September 23, 1922] 



NA TURE 



409 



British Isles, where owners of woods usually confine 

 their attention to the practical work of planting, 

 thinning, and felling trees, without having clear ideas 

 of the financial problems involved. The objects of 

 management are classified as being either physical 

 or economic. The former apply to protection forests, 

 maintained on mountain slopes to prevent erosion 

 and mitigate disastrous floods, to forests on catchment 

 areas that afford water supplies to towns, and to 

 private woodlands on estates which are treated as 

 amenity grounds for ornament and sport. An economic 

 object of management applies to any forest worked 

 for timber and other saleable products. Forests of 

 this kind are commercial undertakings, and the scheme 

 of management adopted here should be such as to 

 render the woodlands a financial success, yielding the 

 maximum soil rental and giving the highest net return 

 on the capital involved. The principles underlying 

 forest management are clearly explained in Mr. Jack- 

 son's little book, which can be recommended as an 

 introduction to this important subject. 



Thoughts on Scientific Advance. 



Problems of Modern Science. A Series of Lectures 

 delivered at King's College (University of London). 

 Edited by Prof. Arthur Dendy. Pp. 237. (London : 

 G. G. Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1922.) 10s. 6<f. net. 



THE object of this series of lectures is stated to have 

 been to " place before the general public the 

 present position of some of the main branches of science 

 and to point out the direction in which progress is being 

 made or may be hoped for in the near future." The 

 book will also be found useful by scientific workers who 

 desire to know something of the advances made in 

 regions other than their own. The names of the 

 lecturers are a sufficient guarantee of the value of the 

 matter presented. It is unfortunate that no index is 

 provided, and, for this reason, perhaps the most useful 

 function of a review is to give some indication of the 

 contents of the book. But it is to be understood 

 that the topics mentioned by no means exhaust the 

 list. 



Prof. Nicholson's lecture on mathematics shows that 

 much more research work is possible in that science, 

 and it i^ives a useful account of the quantum theorv. 

 In Prof. Dale's astronomical lecture, we find a summary 

 of the present position of the nebular hypothesis. It 

 is interesting to find that certain kinds of nebulas may 

 reasonably be looked upon as bye-products of evolution. 

 Prof. Richardson gives us a valuable general account of 

 the latest views on the structure of atoms, and also 

 further statements with regard to the quantum theory. 

 NO. 2760, VOL. I io] 



Prof. Smiles refers especially to the chemistry of 

 plants. 



Prof. Dendy's lecture is an interesting discussion on 

 the various component sciences making up that of 

 general biology. A remark on page 131 with reference 

 to the widespread influence of physiological considera- 

 tions may be noted — " It is perhaps unfortunate that 

 our interest in ourselves as human beings has resulted 

 in the concentration of attention upon the functions of 

 the human body, almost to the exclusion of the lower 

 animals, so that the development of this branch of 

 Biology has been a very lop-sided growth." It is to be 

 hoped that recent developments, especially at the 

 Plymouth Marine Biological Station, will remedy this 

 state of affairs. 



Prof. Ruggles Gates deals with various botanical 

 problems, more especially with those of genetics and 

 mutations. Prof. Halliburton is mainly concerned 

 with pointing out the importance of free fundamental 

 research in physiological science and gives various 

 examples where important practical application at a 

 later date was quite unforeseen. Prof. Barclay-Smith 

 devotes his lecture to a useful account of the formation 

 of bone, which presents phenomena of much greater 

 general interest than some would be inclined to suppose. 



The book may be thoroughly recommended, and the 

 price is not excessive in comparison with many scientific 

 works at the present day. W. M. B. 



Our Bookshelf. 



The Newcomen Society for the Study of the History of 

 Engineering and Technology. Transactions, Vol. 1, 

 1920-1921. Pp. 88 + 18 Plates. (London: The 

 Newcomen Society, 1922.) 205. 

 In technology as well as in science the value of a 

 knowledge of the history belonging to a given subject 

 is gaining recognition. One result of the celebration at 

 Birmingham of the centenary of James Watt in 1919 

 was the formation, by a few engineers interested in 

 historical research, of the Newcomen Society, and the 

 first volume of the society's Transactions has recently 

 been issued. As indicated in its sub-title, the object 

 of the society is to encourage the study of the history 

 of engineering and technology, and it is, we believe, the 

 first society formed for such a purpose. It takes its 

 name from Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), the Dart- 

 mouth blacksmith to whom we owe the atmospheric 

 steam-engine. The honorary secretary and treasurer 

 df the society is Mr. II. W. Dickinson, of the Science 

 Museum, South Kensington. 



Besides the papers read during the session 1920-21, 

 the volume under notice contains the first presidential 

 address, a list of members, the rules and constitution, 

 and an account of the first summer meeting. Mr. 

 Titley, in his address, after giving a brief sketch of the 

 steps leading to the formation of the society, passes in 

 review the subjects which come within its scope, points 



