April 15, 1909J 



NATURE 



185 



Spore-measurements are omitted throughout the 

 entire work, the author regarding the existing records 

 as untrustworth)-. This has to be admitted to a certain 

 extent, but could some of the spore-measurements from 

 recent critical work have been included, the value of 

 the descriptions would have been much increased. 

 Everyone who has paid serious attention to the spores 

 of the larger fungi knows that these structures are 

 often of the greatest help for systematic purposes, 

 and it is to be hoped that before long spore- 

 characters will always form an essential part of the 

 diagnosis. 



Novelties in the form of new genera and species 

 are few. Attention may be directed to the new 

 genus Togaria, into which the author has placed all 

 the terrestrial species of Pholiota. The recent addi- 

 tions to the British flora have been incorporated, but 

 it is to be regretted that names now known to be 

 synonyms still figure as independent species. A very 

 large number of changes will be observed in the 

 authorities quoted for the Agaricacese. This is due 

 to the fact that the author has followed the Vienna 

 rule5 with regard to the raising of subgenera to the 

 rank of genera. 



The book will be of most help to the beginner, and 

 should prove a useful introduction to the study of 

 Basidiomycetes. In the case of the Agaricaceee 

 several seasons' experience will be necessary before 

 the student acquires much confidence in determina- 

 tions derived from book descriptions. The diagrams 

 at the end of Smith's synopsis should aid in grasping 

 the generic features, and the numerous keys should 

 save much time in identifving the species. 



A. D. C. 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Planning of Fever Hospitals and Disinfecting and 

 Cleansing Stations. By Albert C. Freeman. Pp. 

 viii+165. (London : The Sanitary Publishing Com- 

 pany, Ltd., n.d.) Price ys. 6d. net. 

 Tins is a work compiled by an architect more parti- 

 cularly for reference purposes by other architects. It 

 provides a practical guide to the planning of fever 

 hospitals, disinfecting and cleansing stations. It con- 

 tains a large number of plans showing in detail the 

 construction of many fever hospitals which have been 

 provided during recent years ; and although the object 

 ef the author has been to place before his readers only 

 those examples which demonstrate the most approved 

 principles of design or other points of special interest, 

 several of the plans reproduce the features of other de- 

 signs and present no essential differences in the details 

 of construction. Mr. Freeman devotes about thirty-five 

 pages to a consideration of the general principles of 

 design and construction in reference to fever hospitals, 

 disinfecting and cleansing stations, and then devotes 

 the rest of the book to the plans and more important 

 features of construction above referred to. The scheme 

 is a good one ; but it is a question whether the purpose 

 of the book might not have been even better served 

 U the author had extended his statement upon the 

 most approved features of design and construction, by 

 giving the reader the benefit of more of the opinions 

 and criticisms of one who has evidentiv made a special 

 study of this matter, and then presenting the plans 

 and details of construction of about a dozen existing 

 hospitals which are specially commended. 



NO. 2059, VOL. 80] 



The manual embodies much useful information, and 

 it cannot fail to be of value to those who are called 

 upon to design and construct hospital buildings. On 

 the subject of disinfecting stations the work is not 

 likely to be so generally useful. This section of the 

 book stands in need of extension, and here and there 

 of slight amendment. If, for instance, the various 

 types of steam disinfectors are to be dealt with in such 

 a book, the present statement is insufticient. One of 

 the less well-known steam disinfectors (the Velox) is 

 the only apparatus illustrated, and, indeed, the only 

 one which is fully described. The description, more- 

 over, is not so clear as it might be. On p. 148 it is 

 stated that among the practical advantages claimed 

 for this type of machine is the fact that there is no 

 boiler to require scaling, whereas it is stated in the 

 next paragraph that there is a boiler employed to raise 

 steam. 



Photographic Optics and Colour Photography, includ- 

 ing the Camera, Kinernatograph, Optical Lantern, 

 and the Theory and Practice of Image Formation. 

 By Dr. George Lindsay Johnson. Pp. xii + 304. 

 (London : Ward and Co., 1909.) Price 7^". 6d. net. 

 The author is " examiner in photography and theo- 

 retical and applied optics to the Spectacle Makers' 

 Companv," and states that the primary object of this 

 volume is to cover the ground of this company's 

 examination. The first chapter deals with cameras in 

 a popular rather than a scientific manner. The next 

 two chapters constitute about half the volume, and 

 deal with photographic lenses and the optics relating 

 to their manufacture and, use, including the considera- 

 tion of shutters and artificial illumination. The re- 

 maining sections of the book deal with sensitometers, 

 and the other subjects mentioned in the title. 



With the exception, perhaps, of the strictly optical 

 part, the various items receive very unequal treatment. 

 Although a whole chapter is devoted to sensitometry, 

 Hurter and Driffield's method, which is the only 

 method stated to be " largely used," is disposed of in 

 the following sentence : — " A sensitometer consisting of 

 a rotating sector, furnished \\ith a ring divided into 

 steps, is now largely used in England, and was in- 

 vented bv ^iessrs. H. Hurter and Driffield." Dr. 

 Hurter's Christian name was Ferdinand, and his is 

 not the only name given incorrectly. We should like 

 to know what the author means, when referring to the 

 action of light upon a sensitive plate, by the statement 

 that " the light acts on the gelatine substratum and 

 starts freeing the hvdrogen." There are many other 

 parts that will certainly mislead the student as they 

 now stand, as, for e.xample, two pages devoted to 

 what appears to even a careful reader to be an attempt 

 to prove by calculation that the focal length of a lens 

 has a direct influence on the relative proportions of the 

 images of objects at different distances. We notice, 

 too, errors in some of the illustrations. The volume 

 needs a thorough revision. 



(Jntersuchiingen fossiler Holzer aus dem westen 



Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika. By Dr. 



Paul Platen. Pp. xvi-l-155; with three plates. 



(Leipzig : Quelle and Meyer, 1908.) Price 3 marks. 



TnR Tertiary rocks of some of the south-western 



portions of the United States have been long known 



to be remarkable for the abundance and diversity of 



the silicified trunks of Coniferous and Angiospermous 



woods, often beautifully preserved, which they have 



vielded. In this dissertation Dr. Paul Platen, a pupil 



of Prof. Felix, of Leipzig, whose work on the anatomy 



of petrified woods is widely known, has described the 



structure of a considerable nurhber of trunks, for the 



most part of Tertiary age, from California, Nevada, 



