A^A TURE 



[November 4, 1909 



use of this material for transverse loads can, there- 

 fore, check their results by both sets of formulas, and 

 thus secure an additional guarantee of the security of 

 their design. Designers learn almost as much from 

 the results of carefully conducted experiments as they 

 do from all the formulae that fill the various text- 

 books, and it is satisfactory to find a whole chapter 

 devoted to a description and a discussion of a carefully 

 selected series of rupture tests of both beams and 

 columns. 



In dealing with working stresses, the authors 

 discuss the respective advantages and disadvantages 

 of the "working stress" method, and the "factor 

 of safety " method ; they incline to the use of the 

 latter in the present case. The whole question is 

 discussed in a thoroughly practical and satisfactory 

 manner in chapter v., especially from the point of 

 view of economy. The last portion of the book deals 

 with the design of reinforced concrete members, and 

 the arrangement of connective details — floors, cross- 

 beams, columns, footings, arches, and retaining walls 

 are all treated in some detail, with numerous excellent 

 dimensioned illustrations — and a complete chapter is 

 given up to the design of chimneys. The fact that 

 this book has already reached a second edition is a 

 proof that it meets a want, and it is also a proof 

 of the rapid spread of the use of reinforced concrete 

 for all kinds of structural work. T. H. B. 



The Influence of Heredity on Disease, ivitJi Special 



Reference to Tuherculosis, Cancer, and Diseases of 



the Nervous System. .\ Discussion opened by Sir 



W. S. Church, Bt., K.C.B. ; Sir W. R. Gowers, 



F.R.S. ; Dr. A. Latham; and Dr. E. F. Bashford. 



From the Proc. Roy. .Soc. of Medicine, 1909, Vol. 



II. Pp. xii+142. (London: Longmans, Green 



and Co., 1909.) Price 4X. 6d. net. 



This volume embodies an important discussion held 



by the Royal Society of Medicine, and, in view of 



the importance in determining the influence of heredity 



as an aetiological factor in the production of disease, 



the council of the Society has been well advised to 



publish it separately, as well as in its Transactions, 



and thus render it accessible to all. 



Many eminent names appear and give the weight 

 of their authority to the facts quoted. Sir W. Gowers, 

 Dr. Savage, Dr. Mott, and Dr. Mercier dealt with 

 heredity in connection with nervous and mental 

 diseases ; Dr. Latham and Dr. Bashford gave the 

 opening addresses on heredity in tuberculosis and in 

 cancer respectively ; Sir John McFadyean dealt with 

 the inheritance of disease among the domestic 

 animals; Prof. Bateson and .Mr. Mudge discussed the 

 subject from the biological, and Prof. Karl Pearson 

 from the biometrical, standpoint. 



Mendelism naturally occupied a prominent place in 

 the discussion, and great difference of opinion was 

 expressed regarding it. For instance, Prof. Pearson 

 states that "there is no definite proof of Mendelism 

 applying to any living form at present ; the proof has 

 got to be given yet." 



The pedigrees of many abnormal conditions given 

 by various speakers seem to indicate that much further 

 information is required before we shall be in a position 

 to accept Mendelism, or indeed any other hvpothesis 

 of the laws of heredity. In fact, the main results 

 brought out by this discussion would appear to be, 

 first, that medical men and biologists should acquire 

 a working knowledge of statistical methods; and, 

 secondly, that for the next few years a careful collec- 

 tion should be made of pedigrees of abnormal con- 

 ditions — such as albinism and night-blindness — so that 

 eventually sufficient data may be acquired for proper 

 analysis. 



NO. 2088, VOL. 82] 



Tlie Campaign against Microbes. By Dr. Htienne 

 Burnet. Translated from the French by E. E. 

 Austin. Pp. xi + 248. (London: John Bale, Sons 

 and Danielsson, Ltd., 1909.) Price 5s. net. 

 The author, in our opinion, has missed an opportunity 

 for presenting to the general public an account of the 

 present-day campaign against microbes and microbial 

 diseases. Malaria, Mediterranean and enteric fevers, 

 dj'sentery, diphtheria, and plague are not referred to, 

 yet how much is now being done to mitigate the 

 ravages of these human pestilences ! On the other 

 hand, one-fourth of the book is allotted to cancer, the 

 microbial nature of which at present is, to say the 

 least, discredited; and the essential preventive mea- 

 sures against this disease, so far as we know them, 

 are omitted — e.g. the education of the public at once 

 to seek medical advice if a tumour or swelling or 

 abnormal discharge be noticed, and the immediate 

 treatment of all forms of chronic irritation in and 

 after middle life. 



Tuberculosis, tetanus, sleeping sickness, enteritis 

 and intestinal microbes, and small-pox and vaccination 

 are the other subjects dealt with'. As regards tuber- 

 culosis, a great deal is said about the vaccination of 

 cattle, yet how little has this so far been applied 

 practically? Tetanus, again, fearful as it is in indi- 

 vidual cases, is not of much importance to the com- 

 munity as a cause of death. In the section on enteritis 

 and intestinal microbes, the sour-milk treatment is 

 rightly extolled, but to the exclusion of other matters, 

 and the section on small-pox is mainly a history of 

 Jenner's discovery. The book, therefore, while inter- 

 esting and instructive so far as it goes, is disappoint- 

 ing, and seriously wanting as an exposition of the 

 modern crusade against infective diseases. 



The translator seems to have done his work well, 

 but might in places have incorporated the results of 

 recent research. R. T. Hewlett. 



Brazil in 1909. By J. C. Oakenfull. Pp. 237. 

 (Brazilian Government Commission of Propaganda 

 and Economic Expansion. Paris, 1909.) 

 .\ cou.NTRY sixteen times the size of France, with a 

 population barely half as numerous, a country teem- 

 ing with mineral wealth, favoured with majestic 

 river-systems, and climates capable of producing 

 evervthing needed by man, boasting, too — at least on 

 paper — a body of laws unsurpassed anywhere in their 

 broadminded liberality — such is the theme Mr. 

 Oakenfull has undertaken to expound. .\n immense 

 undertaking, indeed, were it set out in all possible 

 fulness of detail ; but when compressed into some 

 two hundred pages, requiring a tactful hand to give 

 each subject its due space and no more. This task 

 of selection has been carried out well. Publicists, 

 financiers, miners, pastoralists, agriculturists, and 

 tourists will all find their requirements catered for. 

 The best chapters are those devoted to mineralogy 

 and applied botany ; but, as so often happens when 

 the writer is not an expert botanist, a sad hash is 

 made of some of the Latin names. For instance, 

 Cattleya amethyst ogJobossa is not in the " Index 

 Kcwensis," nor do botanists talk of violaceas or 

 bromeliaccas. For his next edition Mr. Oakenfull 

 should enlist the services of a botanist; he would also 

 do well to revise his composition in places. More- 

 over, his account of the climate seems to us rather 

 too optimistic; when the heat is moist, in Brazil as 

 in all tropical countries, the conditions are apt to be 

 very enervating. To the student of social phenomena 

 the most interesting part of the book is that deaKng 

 with the rapid advances made under the Republic. 

 The inducements to colonists, it may be added, are 

 simply astounding in their liberality. S. M. 



