October 7, 1922J 



NA TURE 



475 



little book (1) is apparently one of the earliest of the 

 series, and if it indeed sets the standard of future 

 productions, this encyclopedia will undoubtedly prove 

 of very great value. Well written, profusely illustrated 

 with photographs, maps, plans, diagrams and sections, 

 this particular volume covers a wide subject in a 

 minimum of space. The major part is concerned with 

 the geology of petroleum and a consideration of the 

 petroliferous regions of the world. Other chapters 

 deal with the nature of petroleum, natural gas and 

 solid hydrocarbons, their origin, mode of occurrence, 

 surface manifestations, exploration, and economic 

 development. 



The author has drawn on most of the more recent 

 literature for his descriptions of the oil occurrences 

 throughout the world, and in consequence the informa- 

 tion given is most up-to-date ; several minor errors 

 occur in the spelling of place-names, but these will 

 doubtless be corrected in a future edition. Not the 

 least valuable of the contents of the book are the 

 bibliography, and a noteworthy preface by M. Louis 

 Mrazec, whose structural theories, incidentally, receive 

 careful treatment in the text. At the present time, 

 when scientific books are usually published at prohibi- 

 tive prices, it is gratifying to be able to recommend a 

 volume which is both an inexpensive and necessary 

 addition to the library of petroleum technology. 



(2) In the " Oil Encyclopedia," by Mr. Marcel 

 Mitzakis, we meet with a very different type of book, 

 one which will doubtless make its appeal more to 

 the commercial than to the scientific community. To 

 the many people whose province it is to control the 

 destinies of oil-land development and economics — the 

 administrative as distinct from the technical branch 

 of the industry — this volume will prove of value, 

 presenting as it does the many and varied phases of 

 oil-mining in the form of an elaborate and explanatory 

 index. The volume includes information of a bio- 

 graphical, geological, geographical, and chemical nature, 

 apart from its treatment of the multitudinous technical 

 factors pertaining to the oil industry, and as a source 

 of broad reference to such matters, has much to commend 

 it. It lacks in many cases, however, that atmosphere 

 of authority and degree of accuracy which are to be 

 expected in a work purporting to be for widespread 

 use, and judged from the scientific point of view, leaves 

 much to be desired. In several cases the definitions, 

 especially of geological terms, are decidedly loose, if 

 not actually erroneous, while some of the facts given 

 are by no means correct, nor are they always up-to-date. 

 As examples we may quote the definition of " reolian " 

 given as " a special kind of sand found in oil-bearing 

 strata," and the paragraph devoted to the explanation 

 of the word " Cambrian " since " so many oil strata 

 NO. 2762, VOL. I 10] 



occur disseminated among Cambrian deposits." Fur- 

 ther, the oil potentialities and realities of Great Britain 

 are allotted space out of all proportion to their import- 

 ance, while the remarks on the natural gas resources 

 of Heathfield, Sussex, though optimistic, are un- 

 fortunately incorrect. 



No work of this nature could possibly be complete, 

 in the strict sense of the word, unless expanded into 

 many volumes, and had the scope been a little less 

 ambitious, the result would probably have proved far 

 more satisfactory. The biographies could well have 

 been dispensed with, similarly many of the definitions 

 of the more complex chemical compounds, and thus 

 space made available for the inclusion of many terms 

 used in drilling, for example, which are unintelligible 

 to the average non-technical man. 



(3) The object of Mr. Joseph Pogue's book is to 

 present, in perspective, the more important economic 

 facts relating to petroleum, and it must be said that 

 the author has certainly achieved his aim. He had 

 every opportunity of producing an enormous compila- 

 tion of statistics, relieved by a few terse, explanatory 

 paragraphs and deductions, a veritable " blue-book " 

 in fact, dreary, lifeless, and incomprehensible, as publica- 

 tions of that nature are usually wont to be. Instead, 

 the author has given us a work of tangible value, one 

 which seeks only to use past and present facts in order 

 to foreshadow future possibilities. 



People to-day are very apt to take things in general, 

 and the petroleum industry in particular, for granted, 

 and ignoring such factors as gradual and universal 

 decline of oil production, more especially in the United 

 States, they are blind to the economic situation which 

 must inevitably be faced. Not only that, they are 

 content to consume oil-fuel and allied products on a 

 peculiarly wasteful scale at the present time, in a 

 manner as complacent as it is incomprehensible to 

 the careful thinker. We recognise in this the basis 

 of Mr. Pogue's book. He says, " The point to be 

 emphasized is the coming necessity for increasing the 

 over-all efficiency of petroleum . . . ", and having 

 read that and other important observations made 

 in his excellent preface, we are not surprised at the 

 skilful manner in which he handles his ramified subject. 

 The volume is very readable : indeed, it demands 

 most careful perusal as it takes the reader rapidly 

 from one aspect to another. Beginning with the 

 economic organisation of the industry, it sets before 

 us the salient features of the present trend of oil-field 

 development, oil refinery practice, oil marketing, 

 finance and the bearing of automotive transport on 

 the industry, among other factors, while the chapters 

 on resource situation, international aspects of 

 petroleum, the full utilisation of petroleum, and the 



