September 14, 1905] 



NA TURE 



A Laboratory Guide in Elementary Bacteriology. By 

 Dr. William Dodge Frost. Third revised edition. 

 Pp. xiii + 395. (New York : The Macmillan Com- 

 pany; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1903.) 

 Price ys. net. 

 This book is, as stated in the title, a guide for prac- 

 tical laboratory work in elementary bacteriology. 

 The student is taken step by step through the various 

 processes of cleaning and setting up apparatus, 

 sterilisation, preparation of culture media, demonstra- 

 tion of gas production, and detection of certain 

 chemical products, the result of microbial activity. 

 The isolation and cultivation of bacteria, and staining 

 methods, are then considered, and a few exercises are 

 given on the physiological properties of micro- 

 organisms, such, for example, as the influence of the 

 reaction of the medium on growth, the effects of 

 desiccation, &c. The student is next introduced to the 

 systematic study of types, first of non-pathogenic and 

 then of the chief pathogenic forms. In this, as well 

 as in the preceding portions of the book, a heading 

 only is given, and to the exercises and practical work, 

 and pages are left blank for the student's own notes, 

 subheadings indicating what he should observe and 

 look for, the facts observed being entered up by the 

 student himself. In addition, outline diagrams are 

 given of culture tubes which are to be filled in with 

 the students' own drawings. In this way the guide 

 becomes a permanent note-book and record of the 

 student's work. Finally, directions are given for the 

 inoculation and post-mortem examination of animals, 

 and a key index of the characters of the more 

 important species concludes the volume. At the end 

 of each section a reference is given to the principal 

 manuals and text-books of bacteriology, such as 

 Abbott's, Chester's, Eyre's, Hewlett's, Muir and 

 Ritchie's, Sternberg's, &c., so that the student may 

 read up the subject. So far as we have been able 

 to observe, the directions given are clear and concise, 

 the exercises judiciously chosen, and the book is 

 singularly free from errors. That a third edition 

 should have been called for is sufficient evidence of 

 the need for such a book, and for those who desire 

 and work from a laboratory guide, and to lighten 

 the labour of full and complete note taking, it may be 

 strongly recommended. R. T. Hewlett. 



Nature-study Lessons for Primary Grades. By 

 L. B. McMurry. Pp, xi+191. (New York: The 

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

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

 Dr. C. a. McMurry, who has written the introduc- 

 tion to this volume, is one of the chief recognised 

 authorities in America on elementary scientific educa- 

 tion, and, indeed, on elementarv education in general, 

 and since he has probably reaci the proofs and given 

 a general approval to the text, the work may be re- 

 garded as being written by one having authority. 

 The plan of the work is to take a series of animals 

 and plants and to show how the lessons to be learnt 

 from them may be taught to pupils of tender years, 

 or rather how the pupils may be trained to find out the 

 meaning of the lessons for themselves. Having gained 

 the confidence and attracted the interest of the pupils, 

 the first object of the teacher should be to endeavour 

 to foster and develop their own powers of observation 

 and of drawing simple conclusions from such observ- 

 ations; and for this purpose the method adopted in the 

 volume seems admirably adapted. Although it is not 

 expected that all teachers will select the same objects 

 for their texts, or that they should all follow by any 

 means the same method of instructing, there can be 

 no doubt of the advantage of having a list of those 

 objects which appear most suitable for the purpose, 

 NO. 1872, VOL. 72] 



and also ot the benefits which younger teachers may 

 derive from a perusal of the manner in which a more 

 experienced member of their body handles her subject. 



\Vhile the book appears admirably adapted for its 

 purpose so far as teaching in .America is concerned, 

 it seems to require a word of warning when put into 

 the hands of British teachers, and we think it would 

 have been well had a special note to this effect been 

 inserted in the copies intended for sale in this country. 

 For instance, the teaching suggested in the chapter 

 headed "The Robin" will apply for the most part excel- 

 lently well to the bird so designated in this countrj' ; 

 but when the inexperienced teacher (who is unaware 

 that the so-called .\merican robin is not our own 

 familiar red-breast) reads that robins lay blue eggs 

 he, or she, will be apt to put the book aside with the 

 remark -that the author does not know her subject. 

 Again, it would much have simplified matters had' 

 the English teacher been informed that the plants 

 known in America as " Morning-Glory " include the 

 one commonly called Convolvulus major in this 

 country. 



With these limitations (which refer only to its issue 

 in this country), we have nothing but praise to bestow 

 upon Dr. and Mrs. McMurry's efforts to establish 

 elementarv biological teaching upon a sensible and 

 practical basis. R. L. 



Einftihrung in die \'ektoranalysis mit Anweuduugen 

 auf die mathematische Physik. By Dr. Richard 

 Gans. Pp. ix -1-226. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1905.). 

 Price 8 marks. 



This well-written book gives the usual definitions 

 of scalar and vector products, introduces the now- 

 familiar diflerential operators " div " and " rot " (or 

 " curl "), and uses them skilfully in the simpler 

 applications of the line, surface, and volume integrals,, 

 associated with the names of Green, Gauss, and 

 Stokes. The necessity for vector analysis in electro- 

 magnetic work is becoming more generally recog- 

 nised, and Dr. Gans deserves the thanks of all for 

 his able presentation of the outlines of the method, 

 which, nevertheless, is at its best a " Ouaternionen- 

 stenographie," as C. Neumann felicitously nick- 

 names it. One has only to compare the demonstra- 

 tions here given, which are primarily Cartesian and 

 are then transformed into the concise vector notation, 

 with corresponding quaternion demonstrations, such as 

 may be found in Joly's " Manual," to see plainly the 

 an.ilytiral gulf which separates Hamilton's calculus 

 from other vector analyses, which are essentially 

 shorthand notations. The mathematical historian of 

 the future will find much food for thought in the 

 mental shortsightedness of many vector analysts wh& 

 delight in the use of contraction symbols like grad, 

 rot, div, but despise the Hamiltonian selective 

 symbols V and S, which with the real v give the 

 whole theory in exquisite compactness and flexibilitv. 

 On a folding sheet at the end Dr. Gans gives a 

 table of eighteen transformation formulce, which 

 presumably must all be learned off bv rote. There 

 does not seem to be any resemblance among the 

 formulae (h). (o), (q). which give respectively the 

 equivalents of [a|bc]], rot rot A, rot [ab]. In the 

 quaternion notation VaVbc, VvVvA, VvVab, they 

 are seen to be of the same " form," and are, indeed, 

 analytically amenable to the same treatment. This is 

 but one illustration of the inferiority of the 

 " Quaternionenstenographie " to the real quaternion 

 analysis. Dr. Gans gives interesting applications in 

 hydrodynamics and in Maxwell's electromagnetic 

 theory, but is limited somewhat by the fact that in 

 this introduction there is no account taken of the 

 linear vector function or matrix. 



