126 



NA TURE 



[June 8, 1905 



may be presumed to be intended for the pipistrelle, the 

 tail is entirely omilled, so that there is nothing to 

 support the median extension of the interfemoral 

 membrane ! The following remarkable sentence (p. 

 202), we are glad to acknowledge, is not typical of the 

 author's style : — " The koala's habits are sluggish, 

 and though able to climb well, moves about the trees 

 in a most deliberate manner." R. L. 



Queen-Rearing in England, and Notes on a Scent- 

 producing Organ in the Abdomen of the Worker- 

 Bee, the Honey-Bees of India, and Enemies of the 

 Bee in South Africa. By F. W. L. Sladen. 

 (Houlston and Sons, 1905.) 



The scope of this little work by a practical bee- 

 keeper is sufficiently indicated by its title, and the 

 bulk of its contents has already appeared in the 

 British Bee Journal and the Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine. There is a coloured frontispiece repre- 

 senting the queen and worker of the Golden Italian 

 bee, and there are numerous text-illustrations of 

 no remarkable excellence After a chapter on queen- 

 rearing in nature, several chapters are devoted to 

 the best artificial means of securing a supply of 

 queens for multiplying or improving bee-colonies; and 

 a brief account is given of different races called the 

 Italian (or Ligurian) Bee, the Golden Italian Bee, and 

 Carniolan Bee, and the Cyprian Bee. In a later 

 chapter Mr. Sladen remarks that when vibrating their 

 wings, and especially when swarming, bees produce 

 a peculiar tune which has been supposed to attract 

 their comrades ; but the author thinks the attraction 

 is at least partly due to a powerful scent emitted 

 when a membrane situated between the fifth and sixth 

 dorsal segments of the abdomen is exposed. This is 

 fully described and figured. Short chapters on the 

 honey bees of India (Apis dorsata, florea, and 

 indica), and on enemies of bees in South Africa ; 

 " Bee Pirates " (sandwasps belonging to the genera 

 Palarus and Philanthus), a Tachinide parasite in the 

 abdomen ; and a species of Chelifer conclude the work. 



Physical Experiments. Bv N. R. Carmichael. Pp. 

 xi+127; with diagrams. (Kingston, Ontario: R. 

 Uglow and Co., 1904.) 



Anyone drawing up an elementary course of mechanical 

 and physical experiments, and wishing for a 

 manual to accompany it so as to make the prepara- 

 tion of a special volume unnecessary, could hardlv 

 do better than adapt his course to the manual 

 before us. It contains just the short description which 

 would otherwise be produced by some copying process 

 for distribution to a class, or, failing this, would pro- 

 bably be written on a blackboard. That is to say, 

 there is just enough description to indicate to a pupil 

 what he is e.xpected to do, and which would be copied by 

 him into his notebook. .\ teacher will require to amplifv 

 the book verbally, either in the course of a short demon- 

 stration at the beginning of the class, or, if his lectures 

 and the practical work run together very well, this 

 might sometimes be done in the course of the lectures. 

 The aim that Mr. Carmichael has had before him has 

 been to state concisely the nature of the quantity to be 

 measured in each experiment and the theory under- 

 lying the method suggested. Descriptions of instru- 

 ments are entirely omitted, as the students are ex- 

 pected to have the apparatus given them by an 

 instructor. 



With regard to the selection of experiments, the 

 abject has been to give students who have but a 

 limited time for laboratory work a practical acquaint- 

 ance with as many physical quantities as possible. The 



NO. 1858, VOL. 72] 



fact that the author is a teacher in a school of mining 

 is a guarantee that the technical student is intended to 

 be served; but it is the more academic, but equally 

 necessarv, side of his training that is here catered for. 



An Inlrodiicli'-,, to Elcmentarv Statics {Treated 

 GrapJiically). By R. Nettell. Pp. (34. (London: 

 Edward Arnold, 1905.) Price 2i'. 

 This book consists of a set of graduated exercises in 

 graphical statics. The first seventy, about half the . 

 total number, are restricted to problems on the equi- 

 librium of three forces at a point, and are intended to 

 be worked bv means of the parallelogram of forces. 

 In succeeding problems the triangle of forces and the 

 polygon of forces are introduced. The principle of 

 moments is also employed. A few examples are given 

 of the determination of the centre of gravity of simple 

 plane figures, and in the final examples the subject is 

 carried as far as the equilibrium of four non-concurrent 

 forces in one plane. The link polygon is not used, sc 

 that parallel forces are scarcely referred to. It will be 

 seen how extremely limited is the ground covered by 

 this book. The constructions are not founded on or 

 verified b}' experimental work of any kind. No vectors 

 other than force vectors are introduced. Trigonometri- 

 cal calculations, even of the simplest kind, are rigidly 

 excluded. The book is intended to be used by classes 

 of young bovs, but its scheme does not harmonise with 

 the ideas now prevalent as to the way in which ele- 

 mentary mathematics should be taught to youths. 



The Elements of the Differential and Integral Calculus. 

 By D. F. Campbell. Pp. x + 364. (New York : The 

 Macniillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 

 1904.) Price 7^. 6d. 

 This book seems well adapted to serve as a text-book 

 for a first course in the differential and integral cal- 

 culus. Fourteen chapters deal with the differential 

 calculus and its applications to maxima and minima 

 values, expansions in series, and the geometry of plane 

 curves. The fundamental ideas of integration are very 

 fully explained, the second fourteen chapters being de- 

 voted to the integral calculus and its application to 

 finding plane areas, lengths of curves, areas of sur- 

 faces, and volumes. In a short chapter dealing with 

 approximate integration, the first and second elliptic 

 integrals are introduced, and three-figure tables for 

 F(fe, ^) and E{k, <l>) are given. A few elementary 

 chapters on mechanics have been introduced, so that 

 the student may be able to view from the mechanical, 

 rather than from the purely mathematical, side the 

 principles of attraction, centre of gravity, and moment 

 of inertia. Numerous exercises, with answers, are 

 given with each chapter. The diagrams are clear, and 

 the type is excellent. 



Volkerpsychologie. By Wilhelm W'undt. \'ol. i. Die 



Sprache. Second revised edition. 2 parts. Pp. 



XV + 667, x-l-673. (Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann ; 



London : Williams and Norgate, 1904.) Price 14.';. 



net and isx. net; bound, 17.';. net and iSs. net. 

 The first volume of this monumental work has 

 reached a second edition, some sixty or seventy pages 

 bulkier than its predecessor (reviewed in Nature on 

 January 16, 1902). The most important changes affect 

 the fourth chapter, Der Lautwandel, the sixth. Die 

 Wortformen, .and some parts of the theory of the 

 sentence. A first edition of the other volumes, deal- 

 ing with myth and custom, has not yet appeared; 

 it is to be hoped that it will not be unduly delaved by 

 the necessity of revising the present instalment, and 

 that in any parts still to appear the wood will be 

 less closely concealed bv the trees. 



