June 28, 1906] 



NA TURE 



197 



as to the habit of the fungus abound, and while it 

 is, of course, impossible in such a work to define 

 species or even genera, there are excellent explanatory 

 notes here and there for the use of the critical 

 syslematist. 



Tlu; volume, which is neatly printed, is, in spite of 

 r.ahrr too many misprints, indispensable to every 

 priifcssional mycologist, and will, of course, be the 

 basis for all other fungus floras of Yorkshire and 

 other counties. 



The work affords a very good exairiple of the ex- 

 cellent services to science which may be contributed 

 by the collaboration of individual workers who are 

 experts in different departments and will join their 

 forces loyally for the benefit of the rest. 



Of course, it is not claimed that all the fungi of 

 the large area covered are recorded, and much remains 

 for other workers, especially in the domain of the 

 smriller and lower fungi ; but, as has already been 

 poiTited out, we have a firm basis for the benefit of 

 further workers, and shall hope to see the records 

 gradually rendered more and more complete. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Principles and Practice of Iron and Steel Manu- 

 facture. By Walter Macfarlane. Pp. xi + 266; 

 i|(i figures. (London : Longmans, Green and Co.) 

 Price 3i. 6d. net. 

 This is a difficult book to review so as adequately to 

 re])resent the nature of its contents to the " technical 

 students, metallurgists, engineers," and others for 

 whom it is intended. The somewhat florid style of 

 the introduction, " Machinery ponderous and powerful 

 or nimblv delicate and deft ..." would lead one to 

 expect a kind of poetic phantasy woven to give joy to 

 the general reader, and the expectation is supported by 

 the last sentence, about iron being the Master Metal 

 because it has so many good qualities in well-balanced 

 proportion. Really it is quite human, however, in 

 that it has many wicked ways also, well known to the 

 aforesaid engineers. 



Later in the work there is a compound of the 

 general and the technical, as is evidenced by the type 

 of illustrations, numbering about a hundred, of which 

 ,1 considerable proportion are reproductions from 

 photographs; thus, "Fig. 6, Charging a puddling 

 furnace"; " Fig. 44, Siemens casting pit with ladle 

 in the distance," evidently taken with a short-focus 

 lens, for the ladle seems about half a mile away; 

 " Fig. 54, Shovelling lime into a steel melting 

 furnace"; while " Fig. 52, Empty steel ladle," may 

 be introduced to finish with a little humorous touch. 

 Taking at random the working of an acid open-hearth 

 charge, the author says that after melting (p. 117) 

 " Oxidation steadily proceeds. In the first two stages 

 the oxidation is effected by the excess air which enters 

 the furnace along with the producer gas. The 

 oxidised products SiO,, MnO, and some FeO and 

 Fe„0, go into the slag. In the third stage oxidation 

 is largelv due to the oxygen in the ore which is 

 fed in." On p. 122 the author distinctly says, 

 " During the third or boiling stage . . . when this 

 stage is reached ore is cautiously fed into the 

 furnace. ..." How long it would take an ordinary 

 charge to come on the boil without ore one could 

 hardly guess, but to bring it on in a reasonable time 

 requires very considerable additions of ore to get the 

 slag into proper condition. This is a grave error for 

 an author who has been fourteen years in iron and 



NO. 19 I 3, VOL. 74] 



steel works, and is also very misleading to a student 

 of the subject. The matter has been dealt with in 

 recent and ancient literature. 



To sum up, the work may be of considerable interest 

 to ttie general reader, but can hardly be recommended 

 as a guide to the technical man engaged in such work 

 as the manufacture of steel. 



On Models of Cubic Surfaces. By W. H. Blythe. 

 Pp. xii -I- 106. (Cambridge: University Press, 1905.) 

 Price 4s. net. 

 Mk. Blythe has attempted a difficult task, to give an 

 account of methods of constructing models of a cubic 

 surface without either assuming all the theory of the 

 surface as known or recapitulating it; the result, so 

 far as the introductory portions of the book are con- 

 cerned, is an imsatisfying mixture of rudiments and 

 quotations and references to dilTicuIt theorems. As 

 regards the latter portion Mr. Blythe may best speak 

 for himself. " About ten years ago my attention was 

 drawn to arranging the twenty-seven straight lines. 

 . . . After constructing several models, I did not con- 

 tinue the series, for I subsequently found that a com- 

 plete set had been made in Germany. . . . Copies of 

 these models can be purchased. Still the models 

 described in this book are sufficient to give an idea of 

 the shape of a cubic surface." 



We think Mr. Blythe is too modest, and that this 

 little book of a hundred pages will be of interest to 

 those who are studying the surface and desire actually 

 to make models; but it must be confessed that in 

 our opinion the writer would have been better advised 

 either to make the theoretical portions more systematic 

 or to have omitted them, and given a fuller account 

 of the models with many more figures. Perhaps it is 

 fair to say that Mr. Blythe's book is a good example 

 of what may in cases be the bad effects of a too rigid 

 and uniform examination system ; it happens that cubic 

 surfaces are outside what is regarded as the norma) 

 course of geometry for a student for the mathematical 

 tripos; under a free and stimulating system, when Mr. 

 Blvthe first began to take an interest in models of 

 cubic surfaces he would have been encouraged by his 

 environment to go on and make a complete set, and 

 other students would have helped him, and there 

 would have been formed a fresh rootlet for the mathe- 

 matical school to grow from; as it is, the environ- 

 ment requires either that he should invent a com- 

 pletely novel theory of the surfaces or models, or pav 

 the penalty of being regarded as off the track, except 

 by those few who value mathematics as they find it 

 interests them. 

 A Synonymic Catalogue of Homopiera. Part i. 



Cicadidae. By W. L". Distant. Pp. 207. (London : 



Printed by Order of the Trustees of the British 



Museum, iqo6.) 

 Mr. W. L. Distant has for many years made a study 

 of the Rhvnchota, and has paid particular attention to 

 the Cicadidae. The catalogue of this family, together 

 with a synopsis of the subfamilies and genera now 

 published, was, we learn from Prof. E. Ray Lan- 

 kester's preface, generously placed at the disposal of 

 the Trustees of the British Museum by Mr. Distant. 

 This work should be of great assistance to students 

 of this group of insects. 

 lona. By Elizabeth .-\. McHardy (Mrs. Raymond 



Smith). Pp. 48. (Glasgow : R. Gibson and Sons, 



Ltd., n.d.) Price is. net. 

 This attractive booklet provides brightly written and 

 well illustrated accounts of lona — " the Blessed Isle " 

 I — and of Staffa with its wonderful Fingal's Cave, 

 together with an appreciation of St. Columba. It 

 should not be long before the little publication secures 

 a wide popularity among visitors to the west of 

 Scotland. 



