?02 



NATURE 



[November 14, 1912 



former to the latter. The land question, it is not 

 too much to say, cannot be begun to be understood 

 until this relation has been worked out. 



"Common" in early times was "in entire con- 

 trast to the ideas associated with it in the present 

 day. ... Its existence now is taken as denoting 

 the claims, somewhat vague and precarious, of the 

 public as against those holding the land and 

 engaged in its cultivation. But this finds no 

 sanction in a time when . . . common was a result 

 of a claim to land, and formed a necessary con- 

 dition of its proper management. . . . The early 

 rights of common were anything . . . rather than 

 a general claim on the part of the public. . . . The 

 common right was an essential part of agriculture, 

 and it was only as, owing to changes in circum- 

 stances, this became less apparent, that casual 

 profits and gains and the so-called rights of the 

 poor, these latter being in many instances a tres- 

 pass and not a right, came to be important." 



Thus Prof. Conner defines his subject. The 

 history of the method of common and of the 

 gradual progress of inclosure occupies two-thirds 

 of the volume. The rest is devoted to the effects 

 of the evolutionary change. Inclosure is part of 

 "a wider economic movement." Its "beneficial 

 effect on farming is undoubted . . . particularly 

 in the increased utilisation of what is, after all, the 

 distinctive agricultural wealth of England, rich 

 grazing and dairy lands." Of particular import- 

 ance is its connection with "the change whereby 

 agriculture, from being a means of subsistence to 

 particular families, had become a source of wealth 

 to the nation." It is particularly interesting to 

 the sociologist to note that rural population " did 

 not vary with inclosure, and that this movement 

 was not, at any rate, the main cause of the increase 

 in poor relief expenditure." 



Prof. Conner has written an invaluable study, 

 which is final, and should become a classic. No 

 sociologist and no statesman can afford to ignore 

 it. 



(2) The author of " Folk Memory " devotes 400 

 pages to answering the question : In what ways 

 may the church-fabric be regarded as the social 

 centre of early English life? There is abundance 

 of original observation, and in controverted 

 matters, such as round towers, the author's judg- 

 ment is eminently reasonable. For he treats these 

 radiating paths of folklore — they are this rather 

 than byways — from a wide sociological outlook. 

 In "The Folklore of the Cardinal Points," and 

 " The Labour'd Ox," he treats new ground. '" The 

 Cult of the Horse " is an interesting compilation 

 of palseontological data and early English horse- 

 lore. The "White Horse," and what amounts 

 still to a tabu against eating horseflesh, receive 

 NO. 2246, VOL. 90] 



illumination. Mr. Johnson believes that folk- 

 memory is on the wane, since " the printed book 

 and the daily newspaper . . . remove the need 

 for its lawful exercise." It would be more 

 scientific, perhaps, to regard the idtra-popular 

 reactions to these modern influences as being them- 

 selves a new stage of folk-thinking and folk- 

 memor}'. .A. E. Crawley. 



ENGINEERING HANDBOOKS. 

 (i) Reference Book for Statical Calculations 

 {Rapid Statics), Force-diagrams for Frame- 

 works, Tables, Instructions for Statical Calcu- 

 lations, <V-c., for all Classes of Building and 

 Engineering. By Francis Ruff. Pp. 136; 

 illustrated. Vol. i. (London : Constable and 

 Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price4x.net. 



(2) Les No mo grammes de I'lngenieu.r. By 

 Ricardo Seco de la Garza. Avec.une Preface 

 de Maurice d'Ocagne. Pp. xii+ 195 + 85 plates. 

 (Paris : Gauthier-Villars, 1912.) Price 12 francs. 



(3) Laboratory Instruction Sheets in Elementary 

 Applied Mechanics. By Prof. A. Morley and 

 W. Inchley. Pp. v + 50. (London: Longmans, 

 Green and Co., 1912.) Price is. 3d. net. 



(4) A Handbook on the Gas Engine. Comprising 

 a Practical Treatise on Internal Combustion 

 Engines. By Herman Haider. Translated 

 from the German and Edited by AV. ^I. Huskis- 

 son. Pp. xii + 317. (London: Crosby Lock- 

 wood and Son, 1911.) Price 185. net. 



(5) Concrete Costs. Tables and Recommenda- 

 tions for Estimating the Time and Cost of 

 Labour Operations in Concrete Constructions 

 and for Introducing Economical Methods of 

 Management. By Dr. Frederick W. Taylor 

 and Stanford E. Thompson. First edition. Pp. 

 xxii + 709. (New York : John Wiley and Sons ; 

 London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1912.) 

 Price 215. net. 



(i) 'T^HE usual graphical methods for deter- 

 X mining the stresses in framed structures 

 form the subject of this little book. With the 

 exceptions of the wind pressure on roof trusses, 

 the load on a framework column, and pressure 

 upon retaining walls, the structures are subjected 

 to. symmetrical loads concentrated at the joints. 

 Each form of roof, bridge truss, girder, or canti- 

 lever occupies a separate page, together with its 

 reciprocal figure, the construction of the force 

 polygons being described on the opposite sheet. 

 There are some thirty examples of the usual forms 

 of truss, covering the ordinary cases that occur in 

 engineering practice. The method adopted of 

 forming the reciprocal figures loses much by the 

 notation employed, and is far less satisfactory 



