September 2, 1922] 



NA TURE 



activities, from the commencement these have not 

 been confined to the period of its annual meetings, 

 and its main contributions to the advancement of 

 science have been through the work of its various 

 committees, aided by grants from its funds, and 

 through the reports on the state of some special science 

 drawn up by a member deputed for this work. " We 

 repudiate," wrote Murchison in 1845, " that the chief 

 aim of our existence is to stir up a few embers of scientific 

 warmth in the provinces," and Owen, president in 

 1858, claimed that the association was realising the 

 dream of Francis Bacon recounted in his " New 

 Atlantis." YVhewell in 1862 wrote : "The Association 

 wants money and ought to get it for it spends a great 

 deal ; " he might have added, on objects of the utmost 

 importance to the welfare and progress of mankind. 



Mr. Ilowarth has given in an Appendix a complete 

 list of the grants for research. 



The following is a summary of these : 



Section. 

 A (Mathematics and Physics) 

 B (Chemistry) 

 C (Geology) 

 D (Zoology) and K (Botany) jointly 

 D (Zoology) . 

 E (Geography) 

 F (Economics) 

 G (Engineering) 

 H (Anthropology) 

 I (Phvsiology) 

 K (Botany) ' . 



L (Education : founded in 1901) 

 M (Agriculture : founded in 191; 



The total sum expended since 1834 has been about 

 83,000/., somewhat less than 1000Z. a year it is true, 

 but no inconsiderable sum when it is remembered it 

 has been raised almost entirely from the subscriptions 

 of its members, in the main men and women of science 

 themselves. 



The attempt to give details of the researches pro- 

 moted by these grants would occupy far too much 

 space. An interesting account will be found in Mr. 

 Howarth's pages. Reference may, however, be per- 

 mitted to a few taken from the list for Section A. 

 Between the years 1862 and 1910 about 1100/. was 

 spent in establishing electrical standards, which are 

 now adopted throughout the world and have formed 

 the foundation on which the whole edifice of applied 

 electricity is reared. The observatory at Kew was 

 supported from 1843 to 1872 in great measure by 

 grants of more than 12,000/., and for many years, by 

 the issue of accurate standards and in other ways, 

 promoted in a marked degree meteorological science. 

 Under the subject Heat we find " Remeasurement of 

 dynamical equivalent, 1870-80, 106Z. os. 6d." ; Joule's 

 work was thus supported by the Association. 

 Seismology has been aided to the extent of more than 

 NO. 2757, VOL. I io] 



2500Z., while grants to tidal observations have reached 

 about the same sum. Similarly, from the other 

 Sections examples might be given, showing the 

 influence the Association has exerted on progress and 

 the value and wide scope of its work. For ninety 

 years the Association has laboured, a union of voluntary 

 workers for the advancement of science. In the words 

 of Rayleigh, president in 1884, " The work may be hard 

 and the discipline severe, but the interest never fails, 

 and great is the privilege of achievement." Of the 

 achievements of the Association Mr. Howarth's book 

 is a fitting record. 



A Standard Treatise on Crystallography. 



Crystallography and Practical Crystal Measurement. By 

 Dr. A. E. H. Tutton. Second edition. In 2 vols. 

 Vol. 1 : Form and Structure. Pp. xvii + 746 + xiv. 

 Vol. 2 : Physical and Chemical. Pp. viii + 747- 

 1446. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1922.) 

 505-. net each. 



THE eleven years which have elapsed since the 

 first edition of this work appeared, have 

 witnessed a remarkable and welcome increase in the 

 interest taken in crystals by chemists and physicists. 

 On the chemical side this has been due partly to the 

 efforts made by Pope and Barlow to correlate chemical 

 composition and crystalline form, and partly to the 

 tardy recognition on the part of organic chemists that 

 the crystal form and optical properties of a substance, 

 once accurately determined, form the most valuable 

 means of identifying it that we possess. On the 

 physical side interest has been aroused by the remark- 

 able discovery of Laue and his collaborators that the 

 conception of a crystal as an orderly arrangement of 

 very minute particles arrived at by the experimental 

 study of crystal morphology, and also from purely 

 geometrical considerations, had a solid basis in fact 

 and could be demonstrated by the diffraction of 

 Rontgen rays. In the hands of the Braggs and of 

 others working on similar lines, this discovery has led 

 to a very wonderful increase in our knowledge of crystal 

 structure. It is natural that these advances should 

 be reflected in the work before us, and we find accord- 

 ingly that Dr. Tutton has found it necessary to employ 

 nearly five hundred additional pages to deal with the 

 wealth of matter the past ten years have provided. 



This has necessitated the division of the work into 

 two volumes, each consisting of two sections, and has 

 also led to a certain amount of re-arrangement of the 

 material contained in the first edition. The first 

 section, which occupies nearly one-third of the whole 

 work, deals with crystal measurement by means of 



