442 



NA TURE 



[August 29, 1907 



reflection will disclose the fallacy of such a criterion. 

 If the problem of colonial administration could be 

 satisfactorily solved by imitating ancestral patterns, 

 what is the reason for the frequent failure of 

 nations which systematically follow this course? 

 whv should it be thought necessary to utter warnings 

 against the attempt to import Berlin into Uganda? 

 and how is the success which attends the experimental 

 and empirical methods of Great Britain to be ex- 

 plained? 



Readers of Nature are aware that evolution depends 

 on the power of adaptation to environment, and will 

 have no difficultv in recognising that the secret of 

 the British Empire lies in the plasticity which permits 

 the free play of variation, so as to fit novel functions 

 to new requirements. A perusal of Prof. Gregory's 

 book will disclose numerous experiments in social and 

 industrial legislation which have been made to meet 

 Australian conditions ; and his appreciation of many 

 of these departures presents an interesting contrast to 

 the undiscriminating denunciations of most British 

 observers. The volume is a compendium of geo- 

 graphy ; but the geography of to-day is a much wider 

 subject than the dry-bone catalogues which formerly 

 stood for that science, and which were so repulsive 

 to students of the previous generation. Under the 

 heading of Physical, Economic, and Politica! 

 Geography, the author has succeeded in presenting a 

 life-like picture of the countries he describes. 



Isolation, according to Prof. Gregory, is the explan- 

 ation of the physical, biological, and political features 

 of Australasia. The strange forms of fauna in 

 Australia are due to its long separation from other 

 continents. The unique aspect of its vegetation is 

 similarly due to development in what is happily called 

 "a biological backwater"; but it is a mistake on 

 that account to regard the flora as primitive in char- 

 acter; it is in reality highly specialised, and the 

 author quotes with approval Spencer Moore's state- 

 ment that in adaptation of plant life to a dry climate 

 " the Australian flora is without a parallel the world 

 over." It is also a common error to regard the Aus- 

 tralian aborigines as archaic. They are closely allied 

 to the hill tribes of Southern India; and here, again, 

 the evidence of specialisation is abundant. The 

 social system of the aborigines is elaborate, and on 

 their own plane they have attained a fair degree of 

 civilisation. Their inental capacity is considerable, and 

 their disposition is described as " kindly, peaceful, and 

 amiable." They are possessed of poetical imagin- 

 ation, and have an intense belief in the immanence of 

 the spiritual world. 



Prof. Gregory regards the prevailing aspect of 

 -Australian scenery as hopefulness, and this quality is 

 reflected in the temperament of the inhabitants. 

 .Mthough Australians are happy in their dispositions, 

 they are accustomed to make some present sacrifice 

 of comfort for the sake of the future. This has been 

 repeatedly shown by the labour party, to whose efforts 

 advanced temperance legislation is largely due. 

 Although, as a conservative in British politics, Prof. 

 Gregory went to Australia with the " bogey " idea 

 of the Australian Labour Party, he sees much to 

 NO. 1974, VOL. 76] 



admire in their ideals. His observations on the White 

 Australia policy show both sympathy and discern- 

 ment. He remarks that " no nation has yet become 

 great which left aliens to do its manual labour." 

 Labour in .Australia, though high-priced, is cheap 

 because it is so efficient; dividends are paid out of 

 deep quartz mines producing 2 dvvts. of gold to 

 the ton, and .Australia holds the record of cheap and 

 rapid deep-shaft sinking. The arguments for an 

 .Australian navy are fairly stated, as also are those for 

 the -Alien Immigration Acts. The chapters on the 

 exploration and discovery of .Australia are full of 

 interest, and there is a concise description of Austra- 

 lian federation. Prof. Gregory's volume will well 

 repay perusal, and is a welcome addition to descriptive 

 works on -Australasia. John .A. Cockburn. 



A\R CURRENTS AND VENTILATION. 

 Air Currents and the Laws of Ventilation. By Dr. 

 W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. Pp. .\ii+94. (Cambridge: 

 University Press, 1907.) Price 3s. net. 



THIS book contains the substance of a course of 

 lectures delivered by Dr. Shaw at Cambridge in 

 1903. The author's reputation as a physicist will 

 naturally lead those who open these pages to expect a 

 scholarly treatment of the subject, and they will not 

 be disappointed; and although we are told in the 

 preface that " this volume is in a sense my last will 

 and testament on the subject of ventilation," we 

 venture, after a careful perusal of the book, to ex- 

 press a hope that Dr. Shaw may find time to extend 

 so judicious and original a treatment of this difficult 

 branch of applied science. 



Writers on the subject of ventilation are apt either 

 to deal with individual schemes which have come under 

 their notice, leaving useful general inferences to be 

 constructed by the reader, or, armed with mathe- 

 matics, to plunge in niedias res among all the 

 factors of the problem in a manner which entirely 

 obscures the main issue. It is the more satisfactory, 

 therefore, to find a book free from such shortcomings. 



While admitting the many and complex problems 

 which deserve consideration, the author of this volume 

 brings us, by a wise process of selection and rejection, 

 to issues which, while admittedly approximate to 

 truth, are at the same time most valuable generalisa- 

 tions, and this with a mathematical restraint which 

 should considerably increase the field in which the 

 utility of his work will be felt. 



The leading feature of the book is the development 

 of the subject by the utilisation of an analogy between 

 pneumatic and electrical flow and resistance, origin- 

 ated by Dr. Shaw some years ago. We are shown, 

 for example, the relation of air flow to "head," or 

 " aeromotive force," and how to deal with pneumatic 

 resistances in parallel and multiple arc, and the anal- 

 ogy is even taken so far as the use of null methods 

 in such determinations. In this spirit we are con- 

 ducted through a network of difficulties in a manner 

 which anyone with the most elementary knowledge 

 of the laws of electricity will much appreciate. This 

 analogy is not confined to mere theorising. .Actual 



