78 



NA TURE 



[May 24, 1906 



.•Hid later on by iron nails; and so he arrives at methods 

 111 building which persisted, with trifling variations, 

 until wood gave place to iron in the last century. As 

 regards propulsion a similar advance is traced from 

 the single oar, to the rowing boat, and the galley with 

 its banks of oars, coming at last to the use of masts 

 and sails, as navigation took a wider and over-sea 

 range. The special provisions made in vessels used 

 for purposes of war are described, including that most 

 ancient method of attack — the ram-bow. Altogether 

 the book is an excellent piece of work. 



W. H. W. 



/I First German Course for Science Slialents. By 



Prof. H. G. Fiedler and F. E. .Sandbach. Pp. 



x + gg. (London: A. Moring, Ltd., U)o6.) Price 



2x. 6d. net. 

 It is essential that students who intend to devote 

 serious attention to science should be able to read 

 scientific works in French and German, and, if pos- 

 sible, also in Italian. By the use of the present book 

 a working knowledge of the German lang'uage can 

 be obtained through lessons based upon work in 

 elementary physics and chemistry. The book consists 

 of a series of reading lessons describing simple ex- 

 periments and principles such as are included in the 

 rudimentary courses of schools. The words and 

 phrases used in the various reading-passages are 

 graded in such a way that the principal rules and 

 grammatical forms are illustrated by the text. A 

 short outline of grammar essential for the purpose in 

 view follows the series of lessons, and there is a full 

 vocabulary. 



The book is printed in English characters, but the 

 text and illustrations have a decidedly German ap- 

 pearance, as is appropriate in this case. Though tlie 

 course covered by the lessons is similar in substance 

 to that taken as introductory science in many schools, 

 no doubt most teachers will prefer to follow English 

 text-books for the actual work of the class-room and 

 laboratory, and to use this book as an auxiliary aid 

 or an incentive to the study of German. For pupils 

 who are familiar with the experiments described, the 

 book will be found very useful, and it will make them 

 acquainted wdth the German equivalent of many 

 technical terms not to be found in the ordinarv reading 

 books of the language. As an attempt to coordinate 

 the teaching of modern languages and science, it will 

 no doubt be appreciated, and for the finer feeling of 

 literature pupils may still read extracts from the works 

 of standard authors. 



Personal Hygiene Designed for Undergraduates. 

 By Dr. A. A. Woodhall. Pp. vii + 221. (London : 

 Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1906; New York: John 

 Wiley and Sons.) Price 45. 6d. net. 

 Personal hygiene is an important branch of 

 hygiene which does not receive its full measure 

 of treatment in any text-book, but this small work 

 does not pretend to offer to its readers more than 

 a clear and elementary statement upon the hygienic 

 needs of the body. It is intended for under- 

 graduate students, and it consists of the sub- 

 stance of lectures upon personal hygiene delivered 

 bv the author during the past few years. Exercise, 

 food, clothing, habits, and similar matters of daily 

 individual concern, are here dealt with in language 

 as free from technical terms as possible. We are 

 told in the preface that the constant aim of the 

 writer has been to present actual conditions in the 

 simplest language, and it must be said that he has 

 achieved this object. We may add that the work 

 is free from " Americanisms " — either of wording 

 or S|)e!ling. 



NO. 1908, VOL. 74] 



Only such elementary facts of anatomy and physi- 

 ology as are necessary to the reasonable understand- 

 ing of the subject are introduced, and some hints as 

 to " first aid " are here and there given in the text, 

 but this subject is otherwise omitted. 



The chapters on alcohol, tobacco, and exercise are 

 particularly good. They are discussed in tolerant 

 language and with much sound common-sense. After 

 reading the following opinion (p. 157) the reader will 

 think twice before he refuses an offer of confec- 

 tionery. " Where the taste has not been vitiated, 

 in a degree by tobacco but chiefly by alcohol, sugar 

 is as acceptable to the normal civilised man as it is 

 to savages, and his disposition toward candy is no 

 bad test of his drinking habits." 



The following criticism of our national game oi 

 cricket will scarcety meet with approval in this 

 country : — " Cricket, an exotic that has never taker 

 wide root on our soil, lacks manv of the qualities of 

 a good game, chiefly because of the long waits before 

 going to the bat and the limited number actively 

 engaged." But though the author does not write 

 in his usually well-informed manner upon this par- 

 ticular item, the following statement (p. 88) will serve 

 to acquit him of the charge of bias towards every 

 thing American : — " The misnamed nasal twang with 

 which some Americans are justlv charged is due 

 partlv to chronic catarrh, blocking the nasal passages, 

 and pa. tly to that curious and unconscious imitation 

 by which in vouth we acquire the tone most commonly 

 heard. LTnfortunately, as a people all our voices are 

 too sharp and rasping. . . . We are so accustomed 

 to strident voices that we fail to recognise their in- 

 herent infirmity." 



Life and Matter. A Criticism of Prof. Haeckel's 



"Riddle of the Universe." By Sir Oliver Lodge. 



Pp. ix + 200. (London : Williams and Norgate, 



1905.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 

 It is difificult to pardon Prof. Haeckel for his dog- 

 matism and his over-statements, and no less for his 

 having furnished the peg on which have been hung 

 many dull books and reviews. Forgiveness becomes 

 easier when his work evokes a first-rate criticism like 

 that in the volume before us. Sir Oliver Lodge con- 

 tests chiefly (a) the right by which the name of 

 Monism is arrogated to the Haeckelian philosophy ; 

 (b) Haeckel's statement of the " Law of Substance," 

 the true account of which, according to the critic, is 

 that " anything which actually exists must be in some 

 way or other perpetual"; (c) Haeckel's account of 

 the development of life, and particularly the theory 

 which endows the atoms of matter with life, will 

 and consciousness. 



The later chapters of the book state with great 

 clearness Sir Oliver Lodge's own constructive views. 

 He regards it as possible that life is a basal form of 

 existence, as fundamental an entity as matter and 

 energy. " It can neither generate nor directly exert 

 force, vet it can cause matter to exert force on matter, 

 and so can exercise guidance and control." His 

 view occupies a middle position between the so-called 

 monistic one and that, for example, of Prof. James 

 Ward, who argues that the laws of physics are only 

 approximate and untrustworthy. 



The author, who understands well that effective 

 illustration is half the difficulty, and that the 

 " analogy of experience " is one of the soundest of 

 philosophic principles, develops a fascinating com- 

 parison between life and magnetism. If we under- 

 stand his views aright they imply that possiblv mind 

 can exist apart from terrestrial brains, and life apart 

 from living creatures or plants as we know them — 

 that is, that the phenomena of life and consciousness 



