6l2 



NA rURE 



[October 17, 1907 



museum and miscellaneous work, Mr. Lydekker gives 

 a very clear account of the principles on which that 

 work was guided and of the results achieved. The 

 main lines along which Sir William's ideas of the 

 purpose of museums and of their arrangement ran 

 must be approved by all interested in the subject, 

 although as to some matters of detail there may be 

 room for individual differences of opinion. There can 

 be no doubt of the soundness of the principle that the 

 specimens exhibited in the galleries should, so far as 

 possible, form a distinct collection adapted .specially to 

 its purpose of instructing the general public, that old 

 and bad taxidermy should disappear from the cases, 

 that specimens should not be crowded together, but 

 that each should be exhibited with a purpose, in- 

 structivelv or " descriptively " labelled, and placed so 

 that it can be properly seen. How far, how- 

 ever, the principle of making such a popular 

 series rather a collection of " labels illus- 

 trated by specimens " than a collection of speci- 

 mens explained by labels should be carried out is a 

 question which it would be out of place to discuss in 

 a notice like the present, as is also the question as to 

 how far " pictorial mounting " ought to be adopted 

 in natural history museums. 



Sir William Flower was a strenuous opponent of 

 the unnatural divorce between recent biology and 

 palseontology. Everyone agrees with him now — 

 theoretically — but how many zoologists will take the 

 trouble to look up and read an original palaeonto- 

 logical memoir? If they want information on a fossil 

 subject, do they not usually take it and quote it from 

 some text-book at second hand? 



In compiling this memoir Mr. Lydekker has done 

 his work sympathetically and well, and has produced 

 a little volume which is worthy of a place on the 

 book-shelves of all British naturalists. R. H. T. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Sfere cosmografiche e loro applicazione alia risolusionc 



di Problcini di Gcographia Matematica. By Prof. 



Angelo L. Andreini. Pp. xxix + 326. (Milano : 



Ulrico Hoepli, 1907.) Price 3 lire. 

 This little book, as its title implies, shows how a 

 class of simple problems in spherical trigonometrv can 

 be solved with approximation by mechanical methods. 

 It is a form of exercise which has fallen into dis- 

 repute in this country, but practical computers will 

 admit that there are times when an appeal to the globe 

 is not without its uses. Such cases can occur in the 

 transformation of coordinates, when the conditions of 

 Jhe problem make the choice of a quadrant uncertain. 

 The author, however, is not so much concerned in 

 providing assistance for the expert as in inslrucling 

 the novice. 



.After tracing the history of globe construction and 

 showing some forms of orrery which explain the 

 motion of superior and inferior planets, the phases 

 of the moon, &c., the author indicates the principal 

 problems for which mechanical solution is possible. 

 ^>ry considerable ingenuity is exhibited in the choice 

 and variety of problems submitted, and by some simple 

 additional apparatus for measuring angles an ap- 

 proach to accuracy is made. In those problems con- 

 nected with the diurnal rotation of the earth, the lati- 

 tude of a place is determined by measurements made 

 on the prime vertical, while in those depending upon 

 NO. I 98 I, VOL. 76] 



the annual revolution about the sun the equation of 

 time and the obliquity of the ecliptic find a place. 

 This will give some idea of the range of subjects for 

 which the author (inds application. Indeed, not a 

 little of the interest of the book centres in its com- 

 pleteness. We should imagine that no class of pro- 

 blems to which a globe has ever been applied is 

 entirely unrepresented here. As a matter of fact, 

 there is reference to the tides and the establishment 

 of a port, though it is difficult to see how a globe can 

 give any assistance in such matters. A large number 

 of examples are given to be worked by the student, 

 and in another section the manner of solution is 

 indicated. 



Electric Light and Power. By E. E. Brooks and 

 W. H. N. James. Pp. viii + 372. (London: 

 Methuen and Co., n.d.) Price 4s. 6d. 

 The best that can be said of this text-book is that it 

 is neither better nor worse than others of its class. 

 The book is apparently intended as a first-year course 

 for students of not very high scholastic attainments ; 

 if this is so, we think it covers too much ground. 

 .Starting from the very beginning, with experiments 

 with knitting needles, the student is led to the con- 

 sideration of dynamos, alternators, and motors. Then 

 follow a couple of chapters on lighting circuits 

 and lamps, a chapter on measuring instruments, and 

 finally one on primary cells and accumulators. We 

 doubt if any student can properly master all this 

 material in a preliminary course. In any case, we 

 are strongly of opinion that it is inadvisable that he 

 should try to do so. 



Much has been spoken and written on the question 

 of the interconnection between teaching and manufac- 

 turing. We cannot forbear quoting one instance 

 from this book, which shows how desirable closer 

 sympathy is. After a very inadequate description of 

 primary batteries, the authors write in reference to the 

 dry cell : — " Economy in first cost is attained in vari- 

 ous ways. For instance, a cell recently examined was 

 found to have a solid block of wood nearly three inches 

 thick between the bottom of the cardboard case and 

 the bottom of the zinc cell." It is nothing short of a 

 travesty of teaching to devote even four lines in a 

 tex.t-book, where space is only too valuable, to convey- 

 ing this sort of information. The authors must have 

 forgotten the excellent definition of an engineer as one 

 who can do for a dollar what any fool can do for 

 five. We pity the young engineer, nourished on this 

 food, who, when asked by his employer to endeavour 

 to reduce first cost, comes forward with a suggestion 

 of this kind. M. S. 



L'Hygiene modcrne. By Dr. J. H^ricourt. Pp. 311. 



(Paris : Ernest Flammarion, 1907.) Price 3.50 



francs. 

 This book surveys, in an interesting, readable, 

 and non-technical manner, modern views on hygiene. 

 It is divided into four sections — hygiene of the indi- 

 vidual, which includes predisposition, tuberculosis, 

 diet, clothing, exercise, and infantile niortality ; 

 hvgiene of the home, which includes the house and 

 domestic life; hygiene of communities, schools, &c. ; 

 and public hygiene, including that of public vehicles, 

 streets, domestic animals, &c. One of the earlier 

 chapters on the arthritic diathesis would be better 

 suited, perhaps, to a medical text-book, and the 

 author seems to be one of those who hold extreme 

 views on the evils of uric acid. On the question of 

 alcohol, the author believes that good wine or spirit 

 in moderation does no harm, and in many cases is 

 beneficial. The kissing of children is rightly con- 

 denmed, and the condition of the public streets, with 

 their dust, dirt, and spitting, is characterised as a 

 "hygienic scandal." R. T. H. 



