naturalised British 
subject; he was knighted; he is known in good 


and hospitality from our own and foreign rulers. 
He is proud to be a British subject, and we are 
proud of the reasons he has given in this book 
for his change of citizenship, but in every line 
he shows that he is an American. He reveals 
himself as no Englishman dare do, but if the 
reader will only call to mind the fact that there 
are other formule of behaviour than his own, he 
will find the book well worth reading. 
Sir Hiram Maxim was born in 1840 in the 
State of Maine; he had very little school educa- 
tion; he had a childhood and youth full of hard 
work. We know from many sources the condi- 
tions of young life sixty years ago in Maine and 
the New England States. In many ways it re- 
sembled the conditions in country places, not in 
England, but in Scotland and the North of Ire- 
land, only that in Maine there were no rich people 
and there were few who were even moderately 
well to do. There was almost no money; wages 
were paid in kind, in orders upon shops for pro- 
visions. Everybody had a rather hard life full 
of manual labour, and therefore young Maxim 
did not in the least repine at his lot, which might 
seem to some of us a very hard lot. He is still 
proud of his muscular strength, which is greatly 
due to the work of his youth. He recounts with 
pride how, when quite young, in woodwork, lathe 
work, and work with various hand-tools to which 
he was sometimes unaccustomed he greatly out- 
stripped other and much older workmen. What- 
ever chances of school there were he seized, in 
spite of long working hours. In Maine and 
Canada there was little skilled labour, so that the 
ingenious, energetic young man found that he 
could make a reputation quickly in any trade 
that he took up, and he succeeded in many 
trades, even in what may elastically be called 
landscape painting. 
To such a boy everything gave occasion for 
thought and invention, and the inventions which 
he seems to be most proud of are those early 
inventions which his name is not much 
connected now. Many of them have been greatly 
developed, but he reaps no share of the large 
fortunes that they have created. He had plenty of 
opportunity of studying human nature. He was 
evidently always abstemious himself, but he even 
had the experience of tending a drinking bar for 
a short time. He was peace-loving, but he was 
compelled on many occasions to show that he 
could fight, and he seems to have been a fine 
fighter. He gives few dates, and his age when 
any particular event happened can only be guessed 
at very roughly. This does not much matter, 
because at the age of twenty and at the age of 
with 
society ; he has received many orders and honours | forty he was the same independent, optimistic 
NO. 2373, VOL. 95] 
