THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1912. 
KRUMMEL’S HANDBOOK OF 
OCEANOGRAPHY. 
Handbuch der Ozeanographie. By Prof. Dr. O. 
Kriimmel. Band ii., Die Bewegungsformen des 
Meeres (Wellen, Gezeiten, Str6mungen). Zweite 
Auflage. Pp. xvi+766. (Stuttgart: J. Engel- 
horns Nachf., 1911.) Price 32 marks. 
ETEOROLOGISTS and_ oceanographers 
are blessed beyond most scientific stu- 
dents in having at their disposal standard works 
which not only give an exhaustive list of important 
books and papers relating to their subjects, and 
a trustworthy statement of their contents, but 
an ordered survey of the present state of those 
sciences and a just, critical estimate of current 
progress. What Hann is to meteorology, Kriim- 
mel is to oceanography. The “Handbuch der 
Meteorologie ” of the former, and the “ Handbuch 
der Ozeanographie ” of the latter, with their hun- 
dreds of pages of expensive printing—formule 
and footnotes—would surely be the despair of 
most British publishers, and yet they are some- 
how kept fairly up to date by new editions. 
We are concerned here with the second volume 
of the new issue of Kriimmel’s great book, which 
follows the first after the interval of four years. 
It deals with dynamical oceanography, and {falls 
into three major divisions—waves, tides, and cur- 
rents; the first two occupying about half the book, 
with two hundred pages each, and the last the 
other half with some four hundred pages. 
In the first division we find accounts of the 
theory of surface waves in deep and shallow 
water, and of observations of the size of waves. 
The relation of surface waves to the winds is next 
considered, and then comes an extremely interest- 
ing chapter on modifications of waves in shallow 
water and along coasts. A chapter on waves 
produced by earthquakes and similar disturbances 
is followed by one on stationary waves and seiches, 
with a summary of the late Prof. Chrystal’s re- 
searches. The final chapter of this section dis- 
cusses the phenomena of internal waves and “dead 
water.” In all there is so much that is recent that 
this division of the work may not unfairly be said 
to constitute the first general treatise on a new 
subject. 
Prof. Kriimmel treats the tides in a novel and 
extremely suggestive manner. After general 
lescriptions of the phenomena of the tides and of 
rethods of observation, the equilibrium, dynami- 
, “canal,” and stationary-wave theories are 
stated and discussed. Harmonic analyses of tidal 
observations, tidal currents, bores, and_ allied 
phenomena are each given a chapter, and the 
NO. 2215, VOL. 89| 
NATURE 133 
section concludes with a full and masterly descrip- 
tion of the tidal characteristics of the great divi- 
sions of the ocean. 
The last division, on oceanic currents, has prac- 
tically only two chapters; after a short introduc- 
tion on methods of observation, a chapter of 100 
pages deals with the surviving theories of the 
causes producing and modifying translational 
movements, and the work concludes with a monu- 
mental chapter of 180 pages on the currents of 
each of the great oceans and the enclosed and 
fringing seas. Here the great feature is the treat- 
ment of horizontal and vertical movements to- 
gether, giving a complete view of the circulation 
in each case and not merely of one of its com- 
ponents at a time. 
It is, of course, impossible to “review ” a work 
of this kind in detail. The features which are 
most impressive in this case are three, and they 
concern only the broader aspects. First, we note 
the immense value of the geographical point of 
view which is adopted and persisted in through- 
out. The results of recondite research in many 
branches of pure and applied science are laid 
under contribution almost all through the book, 
but there is never any doubt left that the essential 
problems are those of distribution—the work be- 
longs in more than name to a series of “ geographi- 
cal handbooks.’”’ Secondly, we appreciate the cc2- 
spicuous fairness of the author in reviewing the 
work of different observers. No one disputes the 
importance of the improved methods of observa- 
tion which have come into use in recent years in, 
for example, the measurement of temperature in 
the depths; but Prof. Kriimmel fully admits the 
value of the earlier work, and of work done by 
sailors and other observers to whom the new 
methods were, or are, not accessible; and he 
makes profitable use of the old data as well as of 
the new. Lastly, we are profoundly impressed by 
the extraordinary completeness of the work. 
There are few fields in which the recent output has 
been greater and more widely scattered in all sorts 
of unlikely places than in oceanography, but we 
have failed to discover the omission of any im- 
portant contribution. 
THE INSURANCE ACT, 1011. 
National Insurance. By A. S. Comyns Carr, 
W. H. Stuart Garnett, and J. H. Taylor. 
With a preface by the Right Hon. D. Lloyd 
George, M.P. Pp. xxxi+504. (London: 
Maemillan and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 6s. net. 
N the brief preface with which the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer introduces this book to the 
public, he repeats the statement that “we have 
swept into the National Insurance scheme some 
G 
