57° 



NA TURE 



[October 28, 1922 



to this discourse in which, assuming the four-dimen- 

 sional presentation, he would state explicitly, either in 

 general terms or by precise illustration, how he would 

 compare the intervals between any two pairs of events. 

 E. Cunningham. 



The Marketing of Whole Milk. 



The Marketing of Whole Milk. By Dr. H. E. Erdman. 

 (The Citizen's Library : Marketing Series.) Pp. 

 xvi + 333. (New York : The Macmillan Company; 

 London ■: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 215-. net. 



THE recent disputes concerning the price of milk 

 have again shown how difficult the problem has 

 become under modern conditions, more especially in 

 the large towns. The farmer is no longer able to take 

 his milk direct to the consumer except in the case of a 

 village or small town, and there has arisen a class of 

 dealers or distributors who occupy the place of the 

 middleman. Some of these distributors are large 

 companies with the command of much capital, and 

 their powerful organisations have led to something 

 very like monopoly. The producers, on the other hand, 

 have also organised themselves, and a struggle between 

 the two parties has recently ended. In the volume 

 under notice, this question as it appears in the United 

 States is very completely analysed, and Prof. Erdman, 

 who is an economist, has dealt with it more fully and 

 critically than has previously been attempted. After 

 discussing the peculiar position occupied by milk as a 

 foodstuff, and the regulations which the public health 

 authorities of all civilised countries have imposed, the 

 author takes marketing and distribution, instances 

 what has been done in the past and states the present 

 position. The part played by the middleman and 

 dealer is made clear, and the rise of collective bargain- 

 ing is illustrated by the action of the Orange County 

 farmers in their successful fight with the New York 

 dealers in 1883, which may be regarded as the begin- 

 ning of what has now become the general practice in 

 the large American cities. The strike — or better the 

 boycott — has been the weapon of the producers, and 

 experience has shown that it is two-edged, owing to the 

 difficulty which the farmer has in disposing of his milk 

 — a perishable commodity — except by making it into 

 cheese or butter or, at worst, by feeding it to stock, all 

 of which courses are seldom remunerative. It is made 

 clear that the producers must also submit to regulations 

 governing their combined action, otherwise the results 

 are doomed to failure. 



Other matters dealt with are the difficulty of arriving 

 at the cost of milk, owing to the position of the farm, 

 the ability of the farmer, the proximity to market, and 

 NO. 2765, VOL. I io] 



so on, and it is laid down that the method of arriving at 

 a basic price can only be a starting-point in negotiations. 

 This book, which makes a strong appeal to the general 

 reader, will be of interest to all concerned in the milk 

 trade, whether as producers, distributors, or consumers, 

 and it should lead to what the author regards as the 

 only solution of the difficulty — " a better understanding 

 all round." 



Our Bookshelf. 



Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. Second 

 Series. Vol. 20. Pp. liv + 502. (London: F. 

 Hodgson, 1922.) n.p. 



The present volume of the London Mathematical 

 Society's Proceedings is the fifty-fifth issued since the 

 foundation of the society and the twentieth in the 

 present (large octavo) series. Like the preceding 

 volumes issued by the society, it consists mainly of 

 papers which embody original investigations on various 

 mathematical subjects. Many of the papers, of which 

 there are nearly forty, will appeal only to a limited 

 class of reader. In mathematics, even more than in 

 other sciences, the results of new investigations are 

 apt to appear abstruse to the lay mind. The solution 

 of a cubic equation, the Newtonian theory of gravita- 

 tion, even the elementary applications of the calculus, 

 fundamental and well known as they are now, were 

 not familiar to the world, or even to the general run 

 of university students, for many years after their 

 discovery. By providing facilities for the publication 

 of these specialised researches the London Mathematical 

 Society has earned the deep obligation of the English 

 mathematical world. Practically all the society's 

 income is expended in producing its Proceedings, and, 

 in view of the increased cost of printing, a large member- 

 ship is essential to provide adequate funds. Inasmuch 

 as every man is a debtor to his profession, every English 

 mathematician should help to further the work of the 

 society by becoming a member. 



In the volume under review the articles most likely 

 to appeal to the general reader are the excellent obituary 

 notices of the late Lord Rayleigh and Herr Adolf 

 Hurwitz, written by Profs. Lamb and Young respect- 

 ively. There is also printed a presidential address 

 on " Some Problems in Wireless Telegraphy " by 

 Prof. Macdonald. Of the more technical papers it 

 would be invidious to single out any one for special 

 mention. The society insists on a high standard of 

 excellence in everything it prints, and the inclusion of 

 a paper in the Proceedings is a sufficient guarantee of 

 quality. We notice that there is an almost entire 

 absence of pure geometry from the present volume. 

 Can it be that research in this subject is no longer 

 encouraged in England ? 



The method of indexing each individual volume of 

 the Proceedings leaves nothing to be desired. A 

 subject index to the first thirty volumes of the first 

 series was issued many years ago. We suggest that 

 the time is approaching when the Council should 

 consider the desirability of publishing a further subject 

 index to the later volumes. W. E. H. B. 



